Bands You Should Check Out: Say Anything

Welcome to the first Bands You Should Check Out blog. In this mini series of blogs I will be talking about 6 bands, you should check out no matter what your genre tastes are. Each blog will look at a band from a different genre, so if you don't like one band maybe the next day there will be a band more to your taste.

____________________________________________________

SAY ANYTHING

Say Anything is Power pop/Emo/Pop Punk, they have released 3 studio albums ...Is a Real Boy, In Defense of the Genre, and Say Anything. Their songs generally deal with subjects ranging from psychosis, Jewish culture, phone sex with an underage girl you met online, and drug use. These guys may be considered stylistically emo, but don't let prejudices on what the genre is, sway you away from listening, or you'll miss out on some of the best songwriting and composition in modern pop music.

Lets exam their 3 studio albums in chronological order.

____________________________________________________

...Is a Real Boy (2004)

...Is a Real Boy, is Say Anything's most upbeat release. I really enjoy this CD, I kept it constantly on play at my house, for a good week. Front man Max Bemis' sings, every word he wrote, with such power. You can feel the pain, happiness, confusion, and angst, in every word.

As for the words themselves, as I stated above Say Anything has a very unique type of song writing. Max is definitely a poet, one of my favorite songs on the album is "Alive With the Glory of Love" which is about a Jewish couple in love during the holocaust, it is based off of the true story of Bemis' grandparents, which adds a personal touch to the song, that I really enjoy.

The composition on ...Is a Real Boy is excellent, the entire album feels like a train that wont stop. The guitar riffs don't stop chugging along until the the end of the CD.

Also before I move on, I have to mention there is a second disc that was not with the original version, called ...Was a Real Boy, it had kind of shallow song writing, and was mainly comprised of songs that weren't good enough to go on the actual album. Its worth a listen if only for the song "Wow I Can Get Sexual Too".

...Is a Real Boy gets a 95%

____________________________________________________

In Defense of the Genre (2007)

In Defense of the Genre was double disc, and this time it was 2 amazing discs. It features MANY guests including Haley Williams from Paramore, Aaron Gillespie of Underoath, Chris Conley from Saves the Day and over 20 more guest vocalists and musicians.

The song writing on this baby, is nearly perfect. Out of 27 songs, 26 of them are amazing, and 1 is okay (I didn't think the opening song Skinny Mean Man, was that great). To really understand this album, you'd have to know the story behind its writing, which is to long for me to tell in this blog so just look it up on wikipedia, it involves a drug/bi polar fit and is very interesting. "An Insult to the Dead" really has to be my favorite out of the 27.

The composition on in defense is the best so far, this doesn't sound like "traditional" emo, it's its own thing, each song sounds original and new, and I can purely say its spot on in complimenting the lyrics.

In Defense of a Genre gets a 98%

____________________________________________________

Say Anything (2009)

Okay out of their 3 studio albums this is my least favorite. Its not that it's bad its just that its not good either, its mediocre.

The song writing, is still good, but its not as good as it was on the previous two releases. I like the first track of the album the best Hate Everyone, because it reminds me alot of ....Is a Real Boy, and it was kind of nostalgic for me.

As for the composition, it is the reason people hate emo, every song sounds the same, the music doesn't always compliment the lyrics, and it was just so....mediocre.

Say Anything gets a 70%

____________________________________________________

So definitely check out Say Anything. Tomorrows, blog will be about one of the biggest bands in a really small genre J-Metal.

http://www.sayanythingmusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/sayanything

http://www.twitter.com/sayanythingmuz

Any and all content in this blog is protected under Fair Use, all copyrighted material is owned by the their respective holders, and is only used for criticism, please support the official release of movies, music, and television shows.