Redux: Taking Back Sunday's "Tell All Your Friends"

I first heard Taking Back Sunday's debut, "Tell All Your Friends," six years ago while cruising to get Mexican food with my best friend, James. I remember asking him if it was Saves the Day and him laughing. Then I went out and bought the CD, listened to it and never really gave it a second thought.

Not to say that songs like "Cute Without the 'E'" or "Head Club" never ended up on mixtapes (because they did), but I don't think I ever had the connection with that album as I have with Jimmy Eat World's "Clarity," Morrissey's "Viva Hate" or even Brand New's "Your Favorite Weapon (as well as all of their subsequent releases)." Now six years later, the angst, the pain and the viciousness of the album makes sense to me.

Recently, I've been reading Leslie Simon and Trevor Kelly's parody, "Everything Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture," and while many of the stereotypes about brooding teenagers -- and people who wish they were still teens -- happen to be true, it also makes you wonder what is going through a kid's head when they find lines like "And with this one last choking breath, I'd apologize for bleeding on your shirt" somewhat cathartic.

It's easy to write off angst and anxiety in regards to romance as being a kid thing, but you know what? It's not. Maybe I just tend to overanalyze things more than your average guy, but I'm finding that "Tell All Your Friends" is the type of record that makes more sense when you're in your 20's, as opposed to your teen years.

Again, not to discount anybody's feelings, but there's something strange about realizing that you never really shake being awkward and you never really learn how to get over a break up. It's tremendously harder to end relationships once you hit a certain age and the following enter your psyche:

"Is she dating someone else?"
"Is she sleeping with someone else?"
"Is he better than you?"
"Does she love him?"

And more times than not, you'll find the answer to these questions as "yes." So where does that leave you? Well, you can either stand outside of her window with a boombox blasting some Peter Gabriel, but you'll probably end up getting pummeled by her new BF, because that's the way reality usually works. Or you can get all your aggression out by plugging in "Tell All Your Friends," which edged its way into my list as one of the top break up records of all time last night.

Videos:

Greatest Romances of the 20th Century:



Cute Without the E (Cut from the Team):



Timberwolves at New Jersey:



You're So Last Summer: