Mixtapemotions

  • “Whatever It Takes” by Lifehouse, Tuesday, March 19, 2024

    Lifehouse was a made-for-TV band from their 2001 debut. The band was commercially marketed to many shows and movies. But unlike many of the other artists filling TV soundtracks, Lifehouse had radio hits. The band had Billboard’s number 1 song of 2001, “Hanging By a Moment” and the number 5 hit “You and Me.” Both songs feature two different sounds of the ‘00s rock band. The band debuted with the post-grunge sounds on No Name Face. “Hanging By a Moment” eclipses the other two singles, “Sick Cycle Carousel” and “Breathing.” The band’s second album, Stanley Climbfall, also appeared as a sophomore slump, with the album’s two singles, “Spin” and “Take Me Away,” failing to impact the pop charts. Often this is the end of the story for pop-rock bands.


    I’LL KEEP US TOGETHER. While rock audiences were ambivalent to Lifehouse, the age of pop-rock was at its peak in the mid-’00s. Lifehouse continued releasing rock songs, but no longer with heavy guitars and drums on their eponymous third record in 2005. The TV-ready tracks saw the band return to Smallville and return to pop radio with “You and Me.” The band followed up their third record with 2007’s Who We Are. The three singles were moderately successful on Billboard’s Hot 100, but much more successful on the Adult Contemporary and Adult Alternative Airplay (AAA) formats. Today’s song, “Whatever It Takes,” was the band’s second single from the album. It’s a straightforward earnest ballad, of which lead singer Jason Wade said, “I think the main message of this song, at least for me personally when I was writing the lyrics, is just how difficult it can be to be in a relationship.” Unlike previous Lifehouse albums, RadioU and TVU didn’t promote the singles, though Jesusfreakhideout.com reviewed the album.

    DON’T HIDE THE BROKEN PARTS I NEED TO SEE. I always found the evolution of Lifehouse to be a fascinating study of music niches. Lifehouse was never a cool band. Their post-grunge wasn’t dark enough. A commercialized gravelly-sounding voice was no Kurt Cobain or even Scott Stapp, nor was the band mainstream “butt rock” enough to be like Seether, Three Days Grace, or the other post-grunge bands of the ‘00s. Instead, the band went to the AAA stations to save their career. I remember OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder praising the AAA format as a sweet spot money-maker for songwriters. He said that the chart was “uniquely American.” Audiences aren’t rapt by these formulaic songs. It’s background music at a diner or hair salon. But tapping into this market and mastering the formula might get a number 1 hit from an otherwise Billboard top 10, or in Lifehouse’s case a top 10 for a low peak on the Hot 100. Music genre and marketing is interesting. Lifehouse was a TV-placement band, which made an uncool band cool. Why is the AAA chart uncool? I used to think it was because it was mellow, but there are a lot of cool artists who are maybe too mellow for the pop chart and too alternative for the adult contemporary format—Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens, for example. What about Lifehouse, then, made them perfect for the format?


  • “Better Than I Used to Be” by Mat Kearney ft. AFSheeN, Monday, March 18, 2024 (repost)

    Mat Kearney‘s music has changed a lot from when he debuted in 2004 with his first record Bullet on Peter Furler‘s Christian label InPop Records. Kearney’s early work infused acoustic singer-songwriter styles with hip hop, a style the singer mostly abandoned by this third record, City of Black & White. Nine years after that stylistic departure and three records that didn’t seem to move far beyond the folk-pop sound, Kearney released a poppier, more electronic-inspired record, CRAZYTALK in 2018, which produced the single “Better Than I Used to Be.” 


    MY PLANE LEAVES TOMORROW. Teaming up with Iranian-American electronic artist AFSheeN for the first track on CRAZYTALK, “Better Than I Used to Be,” Kearney expands upon his sound. Although AFSheeN has worked with much bigger artists than  Kearney, remixing and producing, AFSheeN’s most streamed song is Kearney’s 2018 hit. The singer-songwriter has written for K-pop acts such as NCT and BoA and American artists Selena Gomez and Madonna. AFSheeN’s LA man-bun adds to the Nashville-bro vibe that Mat Kearney exudes in his discography; this time playing in the higher registers that synthesizers give a song rather than a guitar-based track. While the acoustic version of this track is worth a listen, the original propels   CRAZYTALK  to sound distinct from Kearney’s previous work. Elsewhere on the record, Kearney collaborates with Filous and RAC, a Portuguese-American remix artist. The neon pink album cover also sets an ultra-modern vibe for a Mat Kearney record. West-coast-born and Nashville-based, Kearney fits into the group of Nashville musicians who rub shoulders with country stars, CCM big-wigs, indie rock bands, and coffee shop singer-songwriters. CRAZYTALK attempts to transcend whatever sound that is. 
     
    BUT MY HEART HAS ALREADY LANDED. A strong point in Kearney’s music is his use of nostalgia. The “kids in the back seat” reminds listeners of their own youth. The video for the song, though, shows a youth who was less than ideal, growing up on the poorer side of town in a rough neighborhood. Kearney talks about this song being inspired by his relationship with his wife, actress Annie Kearney, though the lyrics and video hint that it could also be about family members or friends of the singer. But it is the love of someone special that makes Kearney claim that he is “better than [he] used to be.” It’s that love that drives him home from his touring and work. It’s that love that influences him to continue to create art. And while Kearney’s fanbase no longer pushes him up the Billboard Hot 100–the mix of Christians who want an edgier artist who might say hell or damn occasionally out of context and the left-over Grey’s Anatomy fans— the fanbase is still strong. I’ve still yet to try 2021’s January Flower, but I’m pretty sure that I can find something organic and honest on every Mat Kearney record, whether from ’06 or ’21. But is CRAZYTALK better than he used to be back in 2009 with City of Black & White? Not quite. It’s hard to beat an album that’s an artist’s musical awakening record when they shed the silliness of their youthful songwriting quirks and only refine the excellent parts of themselves. Today, adding electronics is kind of a lazy fix to try to keep things relevant. Somehow so many listeners–myself included–fall for those sweet electronic hooks.

  • “We’ve Only Just Begun” by Run Kid Run (repost), Sunday, March 17, 2024

    In 1996, David Josiah Curtis and friends formed a punk band called Side Walk Slam. The Southern Illinois-based band released an independent record, Rock Anthems from the Midwest, in 1999 before signing to a small label, Boot to Head Records, and releasing Two Steps Forward, Five Steps Back the next year. Then in 2001, the band signed with Tooth & Nail Records and released three records between 2001 and 2003. Little by little, the bare-bones punk rock band started incorporating more and more production on their records. By their 2003 record, And We Drive, the band even included a piano. It was after releasing And We Drive, that the band decided that Side Walk Slam had strayed from their Punk Rock sound so much that they decided to change their name, rebranding with a new sound and retiring the expectations that the band would sound a particular way. 

    YOU’LL HAVE YOUR UPS AND DOWNS. Run Kid Run released their debut record This Is Who We Are three years after Side Walk Slam released their final album. The three years between releases was a long period compared to the way that Side Walk Slam grinded out a record a year between 1999 and 2003. The band recorded their debut record with James Paul Wisner, who had produced Further Seems Forever, Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory, and Underoath. The new sound of Run Kid Run was poppy and singable. The band’s video for “We’ve Only Just Begun” was even featured in American Eagle stores. Was this the band’s big break as Relient K’s video for “Sadie Hawkins Dance” was played in Abercrombie and Fitch stores?  

    YOU’VE GOT YOUR DESTINATION. Run Kid Run fully embraced the Christian pop genre with their second record, 2008’s Love at the Core. Their piano ballad “Freedom” shows how far the band went from their punk rock roots. On the Labeled Podcast, lead singer David Josiah Curtis talked about their sophomore album being the band’s peak and their inability to follow up the record because of the seismic change in the Christian music industry between their second and third record, 2011’s Patterns. He talked about touring with Hawk Nelson and thinking about seeing that band as a model of success in the Christian music industry—headlining church shows, and touring on a bus. But success is a model based on inequality, and simply putting in the time in the music industry doesn’t necessarily equate to success. Run Kid Run disappeared after their third record. Curtis took a part-time position at a church, and the other band members started taking more time with their families. The band played a few one-off shows, but ultimately haven’t come back with a full-length since Patterns. However, in 2022, the band reunited, not as Run Kid Run, but as Side Walk Slam to play the Audiofeed festival in their home of Illinois. Curtis explained that the band felt free to play both Side Walk Slam and Run Kid Run songs under their original moniker. Punk Rock purists just have to put aside the band’s love for a catchy melody.

    Read the lyrics on Genius.


  • “The Beautiful Letdown" by Switchfoot, Saturday, March 16, 2024

     

    Jon Foreman became the liberal long-haired surfboard philosopher to millions of youth group kids in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. The San Diego-based band Switchfoot, firmly based in the West Coast faith-based music tradition, often challenged the ideas of capitalism in Christianity and the over-politicization of Christianity, while never seeming to have found all parts of the solution in organized religion. And yet, lead singer Jonathan Foreman, offered that while the “faith of our fathers” isn’t perfect, he has not found a better solution. The Beautiful Letdown was the band’s thesis statement–

    Foreman had been rewriting this thesis statement for three albums, and after their fourth record, he would expound upon that statement.


    I WILL CARRY MY CROSS TO WHERE I DON’T BELONG. Whereas my mom could tell me every track on Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors or The Rolling Stones’ Some Girls, many youth group kids my age know every track on Switchfoot’s Beautiful Letdown. Five of the 12 songs from Letdown were released as singles on Christian radio stations. The title track wasn’t a radio hit and given its track position and that it is a slow song that’s not the most memorable track on the album. However, the lyrics express discontentment with a failed American dream. The song always reminded me of “Amazing Grace.” Both the John Newton-penned hymn and the Jon Foreman-penned ballad express a shift in perspective. “Lost” and “blind” become “found” and sighted. The “Beautiful Letdown” is about realizing that all the world claimed to offer is not as good as it was promised, allowing the speaker to realize: “I don’t belong here.”  

    EASY LIVING. Foreman is iconoclastic to the American religion of capitalism. Switchfoot’s earlier albums were influenced by punk–a then trio of surf rockers. Adding a fourth member to the band, keyboardist Jerome Fontamillas, and signing to a major label arguably made them less punk-rock and much more refined in sound. But socially, Foreman keeps the punk rock lyrics, waging war against capitalism. Today, the message to the Christian right might be a spicy jalapeno to choke on, but the occasional Switchfoot song between Newsboys worship track and Chris Tomlin didn’t make liberal voices on Christian radio too exorbitant. And after all, everyone is the agonist in their own story, so unlike the lyrics of “Ammunition,” passive Switchfoot listeners wouldn’t necessarily feel that “we’re the issue.” But for some of us who listened, twenty years later, thinking back “when the world was younger,” the systems we were born into–Christian-centered capitalistic nationalism, often white and heteronormative–gave us an identity and a goal. We, too, Switchfoot listeners have discovered that the proprietors of this belief were corralling us into a future that was just as broken as the ‘90s/ ‘00s get first-world rich American dream. We all must carry our crosses to a place where we don’t belong.

    Jonas Brothers cover: 

  • "You Are My Sunshine" by The Civil Wars, Friday, March 15, 2024































    “You Are My Sunshine” is a popular folk song copyrighted and recorded by American singer-songwriter Jimmie Davis in 1939, though its authorship is disputed. Davis later became the governor of Louisiana, and “You Are My Sunshine” became the state’s official song. Davis’s recorded versions are not the definitive version of the song, though. Many artists have covered the song, such as Johnny Cash, Christina Perri, and  Zach Bryan. Each time the song is covered, the artist brings an emotional layer to the beautiful song. Cash anthologizes the song in the American songbook and Perri emphasizes the lullaby-like qualities of the song. 


    THE OTHER NIGHT DEAR, AS I LAY SLEEPING. “You Are My Sunshine” is a 

     cradle song many mothers sing to their children. It’s a bright love song with a twinge of

    melancholy that grows upon examination. It’s a song full of longing and desire with the

    full knowledge that the sun may be covered by the clouds. The speaker hopes that, just

    like the sun, the speaker’s love will appear every day. Even when the rain keeps the sun

    away, there is hope that soon the sun will reappear, just as the speaker’s love. The song

    is a phantom that haunts one of my favorite albums, Copeland’s You Are My Sunshine. Though the track doesn’t appear on the album, the pensive mood and the quiet

    moments of happiness saturate Aaron Marsh’s lyrics. Copeland did, however, record

    the song for their Grey Man EP, released after their fourth album. It’s an eerie-

    sounding version, reminiscent of the art song “Kite” from In Motion with almost

    creepy instrumentation but with just enough warmth to chase the residual icyness

    of winter. 


    YOU MAKE ME HAPPY WHEN SKIES ARE GRAY. Today’s version of “You Are My Sunshine” comes from folk-country band The Civil Wars. The duo comprises singer-songwriter John Paul White and former Dove Award-nominated CCM singer Joy Williams.  The Civil Wars version is the moodiest of the versions mentioned, which is indicative of the duo’s catalog. The group formed in 2009 and broke up in 2014, due to creative differences between White and Williams. The break-up of the duo caused a lot of fan speculation, which Williams has talked about vaguely. The duo was known for their intense chemistry, despite both members remaining married to other people throughout the duo’s tenure. Were the duo’s professional and personal relationships mutually exclusive? When Williams talked to Relevant Magazine’s podcast, she said that she had been “called every name in the book” both when she left Christian music and when The Civil Wars broke up. Some Christian and Country listeners assumed the worst about Willaims’ character. After releasing two critically acclaimed albums and an abrupt tour cancellation, the duo released a free download of “You Are My Sunshine,” which had appeared as a European-edition bonus track on their first album, Barton Hollow. The sadness of the version and the longing mirrored the fans who wanted just a little more from The Civil Wars.

     

  • "Take Me" (As You Found Me) [Live From Williamsburg] by Anberlin (reworked repost), Thursday, March 14, 2024

     Anberlin had recorded their seventh studio album, Vital, with Aaron Sprinkle when they set out on an acoustic tour. The band known for their energetic live shows decided to create an intimate atmosphere, reinterpreting some of their classics, fan favorites, and deep cuts. Anberlin actually did two acoustic tours, one before Vital and one after the album’s release; however, the tour is only captured in a one-night performance in Williamsburg, later released as a bonus disc with Devotion, a massive repacking of Vital. The concert starts with an album cut, “Take Me” (As You Found Me), from Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place, the album the band was still promoting. 

    YOU’RE HERE WITH ME. If there is an album that Anberlin would say is their peak sound, they would probably say it was Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place. The band delves into their post-punk influences. From the album’s promotion– the fashion chosen for the photoshoots, the talk of Dylan Thomas’ “Poem on His Birthday,” where the album’s title comes from, the quotes of Martin Luther King, Jr., working with the ‘90s legendary producer Brendon O’Brien— it felt like Anberlin was making the album that they wanted to. But it was the first Anberlin record I struggled through. I thought the lyrics were flat compared to their previous works, the songs were short and simple, and the album left me wanting a lot more. And the album’s mixing was shameful for a major label album. I wanted the band to explore the dark landscape they were sculpting with music and lyrics. The biggest single from the album, “Impossible,” was a similar track to some of the band’s biggest hits, but with a shiny major-label production budget. The song reached number 5 on the Alternative Rock charts.

    NOW THAT YOU’RE GONE. “Take Me” (As You Found Me) was supposed to be Anberlin’s breakthrough crossover hit, at least the way the band talks about it. Producer Brendon ‘O Brian loved it. Could Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place be Anberlin’s Joshua Tree? No. The storytelling in the song is too abstract, and the listener doesn’t know who the speaker is talking about. Is it God or a girl? The speaker both admires and feels betrayed by the subject. In the live stream for Dark Is the Way, As You Found Me, lead singer Stephen Christian explains that the line “Who’s going to drain my blood, now that you’re gone” refers to a divorced couple he met in Nashville. Even though they were divorced, the ex-wife took care of her ex-husband, driving him every day to receive dialysis. That context makes the song more interesting because it shows the conflict of love that seems to be implied in the song. It seems to be about a feeling of conflicted love–can’t live with that person, can’t live without them. With a little clearer songwriting, a mass audience could have gotten behind Stephen Christian’s passionate vocals–and the live version is much better. For Anberlin, “Take Me” is the song that could have been. 


  • “Going Under” by This Beautiful Republic, Wednesday, March 13, 2024

    Tooth & Nail Records became a front-runner in the race for general-market-ready Christian Rock. Feeding bands like Anberlin, Mae, and The Almost to major labels and supporting Underoath as they shaped the world of metalcore, the label defined a generation of Christian music. No longer were rock festivals giving Christian Rock the stink eye. But as the label’s marketing expanded to the general market, some complained that the message of the bands had been watered down. The name of Jesus rarely appeared in lyrics printed in the Ryan Clark-illustrated flyleaf in the crystal jewel case. That’s where Flicker Records and ForeFront Records came in, offering bands with distinctly Christian lyrics. That’s where we meet ForeFront Records’ This Beautiful Republic.


    DOUBT HAS NEVER PROVEN ANYTHING. This Beautiful Republic formed in 2004 when alumni of Toledo Christian Schools in Toledo, Ohio joined California drummer Cameron Toews. After the band’s lead singer left the band, energetic singer Ben Olin joined the band. The band signed to ForeFront Records in November 2006 and released a debut EP, Casting Off, in January 2007. In April, the band released their debut album, Even Heroes Need a Parachute. The pop-punk sound was new for ForeFront Records, which except for Stacie Orrecio’s mainstream success earlier in the decade and TobyMac’s solo career, had failed to keep up in the ‘00s. The Allan Solomon-produced project had a fresh energy for the Christian market. Solomon had many Christian records credits including Flicker Records’s Everyday Sunday and Sparrow Records’ Sanctus Real. The band released songs to both Christian Rock radio and Christian Hit radio, with “Going Under” being their biggest hit on Christian Rock radio and “Jesus to the World” on Christian Hit radio, reaching number 5 and 25, respectively. 


    FAITH AND FEAR ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. This Beautiful Republic released two albums, with Perceptions released in 2008, a year after Even Heroes Need a Parachute. A feature with Aaron Gillespie of The Almost and Underoath on the song “My God” gave the perception that the band was gaining momentum. But with the shifts in the music industry, Christian Rock was becoming less marketable. This Beautiful Republic didn’t have a crossover-ready sound as their lyrics often twaddled Christian catchphrases. Shortly after the band released Perceptions, lead singer Ben Olin announced leaving the band. In 2010, the band left ForeFront Records and broke up in 2011. On some occasions, I remember this band. I saw the band at Cornerstone in a small tent and was charmed by Olin’s stage presence. There was an intimate feeling in a small afternoon crowd, the band dressed in the bomber jackets that they wore on their first album’s cover. Somehow, after the show, Ben added me on Facebook, which none of the bands did. He was a cool guy in a slightly less cool band. And while the lyrics may not hold up, I will always hold that concert in my fond memories. 

    Read the lyrics on Genius.

     

  • “Someday” by Aaron Sprinkle ft. Matty Mullins + Real Life Track by Track (repost), Tuesday, March 12, 2024

     

    In 2017, Aaron Sprinkle released Real Life, his last release on Tooth & Nail Records. The legendary producer had released solo work sporadically since the ‘90s; however, being the go-to producer for some of the most successful bands in Alternative and Hard Christian Rock was time-consuming, and Sprinkle felt that producing great records was more successful than trying to promote a solo career. Sprinkle’s production always felt cutting-edge when he recorded, whether for Anberlin, Acceptance, Demon Hunter, Falling Up, or a host of other bands. Real Life, however, feels very 2017. Today, let’s explore the album, track by track.

    1. Invincible kicks off the album with that 2017 electronic sound. Featuring Poema’s Elle Puckett contributing a spoken-word/ rap part, the song sounds nothing like what you’d expect from either artist. The lyrics seem to be the speaker coming to realize that he is not invincible. Puckett tries to convince the first speaker that he never needed to be invincible. The song sets the tone for the album of dreams that didn’t work out, but ultimately it’s about redefining dreams for a new future.

    2. “Washed Up” isn’t a particular stand-out track, despite being the second track. Unlike the first track, though, the synth feels more like a classic ‘90s sound. The speaker of the song wishes to be “washed up on the shore” rather than fighting with the tides of the ocean. In Sprinkle’s interviews from this time, particularly on Labeled and BadChristian, now Songs and Stories, we have some context that Sprinkle had been dealing with the struggles of a shrinking music industry. Production budgets shrunk, but producers still had to deliver quality albums. Real Life is a walking away album, and Sprinkle is trying something new, but he ultimately feels “washed up.”

    3. “Never Alone” is a catchy pop song. It feels like it’s missing something to make it a great song. Maybe it’s the programmed drums on “Head back down to Easy Street” that could have been replaced with real drums to make the song come to life. “Never Alone” is repetitive in a kind of annoying 2017 way. The bridge’s harmonies feel like an early ‘90s song. The lyrics add to the theme of the album, encouragement during the uncertain times.

    4. “Real Life” starts off with Eisley’s Sherri DuPree Bemis singing the hook. Her husband, Max Bemis of Say Anything also contributes to the chorus of the song. The song is clunky–the lyrics don’t really flow. The bombastic “Chainsmokers” sound doesn’t really work. It’s a shame, too, not only because it’s the namesake of the album, but it’s a waste of a collaboration. The verses are just a series of dependent clauses that don’t say much. Sherri sings “Save my birthright ‘til I’m feeling up again,” presumably alluding to scripture, but what does it mean? My poor interpretation of the song is that the lyrics are the voices inside the speaker’s head. Sherri represents the wild idea that you can push pause on your life. Aaron brings back the voice of reasoning that “This is real life” and we can’t do that. Max sings “This is real life as I capsize,” perhaps meaning that being brought back to the fact that “this is real life” triggers a catastrophizing response.

    5. “Not Listening” isn’t a song I come back to. It’s not lyrically interesting, and it’s musically simple. The best part of the song is the synths decorating the song between the choruses and the verses.

    6. “Someday.” I talked about this song back in 2021, so I’ll link to the discussion there. While Memphis May Fire and Matty Mullins’ career was post-Tooth & Nail golden age, the recent announcement that Mullins would be touring as Anberlin’s touring singer in 2024 only grafts the singer more into the Sprinkle-verse.

    7. “Steady” brings back the retro synths. It’s one of the better tracks on the album, but not particularly interesting. The bridge is probably the best part of the song.

    8. “I Don’t Know Who You Are” features singer Stephanie Skipper, best known for appearing on the 14th season of The Voice. Before she appeared on the show, she released albums on Gotee Records. She also is part of the duet Copperlily with her husband, Tim Skipper, best known as the bassist for House of Heroes.
    The song is not very memorable on the album, though.

    9. “Step Here” is my favorite track on the album. I talked about the song last November. It is the song that most reminds me of a ‘90s computer game, and with the orchestra hit, it makes me think of some of the music from my mom’s ‘90s Yamaha keyboard.

    10. “Wander” is another one of my favorites. The song’s composition and melody is quite a bit simpler than any of the other songs on the album, but it’s a kind of necessary reprieve. The lyrics are perhaps the best on the album, using concrete images rather than platitudes. It’s also maybe the darkest track on the album, with the chorus: “You thought we were together / You hoped we made it through / But my mind will always wander / Wander back to you.” The line break at “wander” leading into “Wander back to you” adds some room for doubt.

  • “Chapstick, Chapped Lips, and Things Like Chemistry” by Relient K, Monday, March 11, 2024


    Two wrongs don’t make a right, and neither do two lefts. But take a third left, and you’ll be back on course. In 2003, Relient K released their third record, Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right . . . But Three Do. For a band that prided themselves on a teenage sound, Two Lefts was starting to show signs of maturity with singer Matt Thiessen using pop culture as a vehicle to touch on deeper topics such as growing up, spirituality, and love. It served as a bridge between the band’s early sound and their refined crossover appeal on their fourth album, Mmhmm. The band experiments with hardcore punk and Emo, as the music scene was shifting away from jocular pop-punk. 


    THEME PARKS ARE SO MUCH MORE FUN WHEN THE SUN’S OUTSIDE. Relient K’s third record, Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right . . . But Three Do, opens with the upbeat first single “Chap Stick, Chapped Lips, and Things Like Chemistry.” The song talks about going on a field trip to an amusement park and makes several references to cell phones, dating back to when companies limited users’ daytime minutes. Thiessen says that he “lost [his] phone somewhere in the lake on the Batman ride,” probably referring to a now-closed ride, Batman: Knight Flight which was at Six Flag Ohio before the park closed and rebranded in 2004. Six Flags Parks have hosted Christian Rock festivals, and with Ohio’s RadioU sponsoring events and several local bands, Relient K frequently played at the park in the summer. The first song on Relient K’s third album is a reminder of how many church kids would have experienced Relient K.


    OK, SO WHO DOESN’T OWN A CELL PHONE? “Chap Stick, Chapped Lips, and Things Like Chemistry” takes a lyrical turn at the end of the song, almost like a wonky sermon illustration. The message is about relationships “and not just with girls.” The second track on Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right. .  . But Three Do, “Mood Rings,” caused a TikTok controversy in 2022, causing the band to apologize for the sexist lyrics. Making the “Mood Rings” controversy worse was the 2004 book the band released called The Complex Infrastructure Known as the Female Mind, which took its title from the final line of the song. The book categorizes different types of girls in high school, in what seems like mild incell language. In recent years, the band has distanced themselves from the contents of the book, claiming that they contributed very little to the book and that they hadn’t actually read the final product. So when Thiessen claims, “When it comes to relationships” and adds “I’m the dumbest one,” why on earth would anyone read a book or trust what a rock band made up of immature young adults have to say about how to treat, much less categorize others? The answer can probably be found in the insular teachings in evangelical churches at the time. I don’t think that Relient K was trying to harm us, but hearing the repackaged patriarchy from the cool young kids was damaging nonetheless. And if Relient K simply stayed in the Christian tradition, this conversation would be much less interesting.


     Read the lyrics on Genius.

  • “Hey Jealousy” by Gin Blossoms, Sunday, March 10, 2024 (Trigger Warning: Suicide)

    As an assiduous student in music, Aaron Marsh of Copeland, attended Harrison School of the Arts, studying trombone and music theory. By the end of the mid-‘00s, Marsh had used Copeland as a vehicle of multi-instrumental compositions, even going so far to work with an orchestra reinterpreting some of their most beloved songs on 2022’s Revolving Doors. The band gave a one-night-only concert  with the orchestra at The Caverns, a concert hall in a cave with opening act Jenny Dee. Between Dee’s and Copeland’s set, the house music played ‘90s rock—Counting Crows and Gin Blossoms, as I recall—as Copeland and the orchestra set up. Marsh has talked about Gin Blossoms influencing his music, especially when Copeland was a more straightforward rock band, but to hear the connection on the night of Copeland’s full transformation into an art rock band reminded about how important early musical influences are on a band’s career. 


     YOU CAN TRUST ME NOT TO THINK. Being a few years younger than Aaron Marsh and the early millennials in Copeland, I was a little too young to remember Gin Blossoms in the height of their popularity. Along with Counting Crows, the two early ‘90s rock bands seemed to not be influenced by grunge or the waning New Wave sound. Instead, they sounded like what would become popular in the late ‘90s with groups like Tonic, Third Eye Blind, and Matchbox Twenty. Gin Blossoms formed in 1987 in Tempe, Arizona. After releasing their debut album Dusted in 1989 on indie label San Jacinto Records, the band gained popularity and signed to A & M Records, releasing Up and Crumbling EP in 1991 and their second album, New Miserable Experience in 1992. The band recorded 7 of the 12 songs from Dusted, releasing three on Up and Crumbling and four, including today’s song “Hey Jealousy,” on New Miserable Experience. 


    YOU CAN SEE I’M IN NO SHAPE TO DRIVE. Before Gin Blossoms released New Miserable Experience, their record label, A & M, forced the band to fire lead guitarist Doug Hopkins. Along with bassist Bill Leen, Hopkins founded the band after playing with Leen in another band while attending Arizona State University. Hopkins wrote “Hey Jealousy” about his ex-girlfriend. The song’s lyrics touch on the guitarist’s alcoholism, which would lead to his firing in 1992 when the band was in the studio recording Experience. Hopkins was both chronically depressed and was said to have drank so much that he couldn’t even stand up to perform in the studio. When A & M gave the band an ultimatum: fire Hopkins or be dropped from the label, the band sent their lead guitarist on a flight back home with enough aftershave and mouthwash to cover up his intense nightly drinking. According to a Rolling Stone article, Hopkins had claimed that signing to a major label made him feel like “property.” Hopkins formed another band in Tempe called Chimeras. Hopkins received a gold record for “Hey Jealousy,” hanging it up on his wall for two weeks and then destroying it. The song that he had penned about jealousy in a relationship he lost due to drinking was now a hit in a band that had moved on without him. Alcohol had destroyed his life. Sadly, the day after going in for a consultation for checking into a detox program, Doug Hopkins ended his life. Gin Blossoms eventually broke up in 1997 after releasing their hit 1996 follow-up Congratulations, I’m Sorry. The band reformed in 2001 and released three albums between 2006 and 2018. 

    Read the lyrics on Genius.