Taking Back Sunday's "Tell all your Friends" turns 20

Hate them or love them, but TAKING BACK SUNDAY's debut album "Tell all your Friends" was a landmark record for Indie-, Emo- and Punk-music. Being released in 2002, this record was in the right place at the right time. Prior to it, bands like THURSDAY, AT THE DRIVE-IN or JIMMY EAT WORLD had a lot of success with their Post-Hardcore/Emo-sound, paving the way for the biggest mainstream splash Punk-music ever had. And "Tell all your Friends" is one of the most important records of this unforgettable era. What made it so important was its style. It was what everyone was asking for. It was a record that brought a lot of new listeners to the genre, while "real" Punk/Emo-kids could still cherish it. TAKING BACK SUNDAY married the scene with the mainstream, no matter what...

"Tell all your Friends" got a "Gold"-certification in the U.S., selling nearly 800.000 copies and was the most important Victory Records-release up to this point. I'm still wondering how they were able to keep them for another record, before they signed to a major label. 

Talking about their style, TAKING BACK SUNDAY produced something like the most commercialized rendition of Midwest-Emo up to 2002. In fact it was more like a blend of (Bubblegum-)Pop-Punk and some Emo-aesthetics. It was juvenile and angsty, but it also captured that longing feeling of bands like JIMMY EAT WORLD and THE GET UP KIDS and made it accesible to listeneres who were into BLINK-182 and stuff. On top of that the singing was sweet, cute and ultra-clean. Some called this Emo-Pop and I guess that was legit. But it was not like they stuffed the ballads down your throat 'til you'd choke on them... the tracks were upbeat most of the time and I think that's what kept the Punks on board. After the successor "Where you want to be" they lost this kind of charm, making everything from 2006 on simply redundant. 

Personally I didn't really like this record when it came out. It was bad timing for me, in a phase of my life when I was getting into stuff like CONVERGE, THE BLOOD BROTHERS, BOTCH, Metalcore and Screamo. Secretly I loved the hell out of "Cute without the 'E'" & "Great Romances of the 20th Century", but never cared about getting deeper into the album. The latter was the first TBS-song I got to know and it still brings me the chills. Many years later, being more open-minded then, I got into the whole record. I was especially surprised by the clever, meaningful lyrics of these young guns. That being said, it's not like "Tell all your Friends" is a masterpiece for me. Besides my favs, I really do like "Timberwolves at New Jersey" and "There's no 'I' in Team", but some of the lesser known songs are not up to par and kind of lackluster. "Tell all your Friends" is no perfectly weighed out album, it's an album that is dominated by 4 to 5 awesome songs. Maybe, just maybe "Cute without the 'E'" and "Great Romances of the 20th Cenutry" are just TOO good...

The most special thing about TAKING BACK SUNDAY's style was the intervening singing of Adam Lazzara and John Nolan. Despite using an ident vocal-style they perfectly complemented each other, breathing a lot of life into their songs. The vocal harmonies are beautiful and passionate and it was something unique at its time, at least in this context. 

The downside to "Tell all your Friends" was its impact on the whole scene. TAKING BACK SUNDAY inspired a lot of copy cats, who then diluted the genre by the Mid-2000s. It's a common phenomenon when a certain kind of style gets popular and the majors are looking for the next big thing. It's not like TBS' debut was solely responsible for this developement, but it had its fair share. To sum it up, "Tell all your Friends" is probably more important than excellent, though when it's excellent it's really excellent...