The Get Up Kids

When I was in high school I thought I was the most punk rock person ever, and was completely anti-emo. Emo music had just become popular...and by "emo" I mean bands like the Get Up Kids, Saves the Day, the Anniversary, etc...not actual emo bands (think Rites of Spring), more like pop punk. But hey, whatever, I was 16. Anyway, all my punk friends, who previously wore band t-shirts and had spikey hair, started wearing tight jeans and vintage Good Will/Salvation Army t-shirts (this was before shirts were being made to look vintage). I totally made fun of them and boycotted that music. Until I actually listened to the Get Up Kids. What first attracted me to them were the lyrics. They were intelligent and well-written. They were emotional and struck a chord with my awkward, confused, post-pubescent teenage-girl self. I could identify a song with every boy I liked ("You're barely missing me, I'm missing you and everything you do"), every ex-boyfriend I had ("It's easier to say it's over. It's easier, but I might still be pretending"), ex-friends ("Forgive me for running off to find the one thing I have to do"). My best friend moved to Massachusetts for college so lyric-wise "Stay Gold, Ponyboy" was an obvious choice but the title, "A New Found Interest in Massachusetts" worked, too.

Even after being completely over the punk/hardcore/indie/whatever music scenes I still could put on a TGUK cd and it would bring me right back to when I heard it for the first time. Even "Never You Mind" by the New Amsterdams (TGUK's singer Matt Pryor's acoustic project) is still on my iPod.

I just found out that The Get Up Kids are playing in NY on May 1st. I tried to get tickets and they're all sold out. I'm trying every way I can to get them still, though, because I've never had a chance to see them live. B is pretty much refusing to go with me, even though I know he likes them, which sucks because I don't know who I'd go with. I secretly know he'll say ok once I buy the tickets anyway (well, at least I hope he will).

My favorite Get Up Kids song, "Forgive and Forget" from the Red Letter Day EP