Fake nostalgia is the real emo

Last Friday, the 25th anniversary edition of The Get Up Kids’ Something to Write Home About came out. It was an incredibly emotional moment for all the people who had been there in 1999 when the record was first released. Late ’90s saw the rise of nu metal on the charts, brit pop stepping aside to let Radiohead in, Britney Spears moving hearts and bodies, and music download seriously taking off courtesy of Napster. Something to Write Home About seemed unaware of all this and some people loved the record even more for it.

At least this is what I heard and read over the weekend. I was not there, not in spirit anyway, so what do I know? Too young and out of pretty much anything related to alternative music news, I was just discovering grunge and brit pop back in 1999 before adolescent’s rage diverted me to nu metal. It took a full dose of Fugazi and the AmRep catalogue to set me back on the right track. Still, The Get Up Kids were nowhere in my radar.

Fast forward to 2007. A nice guy on a now-dead internet forum introduced me to Quicksand and Rival Schools in order to kick off my post-hardcore phase. Once Drive Like Jehu and Texas Is the Reason settled in my stereo I learnt to appreciate the Emo music that I was hardly seeing on television. However, it was 2009 by then. The Get Up Kids had broken up and they had also reunited and, let’s be honest, I did not pay that much attention. I thought certain kind of music I attached my younger self to was not relevant to me any more. I was wrong, so wrong.

Another fast forward. 2017. New job, new commute. Time on public transport has always been a great time for listening to music. Unfathomable reasons had put some heavy stuff back in my ears. Luckily nothing related to nu metal. Instead, post-hardcore and noise were, once again, my go-to genres, but it was not just about old, beloved records. It took me very little time to catch up with what I missed and this was when I gave The Get Up Kids another, proper chance. I started with Something to Write Home About and it all ended with Something to Write Home About.

I know The Get Up Kids are more than an incredible record. Yet, just as all I need from Trail of Dead is Worlds Apart, Something to Write Home About is everything I could ask for to Matt Pryor and his band mates. The interesting thing is that whatever I link this music to has nothing to do with the historical significance of The Get Up Kids releasing these songs in 1999, nor are there tears of sadness for a particular live performance I missed.¹ And to be frank, how can I relate to lyrics about break-ups, one-night stands, and betrayals of all sorts? Is this really me?

I have records in my collection that I consider specifically mine. Not in an overprotective parent sort of way, but mine in terms of I just do not share them with anyone. For starters, my partner does not like them, and that is fine since we came from different musical backgrounds anyway. More than that, though, these are records where I find a side of me that I like to keep for myself. They remind me of what-ifs and situations I could have approached better, they open up a world where certain feelings make more sense, they act as the friend I want to confess things to. These records have songs that I sing along when I am alone and only when I am alone, afraid to let too much out. Something to Write Home About may very well be the leader of the pack here, and I am grateful The Get Up Kids gave me another excuse to lose myself into it.