Recommendations: "Summer Rocks (with the Heart)" Part 1

by: Carlos Figueroa


Well, as I have noticed lately (Facebook's been full of romantic quotes and sayings...), romance and love are a (big) part of summer (it is so "big" lately that I'll have to make 2 parts of the same topic). In this part I'll talk about 3 bands that I absolutely love, two of which have already been featured in the FGI and a newcomer to the FGI. I'll start with the veterans; I'll try to be brief and focus rather on this bands' songs than their style (which have already been discussed thoroughly).

Our first veteran band is The Academy Is..., one of my favorites because of their lyrics and sound. Most of TAI's songs deal with romance, but what i like is the fact that they don't get stuck in the mellow and gooey realms of pre-teens and pop stars; of course, they've had their moments, but they know how to get over it. For all of you who have fallen into depression or are in a stage of total denial, the song "About a Girl" is a spot-on stab to your heart. Now, if you are going for a less "loving" song you can have songs like "Summer Hair=Forever Young" or "The Test"; if you have bittersweet memories, then you should listen to "Rumored Nights" and "After the Last Midtown Show". Last but not least, if you really want to go into an over-the-top dedicatory to your boy/girlfriend you should totally listen "I'm Yours Tonight" (and no-- it's not about THAT, dirty heads! Sorry, I could keep myself from joking with the title.).

As our second veteran we have Paramore, coincidentally another one of my beloved bands (and, along with TAI, member of Fueled by Ramen) which talks about love in some of their songs. To make it simple I'll divide the songs by themes into 2 categories and a sub-category: (a) Lovey-dovey songs and (b) Regret songs, which I'll divide into (i)Broken-hearted songs and (ii) Fuck You songs (I think it makes it more clear this way). In the lovey-dovey set we have "My Heart" (which could also kinda fit in the next category, too) and "The Only Exception". For the Broken-hearted ones we have "When It Rains", "Stuck on You", "Never Let This Go", "Playing God", "For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic", "We are Broken", "Decode", and "That's What You Get". Last, for the Fuck You songs we have "Ignorance", "Misery Business", and "Brick by Boring Brick".

Last but not least, another of my great favorites and FGI newcomer, the Irish band The Script. This band really is the crème de la crème in terms of love songs. The two songs which really take love to the next level are "Breakeven" (lyrically and vocally the song really makes you believe the line "I'm falling to pieces") and "The Man Who Can't be Moved". Other songs by this band that also fit in this recommendations are "Talk you Down", "We Cry", "Before the Worst", "Fall for Anything", and "Live Like We're Dying".


Get ready for Part 2. Keep on rocking!