Sunday, May 31, 2009

Potential guilty pleasure band?

About a year ago I attended my 12th Jimmy Eat World concert in San Jose while I was in the Bay Area doing my internship. Paramore was opening; I remember feeling indifferent to that fact. With my minimal radio/TV consumption I hadn't really heard them or if I had, their music didn't really stick out. I just knew they were a punk-pop band with a female lead singer and that they were popular with the teen crowd, more so among girls, or so I supposed.

Paramore played and I was pleasantly surprised. I was still apathetic toward their music but they at least put on a tight show. And having an attractive singer didn't hurt either.

A week or two went by and I was browsing the Internet looking for Sunny Day Real Estate videos on YouTube when something strange happened: When I typed in the song title "Faces in Disguise" I began seeing more videos for Paramore than Sunny Day Real Estate. I remember clicking this one in particular:


(Fast forward to 0:44 to get past some of the useless banter.)

Instantly my opinion of the band skyrocketed. It's great to see a mainstream band like this recognize the impact Sunny Day Real Estate has on their music. If I wasn't really into their music I could at least (and I do) respect them as a band for their love and reverence for SDRE.

Here's a good video of them covering the song:


(Listen to Hayley belt it out at 3:17 -- holy crap, she's got some pipes!)

The original SDRE version of the song is worth checking too -- one of my favorite songs by them.

Anyway, I guess what I'm getting at is that I might check out Paramore, and not just the songs they cover. And I guess it wouldn't be such a bad thing if I ended up liking them. Sure, they're not the hippest band, but when did being hip dictate what I should and shouldn't like?

3 comments:

  1. Dude Myke. I love paramore and I have liked them since I was like a junior in High School. I love them and they are so awesome live! I'm happy that you were happy with their performance and i'm glad you like them. homegirl can sing!

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  2. I saw them summer 06 and had no idea who they were at the time. I also left with mad respect for their live performance, haven't followed them much since, but I generally like what I've heard from them. I hope to see them performing soon at Toby Keith's I love this Bar & Grill.

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  3. Ha Myke what a coincidence. I was playing rockband 2 today at my friends house and we jammed out to Paramore and I am in similar shoes as you. I just got done downloading their stuff. I also dig SDRE!

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