Classic songs of the new Millennium: The All-American Rejects "Swing Swing"

I'm not some sort of idiot teeny-bopper. I am in no way a closet emo person or a punk loser annoying hipster asshole. I tend to hate corny, childish, high-school themed music. I believe that most people don't understand or notice the complexities in life until they are about 12-15 years old. So all memories and opinions and beliefs before that are basically from their parents or immediate enviroment. For example, I'm pretty sure a 10 year old can't explain why they'd be a die-hard New York Ranger fan. Maybe it's because the players are tall and look cool as hell. As they grow, the kid realizes how great of a scorer, passer, or defender the player is. I believe the same thing about music. Kids probably like whatever their parents or neighbors like. They don't understand the lyricism or the craziness of the music or beat. Unless they are a genius superchild. But once they reach that point, around 12-15 years old, children create their own identities. They have the intelligence to come up with conclusions and opinions. That's probably why scientists call it puberty. Enough with the philosophical talk. My point is, I was 12 years old in the year 2000. So I guess could say, my whole developed life has been i n the new millenium. With that, I infer that I'd be good at judging the music, trends, and culture of the past 9 years.

A close-minded idiot minded idiot might judge me as a wuss or punk for liking this song. Or a person that is too hip and cool for society might think I'm a sell-out loser. That's totally cool; I can stand the heat so I stay in the kitchen. The All-American Rejects made "Swing Swing" as teens. They aren't Jimi Hendrix so it ain't like the best guitar playing in the world. As a matter of fact, the song was so simple to play, that a novice guitar player like me picked up on it in an hour or so. The lyrics are fairly simple and high school poetry-ish. Can't blame them because the dudes were like 18 when they made it. But that's what makes the song so good in my eyes. It isn't complex or crazy or unique as hell. Probably because there's a ton of bands that copy the hell out of The All-American Rejects now.

2003 was a year or hip-hop/r&b/rap music. I don't know if you remember, but the biggest hits of the time were Beyonce "Crazy in Love", 50 Cent "In Da Club", and the pedophile R. Kelly "Ignition Remix". Of course there were many rock songs out. But they were mainly alternative from bands like Evanescence and 3 Doors Down. Now I'm talking about mainstream music of course so I don't want to hear no "Wow this kid is a pop-tart". I'm sorry I live in common American society. Anyways, music 2003 is clearly different from current music. That is, until The All-American Rejects came through with "Swing Swing". Like I said, the song is simple as hell. But it's still awesome.

The song basically started up the whole "emo/punkpop/whatever the hell you call it" being cool trend. True bands like Dashboard Confessional existed. But their riffs weren't catchy and their singer is a complete baby. Sure Tyson Ritter, the lead singer of The All-American Rejects has a bad, whiny sounding singing voice. But it sure compliments the tone of the song. The whole emo-ness and sadness of the song is pretty perfect for a high school kid right. Well whoop-de-doo, I was a high school kid then. I can't think of any type of pop-emo/pop-punk music that was popular before this. I can't even say Blink-182; their songs were pop-punkish, but their songs weren't emo as hell and their instrumentals are a lot more complex than The All-American Rejects. Plus, Blink 182 had a "harder" image, with tattoos and spiky hair. The All-American Rejects had that then-weird casual style goin for them. All in all, the song "Swing Swing" is catchy as hell, with a memorable chorus to the song. You can't forget the singer's whiny voice. The guitar solo, while simple, was the type that evoked a thought of, "wow these kids don't play guitar crazy well, but they sure are sad". Ain't that what music is supposed to do? Stimulate the senses? No matter how corny or terrible the song is, you have to admit the song fits together very well and achieves the goal it had.

But like I said, the song was one of the first of it's genre. Soon enough, similar genre bands like Yellowcard and Fall Out Boy would become mainstream. And it seems like this genre of emo-pop-punksih music is taking over. Especially with wannabe All-American Rejects bands such as Boys Like Girls and We The Kings. You could probably even argue that the ascent of The All-American Rejects led to the popularity of the Jonas Brothers. Maybe we should go back in time and eliminate them before their could've started this movement. I'm kidding. I'd only go back in time to stop Fall Out Boy because they're super wack. The only difference is between these new bands and The All-American Rejects is, no matter how catchy or whiny or crazy they make their songs, they'll never make anything good as the original, "Swing Swing".

There will be more Classic Songs of the new Millennium but here's the 1st entry, The All-American Rejects "Swing Swing"