25 Albums. #12: Siren Song of the Counter Culture by Rise Against

In 2005, I was mostly familiar with bands on the more mainstream side of things. Sugarcult, Motion City Soundtrack, New Found Glory, Fall Out Boy... I could go on but it's kind of embarrassing that there was a time when all the modern bands that I knew were the really sugary sounding ones played on Fuse. I knew a bunch of the classic bands, but as far as bands that I knew represented my era, I was pretty ignorant.

Of course, I discovered Rise Against because of Fuse too. Some video had just finished (I think it was either Sugarcult's "Memory" or Saves the Day's "Anywhere with You") when the video for "Give It All" came on. I wasn't really paying attention to the screen, but the music was a lot heavier and more aggressive than I was used to hearing. Granted, I've discovered much heavier music since then, but keep in mind I was still pretty young and unexposed to a lot of things.

I bought Siren Song of the Counter Culture a few weeks before going away to on vacation to Disneyland that year. A few days after I got back from there, I went to camp for three weeks and got back home just before school started. I don't think I took it out of my CD player until after the fifth week of my senior year. That's how much I listened to it. Seriously. I know this is the album that has "Swing Life Away" on it, so they're not all heavy hitters, but in comparison to what I was used to, this might as well have been Sabbath.

I guess a more appropriate analogy would be Black Flag.

Oh, and this album was the soundtrack to my ride home after the night I lost my virginity. So there's that too, I guess.