Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun

If you know what I’m talking about, you know what I’m talking about.

Hat-tip to my pal Nick, the Official Philadelphia Correspondent for Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun, for this one. I’m sure I’m late to the party on emo mashups, but what else is new with this sucky blog? The concept of this sort of thing is obviously right up my alley, but I feel like the execution in this case could be a little better. Still pretty awesome, though!

Anyway, listen to, um, “The Quiet Infidelities That No One Ever Screams.”

A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar

4) Dashboard Confessional, A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar (2003)

Oh, Dashboard Confessional. Is there a more divisive band out there? Dashboard boosters would take a bullet for the band; detractors can’t bring themselves to even listen. (Ok, I may be generalizing, but who knows.) All I know is that of all the emo-type bands that I enjoy, Dashboard tends to elicit the most ughs, blechs, and really?s. You know what? I don’t care. I effing love Dashboard.

The band’s entire catalogue falls well within the confines of our list, so picking one particular album was sort of tough: they’re all so good! However, comma, A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar takes the cake. The decision, in a big way, came down to sheer volume: AMAMABAS has 13 tracks, and all of them are pure dynamite. To quote a song from another album on this list, “even all the bad songs ain’t so bad.” (I’ll go ahead and say that “Morning Calls” is the worst song on the album. Take that how you will.)

A Mark represents Dashboard Confessional’s Newport Folk Festival moment, so to speak. After two acoustic albums, the band’s third full-length featured a full electric band. Regular readers of Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun understand that I’m a sucker for anything acoustic, but the fact remains that musically, there are certain things you can only do when you’re plugged in.

In this blog’s previous iteration, I’ve talked about the maybe-not-so-rare opening track trifecta on A Mark. As that post makes clear, a strong opening track (which A Mark has) is crucially important, but if the two tracks after that rock too, well, you might have a Top Ten Favorite Album of the Decade on your hands. “Rapid Hope Loss” is as heavy a tune as you’ll find on a Dashboard album (which means not quite that heavy at all), but where the music fails to smash like a hammer, the lyrics cut like a knife: “Well thanks for waiting this long to show yourself. / ‘Cause now that I can see you, / I don’t think you’re worth a second glance.” My favorite track, “As Lovers Go,” follows. I won’t go into too much detail, because it’s a sweet song, and I feel like if I waxed poetic about every sweet song I liked on this list, y’all would get diabetes or something.

Chris Carrabba, as Rolling Stone says, is the godfather of emo. I won’t go into individual tracks too deeply, because in a way, they’re all the same. I mean that in a positive way, though it doesn’t sound like it. What I mean is that, as a songwriter, Carrabba is incredibly consistent. Each song brims with passion, wit, and emotion. He’s among the best there is at what he does.

I like A Mark a lot because, since it came out, it’s been an album that I’ve been able to just sort of hang around in. For a good long while, I listened almost exclusively to the first half. Who knows why: it had songs I liked, and I never bothered getting around to the later tracks. Then I was asking the Official Bandmate of Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun (what, you’ve never heard of Wait for Summer?) about suggestions for a good summertime playlist. “Why not ‘Carve Your Heart Out’?” he asks me. Why not indeed! As it turns out, for as strong as the album starts, it finishes just as strong: “So Beautiful,” “Hey Girl,” “If You Can’t Leave It Be,” and “Several Ways to Die Trying” are just as addictive as the first four tracks. And so then for the next few months, I hung around almost exclusively in the back end of the album. Then I grew up and realized I could listen to the whole thing, and well, here we are. I just love Dashboard.

Signature track: “Hands Down”

You may or may not know, but Dashboard Confessional is probably the band that exerts the strongest influence on my North Jersey emocore duo, Wait for Summer. The way my buddy Joe and I write lyrics and music, and his vocal stylings, wind up sounding more like Dashboard than anyone else. It’s not on purpose, but it happens. Consequently, I find myself very interested in Chris Carrabba’s songwriting.

My choice of signature track here is another deference to the artist. I’ve been to a few Dashboard Confessional shows, and every one has ended with “Hands Down.” And every time, Carrabba introduces the song the same way: “This is a song about the best night of my life.” I believe it. As I’ve written before, I admire guys that can write songs, autobiographical or not, about things that I just can’t bring myself to. Even if I could pick out the best night of my life, I know I’m wholly incapable of describing it with the detail and honesty of “Hands Down.” This Dashboard tune is sort of the opposite of the Fall Out Boy example: just a song that’s clearly filled with joy, and love, and earnestness. It’ll warm the ol’ cockles of your heart.

My buddy Reeves over at Meanderings does this thing from time to time called Aural Stories. Long story short, he highlights songs that have a strong narrative element. Actually, that was a short story to begin with. Here’s a quick one about Weezy. It’s a neat idea, so I’m promoting it. But with a twist. I’m going to talk about a song that USED to have a strong narrative element.

Regular readers of Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun know that I’m a demo fiend. If the production values aren’t real good, if the song was recorded in a hotel room on the European tour, or if most of the lyrics are completely different, then I want it. I gotta have it! I just find it fascinating to see the creative process in action.

Sometimes, unfortunately, you come to discover that the demo is, in fact, better than the track that makes it onto the album. Brand New’s “Untitled 09,” from the Fight Off Your Demons samizdat, is a classic example. Here’s the demo . . .

. . . which is like, one of my favorite Brand New tunes. Now listen to “The Archers’ Bows Have Broken,” from 2006’s The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, and keep an ear out for the one bit that they pulled out of the demo.

Great song, indeed. But . . . the demo was better!

Which leads me to Dashboard Confessional’s “Rooftops and Invitations.” It’s on Dusk and Summer. Listen to a little live rendition:

Great tune, right? I’ve felt that way for years. Then, one day, I got a link from Chris Carrabba’s Twitter feed about a couple “Rooftops and Invitations” demos. Here’s the most polished version.

Notice how different it is? And like, better?

Firstly, the album version’s hook

She just might get you lost
And she just might leave you torn
But she just might save your soul
If she gets you and she, gets you any closer

doesn’t even exist. And the rest of the verses are all mixed up. What you’ve got between the album’s track and the demo is the difference between a song with some hooky lyrics, and an actual story.

She leads you up, points out skylines and steeple chases,
All lace in secret places she moves you to touch with her hand.
The city longs well for water and conversation, rooftops and invitations to stay for the night, in her bed
Under the cool sheets where the welcome touch of skin and skin will meet.
Hot on the inside where the girl’s prize is at the tip of your tongue.
Sweet, and pure, and longing for your deep embrace.

You’ve listened to both tracks. How much hotter and more soulful is the demo? It’s not even close, right? “Rooftops and Invitations” the album track is a song that I wouldn’t skip on a shuffle. “Rooftops and Invitations” the demo is a song that’s been burning a hole in my iPod for the past week. And I’ve been operating with only one working earphone!

That’s why being a demo fiend is such a double-edged sword. Yeah, sometimes, you find a gem like this one. But then you realize you live in a world where Chris Carrabba thinks a great song needs to be made worse to make it onto his album. Kinda sad.