Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist

The above is a picture of my boys. Mike, Tyson, Nick, and Chris; Together? The All-American Rejects!

AAR has been my favorite band for YEARS. I remember first hearing "Dirty Little Secret" being played on the radio continuously and thinking, "Wow, this song never gets old!". I think Move Along was the first ever real honest-to-goodness cd I ever bought. Mom and I listened to it all the way home from Bowling Green, loved it, then when I got home, I had that thing on repeat in my purple stereo for the next 3 hours.

I even remember Mom coming into my room, Top Of The World blaring, and me on the computer, humming along. Even then I didn't like to sing aloud, but my big mouthed brother told Mom that I had been singing along and knew every word to each and every song. So naturally, Mom wanted to see if that was true. At first, I was stubborn and didn't want to sing, but eventually I started back to humming, then worked my way up to full out belting.

I bought their first cd, The All-American Rejects, at a Walmart in Tennessee while on or way down to Florida for the first time. We popped it in the player and got about halfway through before everyone said it was annoying. Everyone, that is, except for me. I put that sucker in my portable cd player(ahh, days before my Sansa.), turned up the volume, and listened to that cd for 8 hours. Even after we got to the condo, I spent the nights laying on the bed, tuned out from the rest of the world.

I waited ever so impatiently for their 3rd cd to come out. Years, in fact. When it was finally, FINALLY released, I was pleasantly shocked to find that AAR had obtained a new sound. Gives You Hell is an anthem for the rebellious, Breakin' is super catchy and slightly melancholy, and Mona Lisa is the sweet song for all the pop rock romantics out there.

The All-American Rejects may not be as popular as some of the more played bands on the radio, but they're still one of the best. I think their lack of time in the spotlight is part of what makes me like them so much. If you haven't heard of them(and you'd have to have been living under a rock to have NOT), you need to go look them up ASAP.