All Time Low...Selling Out?

So, All Time Low was on MTV today. It upsets me a little, but you know, bands get bigger, you can't keep them as your little secret forever. There's, unfortunately, nothing you can do to stop them.

Alex, from All Time Low, put up a YouTube video asking what our definition of selling out was, and it made me think. I threw that term around like a baseball for awhile when I talked about Fall Out Boy, but in all actuality, I wasn't using it in the right context.

His definition of selling out: 'When a band or artist or someone in that position changes what they do creatively based on money that they are usually going to recieve.'

To me, that is the best definition of selling out that I've heard, if you can call a definition of selling out good.

A video being on TRL isn't selling out. Some people think that being on MTV is causing bands to sell out when in all actuality, they're making bands more mainstream. [Personally I believe MTV is stealing artists souls, but that's not the point] Becoming mainstream and selling out are two different things.

I think what I'm most afraid of is seeing a band that I've been able to interact with, and see at smaller venues appear on MTV. It scares me to think that they could turn into another Fall Out Boy where tickets for a concert are $40 and they as people become people who instead of doing what they love for the fans, they're doing it because of money.

I know that the guys from All Time Low tend to brighten up my shitty days, like when they're were in Milwaukee with BLG and I got to meet them and yes, even a little bit today, when I was home sick, flipping to TRL and seeing their video as opposed to another rapper who will have one song and disappear.

So right now, they're not selling out. But when [and yes, I mean when, because as much as I want to keep them as my secret little awesome band that never goes multi platinum] they become this HUGE phenomenon, I sincerely hope that they don't forget the little guys who had to search four Targets on September 25th to find the CD they (im)patiently waited for.

Six years changes a lot

There was no war on terrorism going on

I was in fourth grade

It was my sister's fourth birthday.

I watched a plane hit a building on Good Morning America

It weird to think how much we've changed in six years.

It's weird to see how the last five years there have been reminders to wear red white and blue today, but this year, it kinda faded.

Six years later there isn't so much of a mention everywhere.

Nothing in the morning announcements at school.

No church bells going off when the planes hit

After the fifth anniversary, do we all just forget about it?

Does it fall to the back of our memories, only to be brought up again when there is a major anniversary?

Is the patriotism we all had gone?

On August 18th, a day with no significance today, the people of lower Manhattan got a bit of a 9/11 flashback. The Deutsche Bank Building that still stands next to ground zero started on fire. The haze that covered Manhattan those days after 9/11 returned

I remember when I went to NYC in 8th grade, they told us about how at that time, almost 4 years later, they were still finding human remains in that building because that building was flooded with smoke that day and people died inside. They also told us how it couldn't just be torn down, because the toxins would hurt the environment and the people in the area. It was being taken down floor by floor when the fire broke out.

I remember how depressing it was looking at the list of names. I remembered back to 9/11 and how my first thoughts were of Meaghan Clohessy's family and how so many of them lived in NYC. Looking at the list of those who lost thier lives, I realized how close she was to losing memebers of her family.

I remember how depressing it was just standing on the sidewalk. There was a man playing amazing grace on a flute that just made it worse.

So, where is our caring, our love of our country?

Six years later.

There's two wars going on...to "fight threats to our country"

I'm a sophmore in high school, and I understand so much more. I understand that there are a lot of horrible people in the world and everybody you meet can't automatically start out being your best friend.

My sister is 10 now and she still hates when people gasp when she tells them her birthday. She still doesn't totally understand what happened. But she has stopped saying "the planes crashed on my birthday"

We've all grown so much in 6 years. It's weird to look back, but it necessary.

Sometimes we all just need to look back at who we used to be.

Because who we used to be shaped who we are today, for better or worse.

Maybe Life Fucking Sucks

Maybe I should get over it
Maybe I need some tough love
Maybe you shouldn't tell someone that you're going to be somewhere and you go out drinking instead
Maybe a phone call would've been nice
Maybe you should realize you have a problem
MAYBE SOMEONE SHOULD STOP DENYING YOU HAVE A PROBLEM!
Maybe I'm a fucking baby
Maybe I just need someone to be there
Maybe you need some love when you drop another two seconds
Life has too many maybes

The random thoughts that swirl through my head

This is what happens when no one talks to me and I watch a bunch of youtube videos.

Specifically, TAI TV Episode Number 25.

1. Why do bands go to non-english speaking countries. Like do they sing along or do they just clap and scream? If they sing, do they know what they're saying or do they just say these things because they learned how to say the words? I think they are out there singing about sex and shit because they have no clue what the hell they are saying.

2. Is Mike Carden always high? Is it just his personality? Is he just really stupid and that causes him to sound high? I think it's a combination of stupidity and being high.

3. Why does every almost every goddamned episode of TAI TV end the same? 'Dedicated to my good friend, Adam T. Siska'. Why is he so goddamned special. I mean I've got nothing against him but yeah.