A decade ago, five musicians from Jacksonville, Florida had a part in changing the face of pop-punk music.
Now, ten years later, in celebration of the unprecedented success of Yellowcard’s Ocean Avenue the band are embarking on a huge world tour in support of the newly released record of acoustic renditions of the album that made them famous.
We take a look back at the band’s roots, how they got there, and what that all means.
The Year Pop-Punk Broke
In 1993 producer Dave Markey released 1991: The Year Punk Broke, a documentary on the touring lives of music legends including Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, and The Ramones. The film had substantial significance as it displayed artists that defined a generation and consequently influenced a whole new sub-genre, pop-punk.
Who’d of thought almost exactly a decade later, a similar phenomenon or perhaps somewhat resurgence would occur at the bratty-punk hands of the likes of Sum 41, Fall Out Boy, and Good Charlotte.
“The jovial idea of pop-punk came to the fore of popular music, paving the way for the Yellowcard that was to be.”This market breakage was indisputably championed by the terror-trio that is blink-182 and their multi-platinum third release Enema Of The State in 1999.
New Found Glory’s eponymously titled sophomore release made its way into the market promptly by September 2000, serving as the soundtrack to frat parties and keggers across the United States.
This record has been dubbed as one of the quintessential pop-punk foundations so much so that blink 182’s co-frontman Mark Hoppus commented “New Found Glory had something different and unique and were a lot more interesting than a lot of stuff going on”.
That same year, as if by fate or divine timing, Good Charlotte too released their self-titled debut album, marking another turn in mainstream pop-punk.
These three records brought the jovial idea of pop-punk to the forefront of popular music and paved the way for a myriad of similar sized outfits belting the shit out of their instruments.
And so it goes, 1999: the year pop-punk broke.
‘What’s My Age Again?’ – Blink 182
‘Little Things’ – Good Charlotte
The Underdogs
While the aforementioned bands were jumping jolly ‘til the end due to unparalleled sales figures for pop-punk collectives, five mates down south in Jacksonville, Florida, had already released two records that had garnered very little success compared to their counterparts.
The band of brothers, who met at Douglas Anderson High, had two prior records that stood as emulations of a Bad Brains inspired crash’n’bash hardcore effort that unfortunately rendered the band a sinking ship.
While the band’s second release, 1999’s Where We Stand failed to even exist as a whiff under a record label’s nose – blink-182’s Enema Of The State had well and truly annexed the charts on a global scale, cracking the pop-punk market.
‘Time Will Tell’ from Where We Stand
The year 2000 saw a dynamic shift for the band with the departure of lead vocalist Ben Dobson and the introduction of Ryan Key. Charismatic drummer Longineu Parsons III noted of the reformation stating “once we had a melody with Ryan Key, it opened a whole set off doors for us”.
Key’s inclusion dawned a fresh harmonious breath and a subdued sound that reinvigorated and reinvented the band. Their EP for the year Still Standing was pressed to a positive reception and paved a more dignified presence to what would become Yellowcard’s unique and signature contribution to pop-punk: the violin.
The year 2000 opened the floodgates for the bratty pop-punks as blink-182’s ‘All The Small Things’ peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard charts, followed closely by Greenday’s ‘Minority’ closing out the top 20.
North Americans were digging this new genre and Yellowcard consequently earned a spot on Lobster label.
Nuturing their newfound sound in a newfound home of sunny California, Yellowcard released a super celebrated EP The Underdog – an utterly fitting title for the time.
The Underdog was finally snuffed out by an A&R representative from Capitol Records and Yellowcard had wagered their first major record deal by the year 2002. On it goes, 2002: The Year Yellowcard Broke.
‘Underdog’ from The Underdog EP
The Release – Track By Track
Set in the direct sunlight of the 2003 North American summer was the release of what would be Yellowcard’s defining moment in their musical history: Ocean Avenue.
None could better describe the record than the ones who created this pop-punk masterpiece.
“Ocean Avenue is a landmark in our career that we have kept in view since the first note was written” say the members as they glance back at the true legacy and impact this record has bestowed upon their lives.
“I think I’m breaking out, I’m gonna leave you now”.
The ten words from ‘Way Away’ that unknowingly yet accurately depicted Yellowcard’s future. So long Jacksonville Florida and indie labels, hello platinum selling record and headlining world tours.
The tactfully placed first track is electrically charged with bravado and when that first chorus drops, the entire symphony that is Yellowcard burns through they brand their name at the top of the pop-punk history books.
The track boldly stands the one that provided a legion of fans for Yellowcard. In 2003, the Ocean Avenue opener was exposed to a casual 6.5 million viewers of the hit TV show Smallville.
‘Way Away’
Such exposure rewarded ‘Way Away’ their highest chart performance to date, peaking at #25 on the US modern rock charts and across the pond in the UK at #63.
If 2002 was the year Yellowcard broke, ‘Way Away’ was the brick that shattered the break.
“And I can hear you breathing”.
‘Breathing’ was the first track off Ocean Avenue that the band had heard all together. Head honcho Ryan Key described the life changing moment, “we were in Texas and we’d received our first mix of any track…It was just like an outer body experience, to hear our music had that much power”.
‘Breathing’
Key’s concise observation of “power” couldn’t hit the nail any harder. The counterpart to the opening ‘bookend’, Breathing extends on the exploding velocity of pace that was now set in motion.
Lyrically, Key professes of a deteriorating relationship with then-girlfriend as insomnia charges his impending guilt and anxiety.
“Let your waves crash down on me and take me away”
Homage to the past. Ticket to the future. Fan favourite. The most frequently performed song from the Yellowcard discography. The title track of the record.
Eloquently phrased yet frequently misunderstood, the eponymous song is a tribute to the collective’s native home of Jacksonville. It reminisces of their original stomping grounds such as “Cherry Street” as the band vocalise their appreciation for their roots as they’re engulfed into the maddening sea of rockstar success.
Released in early 2004 as the second single from the record, ‘Ocean Avenue’ is Yellowcard’s brightest shining achievement.
‘Ocean Avenue’
It gained its popularity in a time when MTV stood for Music Television and there existed program worth tuning into entitled TRL where the ‘Ocean Avenue’ video premiered. The video shot straight to #1 on the program and even won the MTV2 Award at the MTV Video Awards in 2004.
The song was performed at 2004 MTV Music Awards alongside a list of music’s greatest names of the time including OutKast, Kanye West and our very own Jet, performing on the back of their highly successful, and release Get Born.
Yellowcard had made it on one of popular music’s grandest platforms.
By all accounts, the band had officially made it and were championing the pop-punk name in the public spectrum reaching a chart pinnacle of 37 on the Billboard Hottest 100 charts for 2004.
“Maybe someday I will see you again and you’ll look me in my eyes and call me your friend”.
Key states ‘Empty Apartment’ encapsulated his strongest feelings of sentiment and attachment on the entire record.
The cult favourite is dedicated to previous band member and friend of Yellowcard, Key says “it is about an incredibly good friend of mine who is no longer in Yellowcard, we had a falling out, I just wrote a song about it. I wrote a song about how much I missed him, and about how sad I was that things went the way they did. That song is very close to me”.
‘Empty Apartment’
Despite the song not being released as a single, the track struck a chord with fans. Key’s attributes this to his accessible lyrics, entirely applicable to any friendship that has encountered “love or loss”.
‘Empty Apartment’ is the perfect transition between Yellowcard’s heavier battalion of tracks.,
The heartfelt tune thrust the band into further popular culture stardom exposing the pop-punk band to the faces of the TV drama sensation, One Tree Hill.
“There’s just no one that gets me like you do”
The heart-wrenching third and final single from the album, ‘Only One’ was released at the beginning of 2005, and was lauded by a vast majority of critics as the most memorable moment of the record.
The song’s bridge is indisputably the greatest build-up on the record as both the mood and tempo rise with Key’s confessions “I feel so broken up, and I give up, I just want to tell you so you know” to a cathartic “here I go, scream my lungs out and try to get to you”.
‘Only One’
The track features Sean Mackin perfectly complimenting the emotive lyrics with a tear-induced violin solo that permanently separates Yellowcard from any other competing pop-punk outfit of the era.
‘Only One’s chart performance rendered Ocean Avenue’s final release a success, peaking at 28 on the Billboard Mainstream Charts in 2005. This was in fact Yellowcard’s last hurrah and noticeable impact on the charts for some time.
Legacy
A decade later, the legacy that Ocean Avenue has left in its violin-induced wake is undeniable in the world of pop-punk
To date it is the quintet’s highest selling record at well over one million copies being sold worldwide.
The band stated to Blunt Magazine “our biggest dream was to maybe one day play on the main stage at the Warped tour”. Not only have they achieved this dream, Yellowcard have played a total of five warped tours since 2002, headlining the punk free-for-all in 2004.
It was the triumph of Ocean Avenue that allowed the band to live out their collective dream.
As the body of popular music swiftly opened its hearts and wallets to the world of pop-punk, it wasted no time in closing that same door of opportunity. The once illustrious scene was now over-crowded.
Yellowcard’s relevance did not wane post-Ocean Avenue with the band having produced four more LPs.
A decade later in the year 2013, Yellowcard bestow no ignorance nor have they drifted from the impact Ocean Avenue has held on their careers.
In August of this year, the pop-punk veterans released a stunning acoustic rendition of every track on their seminal record to celebrate and pay tribute to the group’s finest achievements in ten years.
In addition to this gift, Yellowcard have embarked on a worldwide tour captivating hearts all over again in an all-acoustic sitting, which has received charming reviews.
Whether you’re a diehard fan that has tracked Yellowcard’s progress since before and after that record, caught the tidal wave that was Ocean Avenue only to be washed away.
Ocean Avenue: Acoustic will tug at the nostalgic heartstrings far more than you’ll anticipate. The record is as beautiful as the original studio output and is delivered in utter professionalism.
Yellowcard’s contribution of Ocean Avenue to the pop-punk movement is everlasting. The refined acoustic record is as spelling binding as its original. The band still performs with a gracious passion as moving as a decade ago.
Yellowcard 2013 Australian Tour & Dates
Ocean Avenue Acoustic Tour w/ Toy Boats
Fri 25 Oct – Brisbane | The Tivoli (18+)
www.ticketek.com.au | Ph: 132 849
Sat 26 Oct – Sydney | Enmore Theatre (All Ages)
www.ticketek.com.au | Ph: 132 849
Tue 29 Oct – Melbourne | Palace Theatre (18+)
www.ticketmaster.com.au | Ph: 136 100
Thu 31 Oct – Perth | Capitol (18+)
www.oztix.com.au | Ph: 1300 762 545
