Count the Stars - Never Be Taken Alive

Do you remember the stupid pop-punk song that landmarks your care-free high school days? If you're not out of high school yet, then think back to middle school. You'll have one. It won't be by Green Day, probably, it'll be similar and not as eerily good. It'll have spitty lyrics and everytime you hear it on the radio, you'll turn it up. If you're in the car with other people of your own age group, you'll all sing along. You'll all revel in your not-so-distant youth and bask in the glow of the fact that you're still young enough to pull off insouciant joy in this song. This song will make you feel perpetually 14 or so, and you will forever cherish it. Say- If you're not out of high school yet, you want to get a jump start on that stupid pop-punk song? There are so many out there, why not choose one by a not yet popular group (they will be- they've got the look and the clothes and the necessary peppy musicality) and have the pleasure of first discovery? Yeah, ya wanna? Go buy Count the Stars' Never Be Taken Alive and you'll get a whole album full of those aforementioned songs. The music will be a reprieve from the idiocy of whatever you were listening to from TRL, but yet this band'll probably make it to TRL anyway, so go ahead, jump the gun. See, you'll get that fizzy, bubble pop-rocks flavored guitar with cymbal-heavy drumming. You'll get ticking bass with that perpetual loose-string sound behind it. You'll get the petulant-yet-honest lyricist with the requisite little-boy spiky hairdo that's so endearing along with the mom-friendly tattoo and always-present oxford shirt worn with just the right amount of irony. You'll get super-snappy lyrics like "You push and pull your fate/ 'til it's all you can take/ should I just stick around/ would it make you happy/ make you happy/ 'cause you were always right behind me.../just let go of all your insides". See, 'cause Box Car Racer ain't gonna cut it anymore, and Avril's too vapid to really do it for you... And maybe, just maybe, you can someday grow into the big britches of Operation Ivy, but until then, stick to kiddie pop. It's just good enough to remind you of youth, just poor enough to assure that you'll change your mind. [www.countthestars.com]