Prepare to party like it’s 2005. With the leaked news of the upcoming Mega Hella tour, many adults who grew up with pop-punk and emo tastes and also probably entered junior high between 2004 and 2007 collectively shat our pants. The confirmation that it was real in a midday webcast was like waking up from an amazing dream and realizing that it wasn’t a dream at all. Yes, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer (with support from The Interrupters) will indeed tour together next year. Continue reading →
I think one of my favorite things about Fall Out Boy is the way the songs bring people together. “Thnks fr th mmrs” and “Sugar, We’re Going Down” are catchy as all hell, but if you’ve ever screamed them in a car with your best friend, you get this feeling like you could push every bad feeling you’ve ever felt out of your mouth into that moment. Save Rock and Roll certainly had songs for car rides, and although American Beauty/American Psycho wasn’t my cup of tea, I’m sure somebody is screaming it somewhere. Continue reading →
After the first two songs of The Killers’ set on their Wonderful Wonderful tour, frontman Brandon Flowers quotes Evil Knievel: “People don’t pay for the perfect landing; they pay for the attempt.” Unlike Knievel, The Killers don’t land as much as they attempt, and their performance at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center left me wondering if I’d pay for another attempt. Continue reading →
Hanif Abdurraqib is one of the most unique voices in modern journalism and poetry. His 2016 poetry collection The Crown Ain’t Worth Much was a standout last year, and his often calm delivery of poetry is hypnotic. Like Crown, this essay collection They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us is a beautiful meditation on pop culture, race, personal history, and the places where those conversations meet. Abdurraqib sculpts his prose in a conversationally engaging but also comforting tone. Continue reading →
I’d only ever flirted with the idea of seeing a major pop-star live. I like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Justin Timberlake enough to think about going to their shows. I’ve seen Kanye on the Saint Pablo tour, but he’s a rapper. I’ve seen Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco at major arena tours, while they’re still mostly relevant, but both are still (mostly) considered rock bands. Lady Gaga was like my first kiss, kind of great-kind of awkward and underwhelming. Continue reading →
Hey, remember being in middle school and taking everything as a personal attack because puberty is probably the most personal attack anyone can ever receive? Ever want to relieve those feelings of awkwardness, unspent rage and rapid-fire mood swings that left your parents looking longing at military schools? No? Continue reading →
The date is October 4, 2009: Blink-182 has recently reunited. They’re finishing up a massive tour with Fall Out Boy opening for them at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Before FOB launch into their signature closer, “Saturday,” Pete Wentz declares, “This is the death of the emo haircut,” before handing his bass to a stagehand. Mark Hoppus enters the stage. Wentz sits down, and Hoppus shaves his head. Wentz jumps up at his cue, and screams his parts in “Saturday” like he always does. You could say this is the moment that everything went wrong. You could say Blink-182’s original breakup was the moment it all went wrong. You could also say Green Day’s American Idiot was, or even Dookie, or New Found Glory releasing “It’s Not Your Fault,” but for the sake of argument, Mark Hoppus shaving Pete Wentz’s black locks was the moment that ruined it all. Continue reading →
I don’t remember when I started to hate Christmas music, but if I had to guess, it probably started when I first heard the broken skis variation on “Dashing Through the Snow.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Scrooge. I adore the holiday, the Christmas specials, and everything it means, but I turn into a real Grinch, if you ask me to sing “Jingle Bells.” Even though there’s nothing more that I’d love than to chuck the copies of Sounds of the Season: NBC Holiday Edition or Michael Bublé’s Christmas from my parents’ CD collection, there are a handful of Christmas songs I like, albeit most of them humorous or less traditional tracks. Therefore, I opted to find 25 Christmas songs that I actually enjoy. Here are the definitive BurgerADay Christmas jams.
The Mountain Goats-“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
If you’re like me, you’re of the opinion that everything John Darnielle touches turns to gold, and the Mountain Goats could even make a Christmas song bearable. I only like this song when the Mountain Goats are playing it. Continue reading →
Burger-A-Day 