14 Years Ago: Taking Back Sunday Released ‘Tell All Your Friends’

On this day 14 years ago, Taking Back Sunday changed the lives of emo kids everywhere.

Taking Back Sunday is the alternative rock band that many bands recognize as one of their main influences on their sound and lyrics. The emotionally charged music, dramatic lyrics and onstage performances made them a fan favorite. I still remember I had several friends whose AOL Instant Messenger names were lyrics from "Tell All Your Friends."

The album itself was also critically praised. Absolutepunk reviewed the album, saying it grabbed listener's attention right from the start:

It manages to convey feelings that are completely genuine, not contrived, rehearsed or formulaic, without being over-the-top or sappy. The style in which Lazzara and Nolan deliver the vocals on this album, often in a rapid-fire, back-and-forth way, as if they were carrying on a dialogue, allows you to really attach to and get a sense of the raw emotion behind the songs.

Lead singer Adam Lazzara also talked about the success of the album with fans, even before the east coast band had played on the west coast. Chain Reaction was the biggest small venue in Southern California back in the early 2000s. It was a club known as a necessary stop for many bands that were up and coming or on the Warped Tour circuit. Every high school band in Southern California felt some sort of validation once they got to play Chain. It was their small "we've made it" moment, even if all the people inside were just friends and family. The first time Taking Back Sunday played Chain Reaction, the band opened up for Chicago's Lawrence Arms. The band and Lazzara were blown away by the love SoCal had for the group:

“We were just shocked at the response because the whole place would sing along. For us, that was our first time even seeing the West Coast and to be so far from home and to have people responding that strongly ... it’s just great, and it’s continued to be like that in California over the years.”

"Tell All Your Friends" spoke to teenage angst and every emotion they felt. The songs were memorable and the feelings it invoked are still remembered to this day.

The will be headlining the Rockstar Energy's Taste for Chaos tour with Dashboard Confessional and support from Saosin and The Early November. The tour kicks off in June.

Fingers crossed it has the magic and power that this first album did.