Top 10 Taking Back Sunday Songs

Photo: Andreas Lawen, Fotandi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Hailing from Long Island, New York, is Taking Back Sunday, one of America’s great rock bands. The sound of this great modern rock group has always crossed multiple genres, including alternative rock, pop-rock, emo, pop-punk, emo pop, and post-hardcore in similar fashion to bands like Fall Out Boy and Simple Plan. Guitarist Eddie Reyes invited former lead vocalist Antonio Longo, Steven DeJoseph, Jesse Lacey, and John Nolan to form Taking Back Sunday. Like most bands, Taking Back Sunday has quite a long story to share about the change in the line-up.

The least expected would be the departure of the band’s founder Eddie Reyes almost twenty years after establishing the band. He would later state his battle with alcoholism as the key reason for his departure, hoping to join the band in the future. The band’s line-up includes lead vocalist Adam Lazarra, lead guitarist and keyboardist John Nolan, drummer Mark O’Connell, and bass guitarist Shaun Cooper. Since their formation in 1999, the band has had seven studio albums, with their most recent being Tidal Wave (2016). Here are the top 10 Taking Back Sunday songs that gained popularity in America and across the world.

# 10 – You Can’t Look Back

Featured in the most recent 2016 album Tidal Wave, the song “You Can’t Look Back” opens up the top 10 Taking Back Sunday songs. The song starts with some great guitar tune, then drums beat, and the magical voice of Adam Lazarra. “You Can’t Look Back” has its lyrical content capture your attention from the word go, with the instrumentals giving you a reason to make that nod in rhythm to the beat of the song.

# 9 – 12 Days of Christmas

The song “12 Days of Christmas” is one mysterious song from Taking Back Sunday. You can almost disregard the song since the Christmas song feels quite familiar and a cliché. However, the Taking Back Sunday band did quite some great work on the song. It all starts with the guitar beats that feel like an amateur beat which evolves to some powerful and catchy beat.

The band’s vocalist Adam Lazarra gets to sing about what his true love gave to him from the first day to the twelve-day. The fellow band members seem to discuss everything listed as the Christmas gift, and to some point, critic Adam’s singing guiding him on how to do it. It’s more of a song within a conversation, and thanks to Warner Bros for the great animation video for the song. Released on December 2006, days 12 days before Christmas day, the song was a nice way to usher in Christmas that year.

# 8 – Timberwolves at New Jersey

Released in Taking Back Sunday’s 2002 album Tell All Your Friends, the song “Timberwolves at New Jersey” is a song about a great guy with ladies and another who’s hopeless about them. At the start, the first guy gets to advise the other about getting in with a specific girl. Then here comes the rest of the song where he is told to give up since the pursuit is hopeless. However, his sole mission is to get that girl the hopeless guy was chasing. Don’t be surprised about the song channeling quite a different message as compared to the title. After all, the title barely has anything to do with the song in the band’s tradition.

# 7 – Flicker, Fade

The song “Flicker, Fade” is among the great songs in Taking Back Sunday’s sixth studio album, Happiness Is. Featured as the first song of the album, the song shaped what their album would become. Lazarra admitted that the verses to the song had existed for quite some time, only that they made a few changes here and there to have the lyrics suit the context.

# 6 – Sink into Me

Released in the band’s album New Again, the song “Sink Into Me” is one of the band’s greatest jams having it featured on the US Alternative Songs and US Rock Songs charts in peak positions 10 and 32, respectively. On the day of the release of Taking Back Sunday’s album New Again, the band would perform the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Its video begins with the slow motion of lead vocalist Lazarra’s face and the band performing in front of an audience. Casting for the song was done in Brooklyn, and the audience was made up of fans wishing to take part in the video.

# 5 – Liar (It Takes One to Know One)

The song “Liar (It Takes One to Know One)” is featured in the band’s album Louder Now. “Liar” is an illusion to the book “Lord of the Flies” which introduces a group of boys who were stranded on an island for 26 days. Notably, the song relates to what the book brings out as human nature to do whatever it takes to survive. In addition, the song alludes to the drama that happens during the 26 days they must all coexist for survival. For the song to make complete sense to you, try to find the book “Lord of the Flies” and have a read.

# 4 – This Photograph is Proof

All great songs by Taking Back Sunday have a way to get you hooked to rhythm in the first ten seconds. The song “This Photograph is Proof” is no different, having it hook you from the very first moment you hear it, thanks to the opening guitar chords and knock on the bass pedal. And to assert the greatness of the song, the song remains a major showstopper in the band’s tours and live shows.

# 3 – You’re So Last Summer

Ushering us to the top three songs by Taking Back Sunday is their song “You’re So Last Summer,” a ballad from their 2002 album Tell All Your Friends. The song is about a couple who split up during summer and expressed how they feel about their relationship. And from the lyrics, it seems that the girl had cheated on the man, but that’s not as tough as what the man feels. The man goes on to prove his love still for the woman showing how immersed in the love he is. When it comes to the chorus, we can see that they miss each other but should hate each other. However, this is not the case!

# 2 – Cute Without the ‘e’ (Cut from the Team)

And now to the best song in Taking Back Sunday’s album Tell All Your Friends is the song “Cute Without the ‘e’ (Cut from the Team).” Notably, the song is about a boy who finds out his girlfriend is cheating on him and is now confronting her. And crazy to hear is the fact that the boy admits that he will kill himself one day all because of the girl. Some deep lyrics all credit to a relationship that the band’s frontman Lazarra had gotten out of. The song’s music video was inspired by the 1999 film Fight Club.

# 1 – MakeDamnSure

Featured in the band’s album Louder Now, the song “MakeDamnSure” is the best that we can recall having heard from the Taking Back Sunday band. Originally known as “You’re So Cool,” the song “MakeDamnSure” proves to be the most successful of the band’s songs thanks to its strong appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 and Alternative Songs Chart.