As a precocious 12-year-old at summer camp, I worshipped my 20-year-old senior counselor. She had a boyfriend and a tattoo and was impossibly cool. As an undergrad at the University of Kansas, she was friends with the Get Up Kids, an indie rock outfit from Lawrence. She gave me their second LP, Something to Write Home About, and I was fascinated by how different they sounded from the dreadful adult contemp bands that were flooding the airwaves.
Though it received abysmal ratings on Pitchfork, I was mesmerized by the catchy hooks and honest lyrics. Songs like "Red Letter Day" and "Ten Minutes" exuded an energy that seemed so fresh at the time, while "Out of Reach" exhibited a type of palpable yearning which seemed oh-so-very adult.
Now I'm the 20-year-old undergrad and that album still gets me middle-school-girl-excited. I can't say I spend too much time listening to TGUK descendents [insert lame emo/screamo incarnation here], but I'll always have that album and that summer that I was on the verge of teenagedom.
