Get Up Kids' Suptic Apologizes For Current State of Emo

James Suptic, one of the founding members of the Get Up Kids, has spoken out against the "emo" scene the band inadvertently helped create in a recent interview with Drowned in Sound, adding that he apologizes if the Get Up Kids were in any way responsible for what he encountered at this year's Bamboozle Festival. The band, who broke up in 2005 but recently reunited for a tour to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their biggest album Something To Write Home About, see startling differences from when they released their 1999 album and now.

"Honestly, I don't often think about the state of 'emo'. The punk scene we came out of and the punk scene now are completely different. It's like glam rock now," Suptic told DiS. "We played the Bamboozle fests this year and we felt really out of place. I could name maybe three bands we played with. It was just a sea of neon shirts to us. If this is the world we helped create, then I apologize." Rock Daily was at this year's Bamboozle fest, and as our photo gallery from the event proves, there was a lot of neon.

While Suptic didn't name specific bands in the interview, punch "Get Up Kids" and "influenced" into Google and bands like Midtown, Hellogoodbye, Fall Out Boy (who headlined both of the Get Up Kids' Bamboozle appearances) and countless more appear. "If a band gets huge and they say we inspired them, great. The problem is most of them aren't very good. What does that say about us? I don't know. Maybe we sucked. We at least can play our instruments," Suptic added, citing bands like Fugazi, Sunny Day Real Estate and Superchunk for influencing the Get Up Kids, so we can pretty much pin the entire state of emo at this point on Minor Threat. The reissued Something To Write Home About is out September 7th.

Related Stories:
• Bamboozle 2009: Six Breakout Bands to Watch
• No Doubt Make Reunion Official With Pumped-Up Bamboozle Gig
• "Journey" Surprise Fall Out Boy Crowd With Bamboozle Set

• 
  MUSIC The Top 25 Teen Idol Breakout Moments
• 
  MOVIES & TV 'Game of Thrones': The Show Vs. the Books
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Facebook IPO vs. Shareholders
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive: Garbage Rip Through 'I Think I'm Paranoid'

Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter