This week I'll celebrate 20 years of an album that shaped plenty of my music tastes. It is a bit of a cliche and joke that "oh you like Switchfoot? So DO I" is something often heard in Christian circles. But, the staying power and popularity of Switchfoot is for good reason. In a musical landscape of dated and overly 'Christian' music from the era; Switchfoot stands out as just a good band with good songs. This is a fantastic alt-rock album. The songs are filled with feeling and earnest meaning. You can sing along. The music is smooth with rough edges. You could maybe argue it isn't rough enough, or isn't polished enough. I generally feel it succeeds in walking the line between these. Easy on the ears, but still worth listening to. All these years later the album feels of its age, but not dated. 

Maybe for 2003 the music is exactly what you could expect. It's a rock band, with the usual trappings. It isn't doing anything particularly new. Lots of guitar, bass, and drums! We start off strong with 'Meant To Live' where we reflect on life and feeling like we aren't living up to ourselves. It then rolls neatly into "This is Your Life" to remind you that all we have is today. It's a hope and a call to action that I love with all its shiny guitars and glitchy verses. We get "More Than Fine" to continue the upward rise. A happy sounding song about going out there and getting what you want. "Dare You To Move" is exactly the title. It is a dare to make a move. I love the way it cuts it's own tension between shiny-happy and righteous power chords. "The Beautiful Letdown" is about that contradiction. That in the world being not enough, in seeking our validation in the wrong things, we can find a peace. It's about an end and a beginning. The clarity as you come to see how free you can be. "Adding To The Noise" is maybe a sentiment we can all agree with. We live in a noisy world with a breakneck pace. I love the cheeky chorus where it commits to the idea and tells you straight out to turn off the song if it's just adding to the noise. "Twenty-four" has an orchestral and soundtrack sound to it. 

I don't have an answer for why this album is great still. Because in reflection it isn't all that special other than it caught a particularly strong audience. When you compare it to other alt-rock of the time its probably above average in honesty. But, it has a definite feeling. It's looking to inspire. It says that life can be a mess yeah but, look at how beautifully we can turn that mess around. It is there for the taking. The acknowledgement of life with a real hope and future. It is an album I have a hard time taking nostalgia glasses off for. It was there in my life at the right time. It said the right things. It followed me through my life and still had something to say. Maybe it will have something for you? Or maybe I'm just adding to the noise. If so, feel free to close this article.