Invitation to Understanding :: MxPx

Invitation to Understanding MxPx Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo

Gosh. I haven't listened to MxPx since I was into pop punk back in my early college years. I actually downloaded the two albums I liked from them to see if I would still like them (and to feel nostalgic). I don't love it like I used to but there are some good songs on these albums.

The thing I liked about pop punk is that a lot of it sounds like 80s music played and sung by bratty teens. The 80s part I really like; it's the bratty teens part that ultimately led to my dislike of it. I usually try to avoid the stuff anymore but I have a couple of guilty pleasures (nothing beyond a hit song here and there).

Anyways, this song, Invitation to Understanding just so happened to be my favorite MxPx song and it probably still is when I go back to it. It has some really great harmonies and it's not too fast so that quick boom-bap drumming of punk isn't too annoying (it even lets up in the song and normal pop drumming replaces it). The guitar is very basic chords just like the pop punk you are accustomed to. Very simple pop rock. I'd like current punk rock more if it stuck to this basic sound.

The lyrics are what I don't like about pop punk and what made me stop listening. Basically, it's a song to a metaphorical person called "Understanding" who the singer wants to hang out with. It's that thing where the guys were probably writing this song thinking it was a genius concept - like when you're a kid and you make your first metaphor about something and you feel like a poet. That's how all pop punk ends up sounding to me (at least the stuff I listened to at the time).

Anyways, it's aurally pleasing so download and enjoy.