Out of all the albums released by Motion City Soundtrack in their 28 years of being a band, none are as impactful to the world of music as well as the psyches of depressed and anxious people as 2005’s Commit This To Memory. Produced by Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 and featuring his vocals, as well as those of Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy — this album is a collaboration between some of the greatest pop punk artists of all time, but it is more than a nostalgic sprint down memory lane. Lead singer and lyricist Justin Courtney Pierre put into words what so many of us felt, but did not have the language to describe: the isolation that comes with knowing something in your brain isn’t quite right, the unhealthy coping mechanisms that drive away the few people that do understand you, the chaos of being in your mid twenties and not knowing quite how you got there or how to cope with it. It’s messy, it’s cathartic, it sounds like coming home. It is the reminder that even when you hit rock bottom, you have what it takes to pull yourself up, and eventually, everything is alright.
Attractive Today
Welcoming us into this album’s sonic time capsule, “Attractive Today” stands tall while packing quite the punch for a track under two minutes long. This song explores the intimate side of how we construct ourselves to be desirable to those around us. “Attractive Today” resonates so loudly with fans because it is indicative of the desperation felt to be liked by others. I can almost trace the cord of my blue iPod Nano’s headphones out of pure muscle memory when I listen to this track, almost as though I am on the way to high school again. This track declares Mark Hoppus’ production debut boldly, with the captivating single guitar introduction transitioning into the vibrant crescendo of genre-melting proportions. If a single song off Commit This To Memory could capture the theme of the album, “Attractive Today” certainly comes close. This energetic tone contrasts perfectly with the bleak undertones of the lyric — think vulnerability and self doubt mixed with introspection and the complexities of relationships. “Attractive Today” is a fast, ironic anthem about wearing a façade, but it fosters a sense of belonging through the universal act of claiming you’re fine, when in reality, you’re falling apart inside.
Everything Is Alright
You’d be hard-pressed to find a better song to introduce someone to Motion City Soundtrack than “Everything is Alright.” It has many of the trademarks that make them stand out as a band: the sharp specificity of the lyrics, the cheery synth driving the song forward, and a pitch-perfect call and response moment. There are few moments in a Motion City show more electric than when Justin sings to the audience, “Are you feeling fine?” and the entire crowd screams back, “Yes I feel just fine!” For longtime fans, there’s a special thrill in improving your mental health enough to be able to sing those words back and finally mean them. This song also includes a notable feature from Patrick Stump, best heard on the bridge. Stump recently reprised this feature by performing live with the band at When We Were Young 2024, and you could feel the joy all the way across the festival grounds. This is one of those songs that can be a comfort when your life is falling apart just as much as it can make you smile into the sunlight on a perfect summer day — an absolute masterpiece of a second track.
When You’re Around
This track is sharp and emotionally charged, blending upbeat pop-punk energy with biting lyrics about emotional dysfunction, unhealthy attachment, and self-sabotage in relationships. “When You’re Around” paints a vivid picture of how we all wish we could react when forced to be around someone we despise. Having had the pleasure of witnessing this song live a few times over it’s two decades of life, I can confirm, this song remains a fan favourite in 2025 with fully grown adults throwing their hands in the air when remarking “You don’t fucking listen!!” with the same vigor they did when they were kids. The tempo of the verses is reminiscent of long drunken nights, while the chorus is the brutal wake up call right afterwards. To me, this song reminds me that others will not always understand you and your passions, and it costs nothing to just be kind. Yet if someone wants to make “vicious remarks” or “verbal attacks”, they deserve to be called out. And if all else fails, you can always “close (your) eyes and cross (your) arms and hope to die.”
Resolution
This is the first, but certainly not the last mention on the album of a New Year’s Eve spent lonely and miserable, longing for a doomed relationship. Who among us hasn’t been there? “Resolution” slows things down from the supercharged pace of the first three tracks of the album, giving us time to really sit and wallow in our feelings. It is uncharacteristically stripped down to only vocals and an electric guitar for the whole first verse. The negative spaces in this song speak volumes, with the pauses before the first chorus and after the final one prompting you to sit in the silence and think about how you have fucked up, yet again. Let’s give it up for the New Year, indeed.
Feel Like Rain
“Feel Like Rain” is exactly what it says on the tin. It is the gray, rainy day feeling of all-consuming depression, which is not marked by sadness, but by complete and utter numbness. The “lack of interest,” “apathy,” “boredom,” “lifeless” descriptions, even leading to self harm, paint a picture of a mental state many of us know too well. I have listened to this song on many a rainy day, staring at the droplets running down the window pane, wishing to feel something, but I take great comfort in the knowledge that I am not alone in that. As with so many Motion City Soundtrack songs, the tempo contradicts the lyrics, giving you energy to persist through the physical and mental slumps of being alive. This song and album overall are a reminder that no matter how low you feel in life, there will always be music to get you through, as “the curtain closes on another day”.
Make Out Kids
As soon as you hit play on this song, you’re greeted with bittersweet nostalgia and Motion City Soundtrack’s signature mix of upbeat instrumentation and emotionally resonant lyrics. “Make Out Kids”, as the title suggests, transports listeners back to the innocence and recklessness of young love. You know the type! The love that burns bright and makes you fall hard but ultimately fades soon thereafter, leaving you with a mix of fond memories and even more unresolved questions. “Make Out Kids” has reassured generations of teenagers that it’s actually common for formative relationships to break down over mundane circumstances that push each of you away. More so, this track reinforces the pure beauty of opposites attracting and how important it is to widen the parameters of your interests during those formative years of your life. Who knows? You might even find yourself enjoying your own “Twin Peaks afternoons.” The vulnerability of the story telling in each verse is again juxtaposed with the explosive choruses, each time conveying the important notion that we are better by design and we should be grateful for the madness that comes with this time in our lives.
Time Turned Fragile
Perhaps one of the most beautiful tracks on Commit This To Memory, “Time Turned Fragile” expertly captures the passing of time from the perspective of a parent. Justin Pierre told Buzzfeed in 2015 that this song was written from his father’s perspective. This song starts out tangible and literal, where the parent figure describes the core memories of time spent with their child as they grow into an autonomous being. Then when you least expect it, you realise a significant amount of time has passed you by and you’re now scared of change. The catch 22 of wishing you were grown up as a kid to actually growing up and wanting to go back. “Time Turned Fragile” manages to emulate the little things in parent-child relationships that often mean the most yet aren’t able to be reproduced like “the sounds that disappear,” referring to those long weekends spent at home, playing and laughing with your child. And how the call and response lyric afterward, relieves the father figure’s fears by replying “I can hear you clearly,” as though the figurative sounds of Justin’s childhood are deep rooted and still present with him today. I like to think that the outro to this song is Justin having a conversation with his dad and trying to reassure him that he did a good job. “Time Turned Fragile” is a time capsule within itself, holding memories that were once solid and comforting, but overtime have now become delicate, distant and possibly distorted. If these are some of the things you think about when you’re alone without someone, while wondering about their whereabouts, this is your sign to send them a message today.
L.G. FUAD
The title acronym stands for, “Lets Get Fucked Up And Die,” which is a great starting point to any song. Possibly the best starting point. It’s cheeky, with Justin quickly reassuring us, “I’m speaking figuratively, of course.” It’s relatable, in that even sane people have days where they’re “tired and hungry and totally useless.” It is solidly the most fun song in MCS’s discography to scream at the top of your lungs surrounded by a crowd of equally disillusioned millennials. The way the music builds from the bare acoustic guitar to the cacophony of the full band has you standing in place at the beginning of the song, and thrashing enthusiastically by the end of it. Justin’s lyrics are as evocative as ever (as you can imagine, forget-me-nots and marigolds make a great MCS tattoo, for this author and many others I’m sure). “L.G. FUAD” is a song of self improvement, but perhaps tomorrow, after one more night of drowning in nihilism and partaking in a little shameless self destruction. It is an anthem for the perfect messes and wrecks we all have always been, and always will be.
Better Open The Door
In “Better Open The Door,” Justin creates a fictional community to reflect his poor habits and decision making abilities. Even if none of the people described are exactly real (except for the first one mentioned, bassist Matt Taylor), they act as vessels of judgement for a drunken weekend out on the town. The energy in this song is punchy and determined. It masks the underlying cry for help, like a panic attack set to a relentless pop-punk beat. Synth player Jesse Johnson shines on this track particularly, with his funky Moog melody driving the momentum. The lyrics examine themes of isolation, particularly of the self-inflicted variety. Despite being surrounded by others that may or may not have your best interests at heart, the “door” is a cell that is locked from the inside. You better open it, or else!
Together We’ll Ring In The New Year
Have you ever wanted to muster up the courage to tell someone how you feel? Let this song be a cautionary tale telling you to not wait when matters of the heart are at play! “Together We’ll Ring In The New Year” captures the emotional weight of disconnection and the loneliness that can be felt even in the midst of a global celebration. This song gives off the same energy as having a little cry in your car on your birthday — not because you’re overly sad, but because of the pressure to enjoy every second of the day that’s rapidly passing you by, when you can’t really feel a thing at all. Motion City Soundtrack satirically pokes fun with this track. Rather than it being a typical upbeat New Year’s anthem, it takes a melancholic route with the backdrop of a party where the singer realises they’ve missed their opportunity with someone they love. In twenty years, I’ve struggled to find a more pertinent way to convey this moment — the sliding doors, the catching something out the corner of your eye, the longing stare across the dimly lit dance floor. But Pierre’s intruding lyric, “Head’s up / Damage control / There’s a ring around her finger,” perfectly captured it all of those years ago. Let alone the closing line and its defeated delivery, expertly conveying the emotional numbness that follows once you witness your lover move on with someone else.
Hangman
Though “Hangman” can’t technically be called the title track of the album, Commit This To Memory does come from a line in this song. It’s an increasingly frantic mantra as the song goes on — there’s a push and pull between the concept that “bright ideas always get lost along the way,” and the speaker’s desperate struggle to remember that. Many of us with ADHD, anxiety, depression, or a number of other mental illnesses know that those can all come with some form of memory loss. While that may not be the only thing at play in the lyrics of “Hangman,” it’s clearly a theme that haunts the song and the album at large: memories can be rewritten, for worse or for better. Our brains can lie to us — as Mark Hoppus sings, “Shower me in a chorus of compliments and verse I don’t deserve,” but who gets to decide what we truly deserve? Are we the best judge? As the song may suggest, depending on your interpretation – sometimes we serve as our own hangman.
Hold Me Down
There are few bands who can write a break-up song with the devastating precision of “Hold Me Down.” Once again, Justin Pierre’s lyrics find their strength in their specificity. This song feels lived-in, relayed as a true story of watching someone you love walk away and knowing you’re at fault — mostly because they’re telling you that you are. Two different times, I’ve personally had either the fortune or the misfortune to see Motion City Soundtrack just after a break-up. The second time was specifically the Commit This to Memory anniversary tour. There’s a catharsis almost beyond words in being a room full of people as they all sing “You’re all the metaphors I can’t create to comprehend this curse that I call love,” while tears stream down your face and the synths and guitars soar. As an album closer, “Hold Me Down” brings us crashing back down to earth. The kind of self-sabotage and struggle we see throughout the album has consequences. Striving to get better may seem difficult and exhausting, but it’s the only real choice we have. Otherwise, the ones we love will leave us, and they may be right to do so.
It can be difficult to articulate just how refreshing the raw honesty of Motion City Soundtrack’s lyrics can be. If your brain gets caught in nasty spirals, if you constantly feel like you’re fighting with yourself to get anything done, there’s a lot you can do to help yourself. For some of us, from 2005 all the way through to today, one thing we could always do was put on a Motion City Soundtrack song and turn up the volume. Nowadays, thankfully, it’s a little easier to roll down the windows and sing “Yes I’ll be just fine,” and mean it. In many ways, it’s only with the help of Motion City Soundtrack that we’ve all made it here to be able to say that. So thank you, Motion City Soundtrack, for 20 years of committing your words to memory. Maybe not everything is alright, but you gave us all something to keep aiming for just the same.
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