Lately, things have been taking a turn for the worst for the Baltimore grown band, All Time Low.
Although this band have had quite the rocky career through two EPs, seven albums, two DVDs, and now two new, mysterious singles, they seem to hold a place in the hearts of teenagers and adults all over the world. From early on, All Time Low has struggled with where their priorities sit when it comes to music. First, they released their Emerald Moon EP, Three Words To Remember In Dealing With The End, and their first full length album, The Party Scene. The band started to gain popularity and decided it was time to move on to a bigger, better label. Hopeless Records signed All Time Low in 2006, holding name to the releases of the Put Up Or Shut Up EP, and the So Wrong It's Right and Nothing Personal albums. So Wrong It's Right had taken the early world of pop punk by storm, gaining a lot of attention from MTV and playing on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, alongside touring almost non-stop and earning "Band of the Year", awarded by Alternative Press in early 2009. The band's Nothing Personal had gone above and beyond, charting number 4 on the Billboard chart, selling a whopping 63,000 copies in the first week. All Time Low was taking the world by storm, so what was next?
Following leaving Hopeless Records and signing with a new label, Interscope, they released their first DVD, Straight To DVD, or STD for short. But when all fun and games were done, between the constant touring and festival playing, it was time for All Time Low to release their first album on their new major label. Dirty Work was released in 2011, after working with the known producer, Mike Green.
That was when things fell apart, for the first time.
After the release of Dirty Work on a major label, it was in every worker, critic, fan and band member's heads that this album would chart higher than Nothing Personal, and go way beyond everything Interscope and All Time Low had ever known. That was not the case though, because unlike Nothing Personal's 63,000 sales, Dirty Work sold only 43,000, and instead of charting 4 or higher on Billboard, Dirty Work charted at number 6. The album got very mixed reviews. "The band lost their way... This experiment went wildly out of control. The album lacks overall direction and cohesiveness." Is a quote pulled from Idobi Radio's review, which I strongly agree with. After two very solid albums, All Time Low was thrown into a world that they weren't ready for yet, releasing songs that dripped with auto-tune and overproduction. It was sad to see such potential get ruined by the world of pop.
After the mess that was Dirty Work, All Time Low was released from their contract with the Interscope label. Lead singer Alex Gaskarth was quoted, "It was the usual story that we promised ourselves we'd never let happen: Band signs with label, label throws everything into the making of band's new album, team working the record gets fired or moved to another office, record gets delayed, record loses steam, band leaves label. … We asked to be released from our contract, and they understood why.” on an article from Rock Sound, published May, 30, 2012. After the run with Interscope was over, All Time Low retreated back to Hopeless Records, who graciously took them back. After much hinting, All Time low announced that their album, The Reckless And The Brave would be released in late 2012. The album succumbed to overwhelming success, having their single, Somewhere In Neverland, chart in the i-Tunes top 50 for a period of time. All Time Low was officially back in action, getting back on the tour bus and hitting some crazy big venues with some crazy big bands. Thanks, Hopeless Records!
After no sign of an album for almost two and a half years, All Time Low announced the release of Future Hearts, an album produced by the literal worst producer any band in the scene could get; John Feldmann. Despite selling 75,000 copies in the first week, this album was not good. The lyrical content was decent for most of the album, but 11/13 of the songs were co-written by not only John Feldmann, but a handful of people. The more writers there are, the less of a connection is built between the band and the fan. Despite this album feeling dry, (and featuring Mark Hoppus, which you should NOT do) it was wildly popular among the youth, and helped All Time Low become the terrible band that they are now.
The most recent album, released in 2017, was one of the worst sounds my ears had ever heard. Last Young Renegade was released under Fueled By Ramen, the worst, and most popular record label in the scene. So, yet again, All Time Low has left their success on Hopeless Records behind, signing to a label that would creatively drain them worse than before. This album would turn out to be only ten songs long, which was weird, considering four singles were released, which is almost half the damn album. Under a new label, a new management, and a new mindset, Last Young Renegade turned out to be much, much worse than any of us, pop-punk, alt-rock loving kids could've dreamed of. This album was heavily influenced by mainstream pop, barely showing off anybody in the band's talents, that weren't Alex Gaskarth or Rian Dawson. Last Young Renegade proved a new low for the band, who seemed to rip their roots right out of the ground and burn them.
Now, only one year after the album, not one, but two singles have been released- and god, do they suck. Everything Is Fine, the first single, released June 12th, did nothing but prove that of course, everything is not fine- and actually, things just seem to be getting worse. This song is catchy, and it's meant to be sung along to, but christ almighty, where is the content? This song sounds like you're aiming it toward the fake-depressed 12 year old girls that wear eyeliner that they can't correctly apply and hate their parents. It's a new age Dirty Work song, which is pretty terrible, but not as terrible as Last Young Renegade.
The second single is called Birthday, and in all honesty, it makes me not want to live to see my next birthday. Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, it did, and I mean, it really did. Jack Barakat said that it sounded like Sublime in a way, and that's just rude to Sublime. This new song lacks... well, everything. It sounds worse than a ska band's B-side, and it's so damn weird. It genuinely makes me wonder what kind of drugs they'd have to be on to deem this song acceptable to release to the public. I am glad that they're embarrassing a label like Fueled By Ramen, and not like Hopeless Records.
All in all, All Time Low is one of my favorite bands, and as a fan, I can honestly say that this band is terrible. With insanely solid releases to start out their career with, everything has gone downhill. From the outside, this band looks like one big train-wreck, and I'm sure it doesn't look much different from an inside perspective. We will never get the band that 2006-2009 knew, because that's what comes along with fame and money, conformity.
