I'm usually real apprehensive about the thought of myself actually liking
a popular pop-punk band, but Yellowcard's songs are pretty damn catchy.
Technically I'm supposed to hate this band and this type of music but
surprisingly Yellowcard is very pleasing to the ear. They're not overly
passionate to the point of a whiny annoyance like Story of the Year and
the Starting Line. They just play good songs that don't make you paranoid
about who might catch you listening to it and Yellowcard is not too cheesy
in their lyrics. Some pop-punk bands are so gay that I get embarrassed
for them and have to turn it off and stick my head out the car window to
get some fresh air like when Dashboard Confessional, Bowling for Soup and
SR-71 comes on.

Ocean Avenue is on Capitol records and is the bands' second album not
counting the EP, Underdog, from 2002 that was released on the mom and pop
indie label Fueled by Ramen Records. Yellowcard pulls off a Jethro Tull
type of approach to rock and roll by throwing in a random band geek
instrument; in this case a violin, which is very aggressively played by the band's violinist Sean Mackin. I suppose on some of the more
'emo-er' songs it could be called a cryolin.

Track number nine, "View From Heaven" is a little bit country and a little
bit rock and roll. Starting off with a little redneck (perhaps Deliverance
style) violin playing until the rest of the band takes over and plays a
song that is almost too Get Up Kidsy. "Only One" has a great catchy
chorus - the definite monster ballad of the CD. Plus out of nowhere
the theme song from MTV's, Realwolrd-Roadrules, show, "The Inferno" came
on. "SWEET!!" I screamed as "Miles Apart" started to play. I thought that
show kicked ass. Coral was such a heinous bitch but I loved her anyway. As
I started to listen to the words in "Life as a salesman" it sounded like
Everclear's Art Alexakis gave Yellowcard permission to write a song about his deadbeat Dad. Later on though, after heavy evaluation and rigorous deciphering I figured the song out. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Ryan Key is singing about his relationship with his 'own'
father. Perhaps the most cliched lyrical device since Harry Chapin got it all started with "Cat's in the Cradle." You know the drill - the puberty stricken kid who's always pissed off at ol' dad for not understanding him. Finally he realizes that father knows best and he's only human - blabetty bla bla, I could have lived without this track. Overall however, Yellowcard, as much as any band of it's ilk, is helping to give pop-punk a "good" name