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Riot! Turns Three!


Chriss
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Today is the third anniversary of the release of Riot!, so I thought it'd be cool to have a post to reminisce about it. I know it was a really important album for a lot of people, so it'd be cool to just look back on it. :)

 

 

While it might not be my favorite Paramore album anymore, I owe so much to Riot! and Paramore for getting me some really tough times. I'll never forget hearing Misery Business for the first time, being stoked about music again, and even getting up early and heading to Best Buy just to buy the album (they didn't even have it on the shelves when I got there). I'm pretty sure I listened to it every day that summer, and I'm positive I annoyed the hell out of my roommate with it (which was okay cause she was insane).

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I can kind of relate to you, I annoyed the piss out of my mom making her listen to it non stop when we'd go places. Haha. It's not my favorite album, but it definitely got me into Paramore even more than before. And I also ended up joining here shortly after because it made me want to meet and talk to other Paramore fans :D

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I remember anticipating the release of this album. I begged my sister to buy me it from HMV "the one with all the scribbles on the cover". Although I'd heard Paramore before Misery Business, it was that song that got me crazy about them. I spent pretty much all summer of 2007 listening to riot!. crushcrushcrush was an immediate favourite and I have fond memories of dancing in my bedroom to that song. xD

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I can't say I can go back in my mind to "all those years ago when I first heard the album", cos well, I wasn't even aware of who Paramore were until last year.

I first heard Decode in May last year, but then the month after I started to regularly hang out with this girl who was kinda into the band.

She had lent me this burnt CD which had various Paramore songs which had Decoy on it and then just various songs from AWKIF and Riot!.

At this stage, I was still kinda embarrassed for liking and listening to Paramore.

 

I don't come from a pop punk/pop rock listening background at all to be

honest. I was pretty much a metalhead through my entire teen years (but about halfway through, I had branched out a little to post hardcore stuff like At the Drive, Refused, and some other punk stuff like The Living End) and at heart, I still am a metalhead really.

As you can imagine, I had (still have) many metalhead friends, so I just made it in my best efforts to not let them find out I was listening to Paramore........every single day.

I then learnt how to play Fences and then CrushCrushCrush (both rhythm and lead parts haha) on guitar towards the end of June last year and since then I've played those song WAYYYYY too many times on guitar lol.

Probably about 3 months later, I then learnt Let the Flames Begin on guitar (the lead and rhythm parts because I had too much time on my hands).

 

Eventually, I did end up hearing the whole album.

I still think the overall song consistency doesn't quite make for a 10/10 album for me. I'd say 8.5/10 is what I'd give Riot!

I'm still always a tad unsure about Hallelujah, When It Rains, We are Broken and Miracle, but every other song I really love.

If I had to pick one favorite song off the album, it's Let The Flames Begin.

It has this cool aggressive quality about it and it's strangely somehow kinda metal in a way, which I think is really awesome (it's probably the double kick drums towards the end haha).

And from watching the Final Riot! DVD and seeing the song live, I have no doubt it's the band's best and most intense live song.

I'll probably get ragged on for saying this, but I literally cried when I saw Let the Flames Begin live when Paramore toured Australia. It was just fucking intense and almost surreal.

 

Another aspect of the album that really captured my attention was the production, which I constantly use as a reference guide for when I'm mixing my own stuff.

Vocal production is just gorgeous. The places where the harmonies were put are just so well chosen and Hayley's voice is extremely clear and present without ever being harsh.

The guitar sounds, particularly on the songs where it sounds like they used Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifiers, is just immense and the way it blends with the bass guitar, yet has amazing separation is just amazing.

The drums too, are just intense. They make you just sit up and take notice of them. Sampled to shit and back, I don't care, because David Bendeth really raised the bar for drum sounds in rock music with Riot! to a new level. I'm still on the fence as to whether the drums on Brand New Eyes are better or not, maybe about equal.

The snare and kick drums in Riot! are still some of the most massive sounding ones I've heard in rock music in general, which is no easy feat.

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Alright, here we go. The first Paramore song I heard was Misery Business, however, that was long before I started listening to Paramore. (I think it was around 07). In 08, I heard That's What You Get and immediately went to iTunes and bought that and the rest of the album soon after. I will admit, part of what drew me in was the production on Riot! From the incredibly massive drum sounds, to the vocals that were unbelievably clear, the sound of Riot! immediately caught my attention. The music, of course, is the core of it all, but I do think the production definitely plays a role (like a catalyst?) in the music and how people listen to it. (obvious or not)

 

Skip ahead a few years to today, and my favorite song is still That's What You Get, and my favorite Paramore album is still Riot!. Don't get me wrong, BNE is amazing and a major progression for the band, but Riot! just has *that* sound. It's a sound that will likely not be repeated for a while. (some may call it too "poppy", others may not, but either way, the music calls for it. that is probably part of the reason the whole album is so cohesive.)

As for the drum sounds :D, Harry, I would have to say DB's drums on Riot! win. They have a quality to them that I've never heard anywhere else. Listen to Welcome To The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance...same mixer... essentially the same snare sound as BNE. (even though that snare is still AWESOME, you won't find Riot!'s snare on another record.) at least not yet?... :) Nah..... As for the rest of the kit, I do very much like Zac's cymbals on BNE, they are dark and CLA really made them blend well. On the other hand, the bright, shimmery cymbals on Riot! give off more energy while somehow being more subtle in the mix. The toms on both records rule and I really can't pick which I think are best. I guess it depends on whether you like up close sounding drums or more distant ones. /rant

 

Anywayz, Riot! rocks. :)

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I have to thank a lot for this album because it helped me so much back in '08. Yes, I didn't know about Paramore's existance in 2007. I've been a huge fan since crushcrushcrush was released. My fave track from the album. It is the only one song I can listen to all day long.

Riot! is my fave album too because there are a lot of good songs on it I can relate to. Moreover it got me into the Paramore love!

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This is the album that really propelled Paramore and gained them ALOT of new fans. It's catchy, it's pure and utter class from For a Pessimist to Born For This. I can listen to this album all the way through, and there are not many albums in the world that i can do that with.

It has a great mixture. From the spinetingling "Whoah"'s of Misery Business and Thats What You Get with Hayley's incredible voice, to the slow beautiful songs like We Are Broken, Hallelujah and When It Rains. Then you just have the songs like For a Pessimist, Crushx3, Fences and Born for this where you just want to get up off your seat and dance.

An incredible album by such a young band and it'll never ever get old.

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I got into Paramore in october 07(the 5th to be exact), so it was a few months after it was released. Even though none of the songs was the first I heard from Paramore, it was the first album I bought and listened to non-stop for months and months. It helped me through a lot, and in some ways shaped to who I am today. It's hard to believe that's it's been almost three years since I got into them, doesn't seem so long.

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Man has it really been 3 years since riot?

 

I remember waiting and waiting to finally hear some new songs from my fave band, i was so excited. And they didnt disappoint at all. Love that album. Like Ross said its one of very few albums i can listen all the way through without skipping a single song!

This album really kick-started their career.

 

Listening to this album brings back so many good memories for me, it was a good time!

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Aww that's so great! I didn't know that (not so good at remembering dates)!

That's such a long time ago. Wooooooooow.

Riot! is my fave and first paramore album 8-) also my first paramore song (CrushCrushCrush) is from that album and it still is one of my fave songs!

But anyways congrats to RIOT! ;)

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