In the fall of 2004, I had just turned 14 years old. I was unsure of how my clothes were supposed to fit my body, and over the summer, I had grown a substantial neck beard. Girls were becoming more interesting by the day, and high school was no longer a far off destination, but a rapidly impending stop on the road to adulthood. People were still reeling from the Friends finale, and celebrities were showing their nipples on national television. It was a lot to take in.

As is the case with most teenagers, I was living my life through a series of mild panic attacks and awkward social interactions. Everything around me seemed to be changing, and I constantly wondered where I would end up when all was said and done. To make matters worse, my close friends seemed to be handling these transitions with ease, gravitating towards sports and other extracurricular pursuits. I felt the pressure to fit in from all directions.

It was around this time that a good friend introduced me to Taking Back Sunday’s sophomore effort, Where You Want to Be. In the face of an unpredictable future, I found comfort amidst the battling vocal lines of Fred Mascherino and Adam Lazzara. The duo’s unrestrained candor was beyond refreshing, and something I had never previously encountered while perusing the airwaves. Intricate but not overdone, and every bit as caustic as it was catchy, this was smart music, unhindered by commercial nuances and driven by next-level songwriting. All of a sudden, I wasn’t the only one bogged down by insecurity. There were others who were just as misplaced as I was, and though I’d likely never meet them, that fact in itself was incredibly reassuring. Almost instantly, I was hooked.

For the next few months, whether I was cleaning my room, doing dumb shit with my friends, or driving somewhere with my parents, Where You Want to Be was on, and it was cranked. It became the anthem to my ever-changing worldviews, and with each listen, I grew to love it more and more. The double-edged sword of “Bonus Mosh Pt.II” cut deep during my earliest teenage romances, while the earnest longing of “A Decade Under the Influence” was not only relatable, but commonplace. “New American Classic” made me nostalgic for something I had never really experienced firsthand, and the bitter reality of “One-Eighty by Summer” kept me grounded as the world around me grew bigger and more scary. Even songs like “Number Five With a Bullet,” which possess many mainstream sensibilities, are blanketed with a type of raw sincerity that many artists aspire to, but few ever achieve. These weren’t just songs you listened to–these were songs you felt.

Ten years later, these 11 tracks still possess an uncanny ability to send me back in time, though admittedly, I must be in the right frame of mind. While Where You Want to Be may not seem particularly groundbreaking by today’s standards, it played an integral role in the shaping of an entire generation’s tastes, and moved Taking Back Sunday out of the scene’s collective back pocket, and onto center stage. Most importantly, however, it was one of the first albums I really remember connecting with on a personal level, and that kind of bond is something that you never really outgrow.

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Kyle Florence

Kyle Florence is a proud Wisconsinite, a dinosaur enthusiast, and a lover of all things weird and whacky.

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