This past week, the Mayday Parade world has been buzzing with some excitement. Besides a 10 year anniversary tour for their debut EP, “Tales Told By Dead Friends,” which was announced over a month ago, Mayday has decided to re-release this EP with a bonus song, “The Problem With The Big Picture Is That It’s Hard To See.” This is big. This is huge. Fellow emo-worshippers have since fangirled over this news, and the internet cannot stop talking about it. I am so ready for this, and we still have to wait until November 11th to hear this re-release. In honor of this news, however, I feel it right to create a ranking of Mayday’s entire repertoire. Here we go, from least favorite to best record:
7. “Anywhere But Here”
This has always been my least favorite Mayday record for a multitude of reasons. It shows Mayday going off in a different direction, trying to be more poppy and less emo, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It is just too much pop for Derek Sanders’s classic alt-emo style. I do not care for many of the songs, either. Some people stand by this record and love it, but there is a reason that their self-titled record, and other future records, are nothing like this one. “Anywhere But Here” is the exception to the rule, unfortunately. But, I can safely stay that I will still jam to “Kids In Love” and "I Swear This Time I Mean It" whenever given the chance.
6. “Black Lines”
Mayday’s most recent album is good, but I just have not fully immersed myself into it to have a better opinion of it. It shows Mayday going into a slightly more grown-up rock direction, which I do not necessarily mind, but it is not my favorite. I do like a good number of songs on the record, but again have not really listened to the album in full many times. “One of Them Will Destroy The Other,” featuring Dan Lambton from Real Friends, is definitely the best song on the record, with a few others sticking out as well. The record is good, just not life-changing.
5. “Monsters In The Closet”
MP’s fourth full length record is a great follow up to their self-titled record. I really enjoy this album, just not as much as some of their other pieces of music. I really like the first half of the record, where the second half is not as strong, in my opinion. Some songs just blend into the background for me, even though the album does have some of my favorite Mayday songs of all time, including “Ghosts,” “12 Through 15,” and “Last Night for a Table of Two.”
4. “Valdosta”
This EP shows a complete 180 turn from their previous effort at the time, “Anywhere But Here.” It seems like Mayday took the overall feedback fans gave from “Anywhere But Here” and channeled it into the most heartbreaking, emo thing they could put together in an EP. And man, it is great. The EP features four acoustic covers and two new songs, “Amber Lynn” and “Terrible Things.” This EP changed a lot of things for Mayday, as “Terrible Things” is one of their most popular and well-known songs today. It is so devastatingly fantastic that this EP deserved a pretty high spot on this list. I am also very partial to “Your Song” as a whole, so of course I am a sucker for the stings/acoustic version.
2/3. “Mayday Parade”
Okay, so I am giving Mayday’s self titled record and “The Last Something That Meant Anything” a tie score and giving them the same ranking. It was hard for me to decide which one was better than the other, so I just gave them both the ranking of 2/3. Although it was hard to see at the time, Mayday’s third full-length effort, their self-titled record, is quite a masterpiece. It is one of my favorite records of all time, as Mayday is one of my favorite bands, and every song makes me feel something in some way. Although I have the mega-unpopular opinion of not caring for “When You See My Friends,” it is still a great song, and I understand why people love it. This record features so many fantastic songs, like “Stay,” “Oh Well, Oh Well,” “No Heroes Allowed,” and “Happy Endings Are Stories That Haven’t Ended Yet,” as we as pretty much every other song that I have not explicitly mentioned. Everything about this album is so, so good.
2/3. “Tales Told By Dead Friends”
I weighted this the same as Mayday’s self-titled record, since it is equally good in some different and similar ways. This is the band’s first-ever release, which really channels their strong emo nature. It comes off as super heartbreaking in the best way possible. Every song is excellent on this record and makes you feel like you have been through a year of devastation from start to finish, but it is all worth it in some weird way. This EP is the favorite of many, and is definitely one of my favorite emo works. This EP gave us all so many emo classics, such as “Three Cheers for Five Years” and “When I get Home, You’re So Dead.” Let’s also not forget my favorite, which I mentioned loving before: “Your Song.” Talk about a great, great song.
1. “A Lesson In Romantics”
This groundbreaking record is still held in such high esteem in the scene today, as it is referenced regularly as inspiration and still loved by many. Featuring emo hits like “Jamie All Over” and “Miserable At Best,” this record gave Mayday a name. Every other song is just as perfect as the rest here, and I still love listening to this album. It is one of my favorite pieces of music ever, and it still holds up well today. Mayday still tries to include different songs from this record on each tour they have. They just played “Ocean and Atlantic” on a tour about two years ago, which literally sent me spinning from excitement. This record has done more for people (and for the band) than Mayday would have ever thought possible. I love ALIR so much, as does the rest of the music community, making it Mayday’s best record.
