I like some shitty music. It's fine—we all have some skeletons in the darker corners of our music library. But thanks to Line Out (The Stranger's music blog, www.thestranger.com/lineout), I'm tempted daily to share my unedited thoughts with the world—I've admitted to liking certain songs by Kelly Clarkson and My Chemical Romance, as well as that obnoxiously empowered "to the left, to the left" Beyoncé song (it seemed like a good idea at the time). I got a lot of shit from music snobs around the world for sharing my admiration for some of pop's musical mediocrity. Why? Because with my pen (er, keyboard) comes power, and with that power comes the assumption that never, under no circumstances whatsoever, would I ever praise an artist you wouldn't like.

Doesn't work that way, duders. Like I just said, I'm into some shitty music, and I'm allowed to be! And you, you unflawed reader who would never, ever secretly appreciate a little Spice Girls now and again, you and I won't always agree. Case in point: I like Brand New.

Because Brand New's 2004 summer hit, "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows," was an MTV favorite, the band of nice-looking young men unjustly got grouped in with their cookie-cutter/screamo/heavily eyelinered peers.

They came from the same neighborhood as Taking Back Sunday, and their first record (Your Favorite Weapon, released in 2001) was admittedly unimpressive and generic pop punk. Therefore Brand New, despite the leaps and bounds they'd made with their songwriting by 2004, were still written off as nothing but a passing trend.

To see them so quickly dismissed by anyone over the age of 16 who didn't own a TBS shirt was sad—Brand New are a talented and legit band with smart lyrics, interesting song structures, and a ballsy attitude. If you think I'm wrong, check out their latest album, The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. It's a gutsy release for a "trendy rock band"—they have some haunting strings on "You Won't Know" that impressively weave throughout the entire song, there are some bombastic guitars on "Not the Sun," and they even get a little downtrodden and noodly on the very Modest Mouse-ish "Jesus Christ."

So you know what? It is in fact not shitty at all. And even though I got flak for singing its praises on Line Out, I'm not ashamed to say Brand New are good. Deal with it. They're playing the Fenix on Thursday, March 29. Call me an idiot, but I'll be there. Hell, the show is sold out, so someone agrees with me. I bet it's you.

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