1 | [[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blue_october_band.jpg]] |
2 | [[caption-width-right:320:Ryan Delahoussaye, Jeremy Furstenfeld, Matt Noveskey, Will Knaak and Justin Furstenfeld]] |
3 | ->''"I'm an automatic steeple for depressed and lonely people\ |
4 | My heart while in its cage is used to give and not receive a thing\ |
5 | But the only funny thing is that I don't know how to give myself advice"'' |
6 | -->-- "'''The Answer'''" |
7 | |
8 | Blue October is an alternative American rock band from Houston, Texas. Its current members are Justin Furstenfeld (singer/guitarist), Jeremy Furstenfeld (drums/percussion), Ryan Delahoussaye (violin/viola/mandolin/piano), Matt Noveskey (bass) and C.B. Hudson (guitar). |
9 | |
10 | The band was formed in 1995 by the Furstenfeld brothers and Delahoussaye. Other current and former members of the band have left and come back. |
11 | |
12 | Musically, Blue October is a running autobiography of lead songwriter Justin Furstenfeld, who is very open about his bipolar disorder. Themes tend to run between lows and highs: from mental illness to love, a custody battle and divorce, and as of 2013, redemption of sorts with a new wife and second child. |
13 | |
14 | ---- |
15 | [[AC: The band's studio albums are:]] |
16 | * ''The Answers'' (1998) |
17 | * ''Consent to Treatment'' (2000) |
18 | * ''History for Sale'' (2003), featuring the band's first mainstream hit, "Calling You." The song was also on the ''Film/AmericanWedding'' soundtrack. |
19 | * ''Foiled'' (2006), which went platinum and is their bestselling album to date. The two charting singles were "Hate Me" and "Into The Ocean" |
20 | * ''Approaching Normal'' (2009), with the singles "Dirt Room," "Say It" and "Should Be Loved" |
21 | * ''Any Man In America'' (2011). It could easily just be called "The Divorce Album". The band tries a few new things on this album, including Justin rapping through several songs. |
22 | * ''Sway'' (2013), LighterAndSofter in comparison to the last several albums. |
23 | * ''Home'' (2016) |
24 | * ''I Hope You're Happy'' (2018) |
25 | * ''This Is What I Live For'' (2020) |
26 | * ''Spinning the Truth Around (Part I)'' (2022) |
27 | |
28 | [[AC: The band's live albums are:]] |
29 | * ''Argue with a Tree...'' (2004) |
30 | * ''Foiled For The Last Time'' (2007), a two-disc set combining the Teach Your Baby Well Live concert at Stubb's in Austin, Texas with a re-release of Foiled called "Foiled+" |
31 | * ''Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening With Blue October'' (2011), recorded in Houston, Austin and Dallas. |
32 | |
33 | ---- |
34 | !This band and their music provide examples of |
35 | |
36 | * BandOfRelatives: Type 1, with brothers Justin and Jeremy Furstenfeld being two of the band’s founding members. |
37 | * CreepyUncle: "Razorblade". |
38 | -->''"Uncle, you spared not your children\ |
39 | And while your praying hands are up\ |
40 | There's no forgiveness for you! You sick fuck!"'' |
41 | * CustodyBattle: The song "Any Man in America" is about a man lamenting that he lost custody of his daughter to his ex-wife and raging at the legal system for not caring about fathers. |
42 | * EpicRocking: The penultimate track on ''Home'' is "Time Changes Everything" at 7:54, and the final track on ''I Hope You're Happy'' is "Further Dive (The House That Dylan Built)" at 9:08. Many other of the band's songs have crossed the six minute mark. |
43 | * GeniusBonus, SmallReferencePools: "HRSA". The medical acronym stands for [[spoiler: High Risk of Self Abuse]]. The song chronicles a person's hospital stay (possibly Justin's), implied to be at a mental or psychiatric facility. It's implied the hospital stay is a result of a [[spoiler: bad break-up; the opening lyrics are "Admitted at twenty-two/just to get over you."]] |
44 | ** SmallReferencePools is also invoked with the occasional references to Texas or stories that a first-time listener would not know right away, such as the reference to a woman living in Oklahoma City in the song "Independently Happy". This is probably a reason why Texas fans fell in love with Blue October at the beginning due to its {{Shout Out}}s. Foiled and Approaching Normal have fewer geographic references, while Any Man In America has a song called "The Flight (Lincoln to Minneapolis)". |
45 | * ImColdSoCold In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZES3nJQYJok song]] ''Into the Ocean'' the narrator--a boy struggling with suicide after a loss--dreams of committing suicide by drowning. While drowning he laments "I'm cold as cold as cold can be..." |
46 | * LighterAndSofter: For every intense, dark or sad song Blue October has, there are one or two positive songs as well. "Calling You" is a love song, for example. The companion songs "Blue Skies" and "Blue Does" on Approaching Normal are about Justin Furstenfeld's newborn daughter. |
47 | ** The final track on the clean version of ''Approaching Normal" is "Graceful Dancing", a much gentler song than the explicit version's "The End." |
48 | ** The albums after ''Any Man In America'' are this, with songs that are more hopeful and optimistic, mostly due to Justin's recovery. |
49 | * LyricalColdOpen: The original ''History for Sale'' version of "Calling You". |
50 | * ManlyTears: An intrinsic part of this band, especially in its early days. "Schizophrenia" is a haunting song for anyone who has dealt with the condition or knows someone who deals with it. "For My Brother" is a piano ballad written by Justin for his younger brother Jeremy. |
51 | * MoodWhiplash: On the album ''History For Sale'', the horrifying tearjerker "Razorblade" about sexual abuse rolls directly into "Calling You", one of the fluffiest and most romantic songs the band's ever written. |
52 | * MinisculeRocking: Aside from several short album intros, "3 Weeks, She Sleeps" off of ''History for Sale'' is the band's shortest song, at 1:48. |
53 | * PrecisionFStrike: Each album has at least one, or two, or three. Any Man In America has quite a few to say the least. "James," a song from Consent To Treatment, has AudienceParticipation with a phrase not in the original lyrics. |
54 | * SelfHarm: "Razorblade" is about a person who cuts themselves after being sexually abused by their [[CreepyUncle uncle]]. |
55 | * SoloSideProject: Justin has sporadically performed solo, usually under the moniker of "5591".[[note]]His patient number while admitted to a mental ward.[[/note]] |
56 | * TitleTrack: Played straight with every album since ''Any Man in America''. Subverted with ''The Answers'', where the opening track is titled “The Answer.” |
57 | * AWildRapperAppears: ''Any Man in America's'' title track features San Antonio rapper Ray C rapping the final verse. |
58 | * WindowWatcher: "The End". For a band whose music discusses depression, guilt and death regularly, it is by far their most unnerving song. |
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