The Chainsmokers were an artist that I used to be able to tolerate more than others. To me, they were kind of like Nickelback. They are essentially the type of artist that always chooses to play it safe. They're radio friendly and listeners love to hate them but will have some songs they listen to as guilty pleasures. Before this album came out, I found myself loving a few of their earlier hits. "Roses" is a beautiful song with an amazing pre-chorus and drop. "Don't Let Me Down" was an abrasive song that featured another catchy pre-chorus. Hell, I even liked "Closer." But as they gained more hits on the radio, the songs got worse. "Paris" was such a boring song and "Something Just Like This" with Coldplay was basically a note-for-note ripoff of "Roses." When this album came out, I was told by critics and listeners everywhere to stay away from it, and I listened to them. I was never on the Chainsmokers hate train, until this one fateful day.
The day was October 12, 2017. Fall was in full swing, but the weather still felt like summer. It was the start of the Fall Break at Virginia Tech and I, along with 9 other friends, was going to take a weekend trip to Virginia Beach. We were gonna party and get trashed all weekend. You know, typical college stuff. My ride was about 2 hours late. He was supposed to pick me up at noon and showed up at 2. I didn't really mind that. The drive from Blacksburg to Virginia Beach was only 5 hours. When I got in the car, he told me he had an aux cord if another friend we were about to pick up or I can play music. As much as I love playing music for people, I, unfortunately, could not take the aux cord. My phone was dying and I didn't have enough time to charge it before he got me. My friend in the back seat is one of those people who's like "Oh, you don't want to hear my music, you might not like it." In reality, he just likes a lot of music in many different genres, but because he was insecure about his taste, he declined the aux cord as well. The driver didn't have any music on his phone that he could play. He had two CDs: Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold and Memories...Do Not Open by The Chainsmokers. Both of the CDs were the clean versions. We only listened to these two CDs for the duration of the car ride.
Nightmare was listened to 3 times through, with one of them skipping around a few tracks. Even though it was the clean version, I still enjoyed that album. I used to listen to it a lot in middle school, right before I entered my YMCMB phase. It was the first album from Avenged Sevenfold following the death of their drummer, and there were many great songs on there. "Nightmare," "Welcome to the Family," "So Far Away," and "Fiction" are some of the best songs in Avenged Sevenfold's discography. It was after we stopped at a rest area when things were about to change.
Following our brief stop, he had changed the CD. The Chainsmokers' album went in, and it would be the only thing we listened to for the rest of the car ride. We still had about 3 hours to go. We ended up listening to that album all the way through not once, not twice, not thrice, but five fucking times. By the fourth listen, I felt like I was gonna go insane. Here were my thoughts through each listen:
Listen #1
This album isn't as bad as people are saying. There's actually a few enjoyable cuts on here like "Bloodstream," "My Type," "It Won't Kill Ya," and "Wake Up Alone." Although I fucking hate that "Break Up Every Night" song, this isn't that bad. It's pretty short and goes by quickly. Wait, is that a song with Florida Georgia Line? Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. This is gonna be a long ride.
Listen #2
Eh, I mostly feel the same. I really hate "Break Up Every Night" and "Last Day Alive" and I don't want to listen to these songs again, but the enjoyable cuts are still enjoyable.
Listen #3
Gee, it's getting really cold in here. Like, shivering cold. Like, I feel like I'm gonna get hypothermia if you don't turn the goddamn heat up cold. I'm really afraid to ask since it's his car and not everyone has the same temperature preferences, but I feel like I'm gonna die in here. To make matters worse, I've heard nothing but The fucking Chainsmokers for what feels like hours and it's probably not gonna stop. I feel trapped in here. If I hear that awful Florida Georgia Line song again, I might go crazy. Okay, he turned the heat up. And now we're listening to FM radio. Not great, but hey, it's not The Chainsmokers. Hopefully, the pain is over.
Listen #4
Turns out, nothing good is on FM radio. Fuck, we're going back to The Chainsmokers again. I didn't even have enough time to recover. The worst part is I can't say anything because he offered to pass me the aux cord and I declined. The only option I have is to just sit there and let it happen. I don't know how much longer I can take this. I might actually go insane. What even is good music anymore? Will I ever be able to listen to good music again?
Listen #5
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH PLEASE MAKE IT STO-oh look, we're here.
I ended up getting very drunk that night. Partially because I wanted to have some fun, but also because I wanted to forget about that torturous car ride. On the ride back, my phone was fully charged and I could play music and not have to endure The fucking Chainsmokers again. He ended up losing that CD after the trip. That weekend was very fun and I still look back on the good memories. But I will never forget that car ride. I will never forgive my friend for making me sit through The Chainsmokers album five times. To this day, it is still the worst music-related event in my lifetime. I will never listen to a Chainsmokers song ever again. Unless that song is "Roses." That one's pretty good.
The End. I'll be back to my usual posts tomorrow with a revisit. I still haven't decided what album I'll listen to yet.
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