Four Year Strong: Movies Get Remembered, Quotes Never Die

April 10, 2010

FOUR YEAR STRONG’s 2009 covers album, Explains It All, should’ve clued in everyone that this is a band who take their pop culture seriously. But when the group aren’t busy chugging through Third Eye Blind and Alanis Morrisette tunes, the titles of their own songs and albums keep the references flowing, in a cross between Fall Out Boy’s run-on sentences and New Found Glory’s humorous nostalgia. Some FYS titles pulled from film and television (sorry, copyright law makes finding clips of all of these difficult if not illegal) include:

Explains It All
A reference to the Nickelodeon show Clarissa Explains It All, starring Melissa Joan Hart.

“If He’s Here, Who’s Runnin’ Hell?”
A line from National Lampoon’s Van Wilder.

“Sparkle Motion”
The title of this 2006 demo is a Donnie Darko reference. Sparkle Motion is Samantha Darko’s tween dance troupe. (A panicked Kitty Farmer to Rose Darko: “Sometimes, I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!”)

“Abandon Ship Or Abandon All Hope”
A line from Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

“What The Hell Is A Gigawatt?”
A line from Back To The Future.

“Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die”
A line from The Sandlot.

“Your Ego’s Writing Checks Your Body Can’t Cash”
This 2006 demo takes its title from a Top Gun line.

“Wrecked ’Em? Damn Near Killed ’Em”
A line from Black Sheep, delivered by Mike Donnelly (Chris Farley) as “Rectum? Damn near killed ’em!”

“Vash: The Stampede”
This title is the name of the main character in the Japanese manga series Trigun.

“Can You Blow Me Where the Pampers Is?”
The original title for “Prepare To Be Digitally Manipulated” from Rise Or Die Trying is a line taken from the Jeremy Piven thespian vehicle PCU.

“Angels With Filthy Souls”/“Angels With Even Filthier Souls”
These 2006 demo titles refer to fictitious films from Home Alone/Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, which were parodies of the James Cagney gangster movie Angels With Dirty Faces.