Acceptance: The band that produced one album

As 2019 comes to a close, along with this decade, I want us all to take a trip back to 2005.

Sure, 2005 is technically two decades ago, but you would be hard-pressed to find someone in this decade who wasn’t jamming out to Phantoms, Acceptance’s debut album, and their ONLY album (at least for the next 12 years).

For some background; Acceptance was a band from Seattle, and they officially formed in the very late 90s. They were pretty big; going on the Van’s Warped Tour, and opening for bands like Seether and Anberlin.

So, why are we digging up some band from the late 90s/early 2000s that you have probably never heard of?

Well, its because some of your favorite bands have.

Think of Movements, Dashboard Confessional, even Coldplay, they may not have cited Acceptance as an influence, but if you listen to Phantoms, you can definitely hear similarities in their work.

Anyways, back to the story.

The group signed with Columbia Records in 2003, and released an EP titled Black Lines to Battle Fields, and then two years later released their debut album, and then broke up shortly thereafter.

The break-up story of Acceptance has been told by guitarist Christian McAlhaney, in an interview with TheTalkhouse back in 2016. He notes the break-up coming because Phantoms got leaked 9 months early online, pressure from their label to make their first single “a ballad”, and a court case to get the album recalled.

So, why should you care?

Well, for starters, think about how good an album has to be for people to still be listening to it 15 years later.

The lyrics are catchy, the beat of the drums carries the melodies, and the guitars go hard.

Their most popular song on that album, “So Contagious” has 8 million streams on Spotify, which is staggeringly higher than the rest of the songs on the record, they hover around 1 million.

But still; ONE MILLION is a HUGE number.

I think this is one of the reasons why emo/pop-punk/alternative music is special in its own regard. A band can produce one album that is absolute fire, and still have people listening to it now. It’s a shame that Acceptance broke up, because I bet that their work would have just continued to take off after a super successful debut.

Music is a lasting form of art. People still listen to music from the 1950s but, in order to make a track like that, something that lasts, is an incredible talent, and for these guys to do it with one album, and help shape a sound of a genre is super impressive.

However they did release an album in 2017, called Colliding by Design, but, I personally still prefer Phantoms. But, if they can come back after 12 years, who knows what else they will create if they choose to do so.

Now, I want you to think about your favorite album from this decade. Will you still be listening to it in 15 years? will it still hit hard for you and the rest of the people who enjoy the record?

I would love to know if any of you guys have heard of Phantoms, and if so, what’s your favorite track off of it.

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