...Is a Real Boy

… Is a Real Boy is Say Anything’s proper debut album, and bursts forth in an enduring clash of pop-punk fervor with raw emotion. It is a concept album, somewhat meta in that its story revolves around a band named Say Anything fronted by a man named Max Bemis.

From the album’s physical booklet:

The songs on this recorded album were originally written as a part of a “rock opera” with a full narrative, spoken word interludes, and a cast of characters.

The plot revolved around a moderately successful “indie/punk” rock bank called Say Anything, fronted by 21-year old Max Bemis, an idealistic, introverted singer/songwriter crippled by depression and anxiety and alienated by what he sees as a vast hypocrisy inherent in society.

One night, a supernatural power “curses” Max with a mysterious affliction. The “curse” causes his innermost fears, fantasies, and thoughts to burst forth from his mouth at any given time in the form of fully arranged rock anthems. Max simply cannot control it: any time he feels a strong emotion, everything around him becomes a bizarre musical. Though Max’s new powers at first seem only to frighten people, they soon cause the opposite effect as Say Anything becomes an accidental phenomenon.

The blatant honesty of the lyrics as well as the freak-show appeal of a man physically unable to censor himself strike a powerful chord amongst the underground culture that once dismissed Max’s music as “unsubstantial.” Now, worshiped by rock-and-roll America as a Christ-like figure, Bemis sets out to use his powers to vanquish all hypocrisy.

The proposed rock opera planned to chronicle Bemis' rise to power, as well as his undoing by the fundamental flaw in the logic of every self-involved, impassioned rock singer. Whether capitalist America is “the enemy” or not, there is greed, duplicity and hatred in every human being, especially in the greatest hypocrites of all: the “entertainers” among us, whose need for attention fosters a sick dream that they alone hold the key to mankind’s salvation.

In the end, Max is left to fight “the man” with the corniest song he’s ever written and the knowledge that accepting love and salvation lies within admitting he is nothing more or less than a human being.

The album was reissued in 2006 with a bonus disc called “…was a Real Boy”, which featured remastered and re-recorded versions of the 2004 “Vs. AIDS Demos”.

An off-kilter masterpiece in the league of Brand New’s Deja Entendu and Weezer’s Pinkerton, the album was reissued in 2006 with a bonus disc called …was a Real Boy, which featured remastered and re-recorded versions of the 2004 VS. AIDS Demos.