The Get Up Kids are a Kansas City-based American emo band. Formed in 1995, … Read Full Bio ↴The Get Up Kids are a Kansas City-based American emo band. Formed in 1995, the band was a major player in the mid-90's emo scene, otherwise known as the "second wave" of emo music. As they gained prominence, they began touring with bands such as Green Day and Weezer before becoming headliners themselves, eventually embarking on international tours of Japan and Europe. They founded Heroes & Villains Records, an imprint of the successful indie rock label Vagrant Records. While the imprint was started to release albums by The Get Up Kids, it served as a launching pad for several side-projects such as The New Amsterdams and Reggie and the Full Effect.
The Get Up Kids were viewed throughout their existence as a prototypical emo band, having been major players in the Midwest emo movement of the mid-1990s.[4] However, like many early emo bands, The Get Up Kids sought to dissociate themselves with the term, as it was considered dismissive to be seen as an "emo band."Years later, guitarist Jim Suptic even apologized for having the influence they did on many of the modern third-wave emo bands, commenting that "the punk scene we came out of and the punk scene now are completely different. It’s like glam rock now . . . If this is the world we helped create, then I apologize.”

Influential Kansas City five piece, The Get Up Kids, return in January 2011 with a new studio album,There Are Rules – the band’s fifth full-length collection, and the first on their own Quality Hill Records imprint.

Seven years after what looked to be their final album Guilt Show, with the group disbanding a year later in 2005 after 10 years of constant touring, The Get Up Kids returned to the studio in 2009, sparked by a spur-of-the-moment decision to start writing songs together again, made while they were rehearsing to promote the tenth anniversary edition of their breakout album ‘Something to Write Home About’.

The first fruits of these new recordings was ‘Simple Science’, released in April 2010 - an EP that burst, unannounced, into the Billboard Top 200. But that was just a taste – a precursor to the full-length album, which Alternative Press magazine, upon hearing a whisper of its existence, placed on their “most anticipated…” list.

The band re-convened at their Black Lodge studio in Eudora, KS at various times in 2010 to complete the recordings, and so ‘There Are Rules’ came to be - twelve new songs that will prove to be both surprising, and familiar. The result is a collection of songs that are fresh and inspired, created by a band that has been given new life and isn’t looking back. In some fashion, the new tracks mark a return to the early days of The Get Up Kids, when they formed fifteen years ago above a drum store in downtown Kansas City. The recording involved lots of analog 2” tape – live takes and a feel for the unexpected. Long time producer Ed Rose was once again seated behind the mixing desk, and the band even turned to Chicago luminary Bob Weston, who recorded their debut, Four Minute Mile, to master the album. “This record came together really organically. We'd throw out an idea and if it didn't work after 30 minutes we'd scrap it and move on to another one. We all wrote together really spontaneously and then fleshed it out with Ed in the studio," says Matt Pryor.

At the same time, ‘There Are Rules’ marks a new chapter for The Get Up Kids, as they return to their independent roots, forming their own label – Quality Hill Records – and reigniting the DIY spirit that originally launched the band onto the worldwide stage. Says Pryor, “"We had a really great relationship with Vagrant but we felt that with the proverbial rebirth of the band we wanted to start our own label. Do everything ourselves like we did in the beginning." And as to naming the imprint? "Quality Hill is a historic neighborhood in Kansas City. It's not far from where we first formed the band. It seems like an appropriate name for the label." And of course, echoing their formative years, there is a 7” single involved. That 45 would be ‘Automatic’ – a limited edition release due in January 2011.

And so, after touring across four continents to sold out crowds too many times to count, after becoming a crucial part of what has been called the “second wave of emo” in the 90’s along with bands like Braid and The Promise Ring and influencing a list of bands as long as your arm, after 15 years, 4 acclaimed studio albums, a collection of rarities, a live record, numerous 7"s and EPs the Kansas City five piece – Matthew Pryor on vocals and guitar, Rob Pope on bass, Jim Suptic on guitars and vocals, James Dewees on keyboards and Ryan Pope on drums - are excited to unveil ‘There Are Rules’ in 2011, proving that the final chapter for The Get Up Kids has yet to be written.

Grunge Pig
The Get Up Kids Lyrics

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I didn't take that blow to heart
You couldn't tear our home apart
You anything you wanted everything
I don't have bruises I can show
Scars from abuse without a blow
You anything you wanted everything

You don't owe anything to me

I didn't take that blow to heart
You couldn't tear our home apart
You anything you wanted everything

You don't owe anything to me
But don't expect me not to live

I ask each year
Why am I here
Begging you please
Remembering
I'd rather die than be alone

I didn't take that blow to heart
You couldn't tear our home apart
Give you anything you wanted everything

You don't owe anything to me
But don't expect me not to live

I ask each year
Why am I here
Begging you please

Remembering
I'd rather die than be alone

Overall Meaning

The Get Up Kids’ song Grunge Pig involves themes of resilience and independence in a tumultuous relationship. The lyrics describe how the singer has withstood emotional abuse, yet remains steadfast in their resolve to not succumb to loneliness. The opening lines imply that the physical blows inflicted upon them do not matter as much as the impact of the emotional damage that has been done. The line, “Scars from abuse without a blow,” suggests that this isn’t the first time that the singer has faced harm in this relationship, despite the fact that there is no physical proof of it. The lyrics also show the singer’s willingness to provide their partner with what they want, yet through the repetition of “You anything you wanted everything,” there is an implication of manipulation and control.

Towards the end of the song, we see that the singer has held onto hope for the relationship, exemplified by the line “Begging you please, remembering, I’d rather die than be alone.” This implies that the fear of loneliness is the only thing keeping the singer in the relationship. Simultaneously, the lyric “But don’t expect me not to live” is an ultimatum of sorts from the singer to their partner, reminding them that, even without the relationship, they still value their own life and sense of agency. Ultimately, this song is about standing firm in one's own sense of self-worth, even in difficult situations.

Line by Line Meaning

I didn't take that blow to heart
I didn't let what you did hurt me emotionally

You couldn't tear our home apart
You didn't ruin our relationship

You anything you wanted everything
You were selfish and wanted everything your way

I don't have bruises I can show
You didn't physically harm me, but I still have emotional scars

Scars from abuse without a blow
I have been abused emotionally without any physical harm

You don't owe anything to me
I don't expect anything from you

But don't expect me not to live
I won't let what happened hold me back from living my life

I ask each year
Every year I question

Why am I here
What is my purpose?

Begging you please
Pleading for understanding or closure from you

Remembering
Recalling past events or emotions