[Chris Tanz]

See, I don't get the animus towards 'Fireworks.' This has to be a case of a song that gets unfairly blamed for being overrated. But saying that a song is overplayed or overrated is not the same thing as saying it sucks. Heck, I feel that 'Gift Shop' is seriously overrated and overplayed, but didn't vote against it until well into the later rounds of the TATH poll. I think that's the fair way to proceed.

On the song itself: it's got a fantastic opening verse and wonderfully catchy guitars. The chorus fails to live up to the promise thus established, being serviceable rather than exciting. The other two verses build coherently on what went before but fail to recapture the excitement of the first verse. Basically, the craft is good but somewhat workmanlike following that first inspired verse. But nothing about it is in any way bad or noxious. It's a good song with a great opener.

Agree completely ... I don't care to listen to it very much, but think it outranks The Rules, Chagrin Falls, Save The Planet in this kind of exercise. Gonna be an easy vote after those guys are gone though.

Membership, I put in the same camp as Fireworks as an album track, but a muscular live Membership beats out a concert-filler like Fireworks any day.

Ct