I don’t even know who The Script is. Had to look them up on Wikipedia (it doesn’t help that the CD doesn’t have a photo of the band on it). They’re from Ireland! The more you know…

Anyway, the band itself is as anonymous as anonymous gets. But “Breakeven” is a stone jam. One of my favorite “end of relationship” songs to be made this century; “Breakeven” is melodic pop-rock goodness that doesn’t get made much anymore. It’s soundtracked most of my misguided crushes/dissolved relationships over the past decade. And it’s leagues better than anything made by similarly anonymous contemporary pop bands (like OneRepublic, which is awful…who is awful? Either way, they’re awful).

This is on my karaoke bucket list, if I can figure out a way to hit that high note in the chorus.

Not Quite Five Stars…

“Breakdown” by Handsome Boy Modeling School feat. Jack Johnson (2004): I had a Jack Johnson phase that went on for longer than I’d like to admit. These days, he kinda puts me to sleep. But when Prince Paul and Dan the Automator put a lazy but insistent hip-hop beat behind his acoustic rumination and then added some motherfucking kazoos, they swooped in on a classic.