Cherry Ice

20k Saturday

Jan 14, 2023

Every once in a while, we are going to tell you about a great song that has fewer than 20K streams. This week’s song is Cherry Ice by Glazed.

There’s something strange that seems to have been ingrained in our behaviors of everyday life. Before buying bread, chips, or medicine at the store, we immediately check the price. There’s an instant dread when the realization hits that inflation has caused the price of our preferred brand to increase more than expected. We immediately look one shelf lower and scope out the cheaper off-brand version. Skepticism creeps in and now a dilemma has arisen: are we willing to trust that a lesser known brand will hold up to the quality of the household one?

Even though there’s 850.8 miles between them, Philadelphia’s The Starting Line and Jacksonville, Florida’s Glazed seem to share a similar vein. This is most evident in Glazed's unknown single “Cherry Ice.” Before we make name-brand/off-brand comparisons; however, we need to dig into the history of the household name.

The Starting Line became a household name in pop-punk with their 2003 single “The Best of Me,” from their classic pop-punk album “Say It Like You Mean It.” This single had a large following and hype thanks to Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus, who put out a compilation CD of pop-punk songs the year before in 2002 that included The Starting Line’s song, “Greg’s Last Day.” This song is about the singer’s childhood friend who moves from Pennsylvania to Ohio, which basically puts an end to their friendship due to distance.

Glazed decides to take the ending of friendship theme in Cherry Ice, but puts their own spin on it. The singer doesn’t feel sorrowful like “Greg’s Last Day.” Instead, he sits in self-loathing, acknowledging that he is the reason a particular friendship died down, but tries to rekindle it over time. “I feel 18 again/ Heads through the roof of your 99 sedan,” helps show that there’s a history between characters in this song, while “What do dead friends see in my dreams/ A late 20s year old who never quite fit the mold?” shows that almost a decade has passed them by. He doesn’t want to speak too much and push away his friend from the past again.

Friendships and reminiscing about youth is nothing new to the pop-punk genre. Both of these songs lyrically share similar themes, but musically both hold quintessential elements of the genre as well. Cherry Ice has a driving lead guitar riff that transitions into the opening verse and keeps the pace all the way to the chorus. Drums fill in the gaps while the vocals harmonize with both guitars. The chorus lingers in your head hours after the song ends, or until you turn it off repeat.

Glazed has an opportunity to truly grasp the current pop-punk audience and make a name for itself. They have a vision for what they want to do as a band and a sound they want to harness. Comparisons could be made to The Wonder Years, The Starting Line, and countless others in the genre. They can be labeled as a knockoff of any various bands in the scene. This band has an amalgamation of influences, but can easily stand alone just fine without the comparisons to them. Songs they put together can become staples in any household. They just need the consumers to be willing to not settle for the name brand option.