The Say Anything Albums Ranked

I was introduced to Say Anything in high school and infatuated by the time of my start in college, but only recently did I do a deeper dive into the pop punk group’s discography. And they are indeed one of my favorite bands. The beautiful thing about Say Anything is that, perhaps despite during their earliest days, they constantly subvert and reinvent that “pop punk” label, driving into emo, a close cousin, but also vaguer “indie rock” and guitar-less records. And by they, I mostly mean Max Bemis, singer, frontman, and songwriter for the group that, from the start, was mostly an outlet for his creative and meta self-deprecation. The notable exception to Bemis’ singularity was Coby Linder, percussionist and the only other stable member from the band’s formation in 2000 until 2012 (although guitarists Jake and Jeff Turner were around in the middle years, and keyboardist Parker Case from 2005 to 2018). The extensive line up changes amid Bemis’ well-chronicled life developments reached their temporary end in 2018, when Bemis announced Say Anything would be disbanding and opting out of a tour in the wake of their final album, OLIVER APPROPRIATE, released in January 2019. Since, Bemis has toured solo and released a 2019 album with his wife and frequent collaborator, Eisley member Sherri Dupree-Bemis, together as Perma. And he’s claimed Say Anything will be back in some form (EDIT: they sure have). I’ll be addressing their nine full-length albums released in the 23 years since 2011, although their EPs deserve special mention. JUNIOR VARSITY (2000), Say Anything’s first release, is especially great. Same goes for MENORAH/MAJORA (2002), and the compilation album ALL MY FRIENDS ARE ENEMIES: EARLY RARITIES (2013) collects those EPs with the “DORMROOM DEMOS,” so it also gets a shout out. Without further ado: a ranking of the Say Anything albums.

EDIT 5/30/24: Added …IS COMMITTED and reshuffled other rankings.

#9 — I DON’T THINK IT IS (2016)

Favorite track: “17 Coked Up Speeding”

It’s really too bad that Say Anything initially ended with these next two albums. I DON’T THINK IT IS, the once-penultimate record, is the least accessible release from the band. In a way, the surprise-released album is admirable, with a raw, erratic aesthetic that displays Bemis’ tendency to lean into his bipolar condition. But ultimately, the songwriting hooks that defined Say Anything’s best, poppy, and yet offbeat work are absent. “17 Coked Up Speeding,” and maybe “Goshua,” stand as the sole “catchy” songs on the record. I DON’T THINK IT IS, sonically, is Bemis at his most experimental. It just doesn’t work out.

#8 — OLIVER APPROPRIATE (2019)

Favorite track: “Daze”

Speaking of experimental: Say Anything’s once-final record is a concept album, a successor to …IS A REAL BOY as a continuation of that “character’s” story. The release of OLIVER APPROPRIATE and the explanation of its semi-autobiographical title character came with Bemis’ coming out as bisexual, and so the album is tenderly personal in a way. But it also soars with the typical angst, and gets quite dark in its exploration of Oliver’s psyche and actions. Musically, it’s of a pair with I DON’T THINK IT IS, but a softer one and one that is stronger in its appeal. “Daze” is genuinely great, while “Sediment,” as the once-final track on Say Anything’s originally final album, is fine as a send-off after nearly two decades of existence.

#7 — …IS COMMITTED (2024)

Favorite track: “I, Vibrator”

…IS COMMITTED is Say Anything’s reunion record, coming after the biggest gap between their records at over five year since OLIVER APPROPRIATE (they were “broken up,” after all). That time hasn’t exactly dulled the approach to the group’s previous two albums, however, as …IS COMMITTED is also a bold experiment, from intimate subject matter to a meta eight-minute track in which Max has a conversation with Sherri about how the previous sad part sounds before launching into a more upbeat segment. The ambition is represented by the album’s title, an obvious callback to …IS A REAL BOY, Say Anything’s most acclaimed release. Bemis even directly refers to a part of …IS COMMITTED’s final track “Fan Fiction” as sounding like a “…IS A REAL BOY track” (and he’s right). Still, the comparison isn’t entirely favorable. For all the laudable deviations in song structure and emotions, many of the record’s tracks don’t cohere into singularly and deeply affecting experiences. But …IS COMMITTED is indeed a good album, a blaring and messy declaration that Say Anything is back (hopefully for quite some time still).

#6 — SAY ANYTHING (2009)

Favorite track: “Do Better”

Say Anything’s self-titled release, coming off the heels of the massive and varied IN DEFENSE OF THE GENRE, may not have been recognized as quite as eclectic as it really is. In fact, SAY ANYTHING is more “all over the place” than its predecessor. Generally, the quality is consistent, even as Bemis and Co. explore a wide range of sounds, production, and lyrical content that don’t sum up to something quite as listenable as most of Say Anything’s discography. “Do Better” is a pretty smooth, groovy track amid more aggressive instrumentation, but “Crush’d” comes in close second as a favorite track with its simple and affecting angst. Say Anything could, indeed, do better.

#5 — ANARCHY, MY DEAR (2012)

Favorite track: “Night’s Song”

And they did in fact do better with the follow up to SAY ANYTHING. ANARCHY, MY DEAR was my first new Say Anything album, so it holds a special place in my heart. And indeed, it’s a solid, cohesive, angry, and yet refined piece of pop punk, perhaps the last and closest thing to that label the band put out. ANARCHY, MY DEAR flows from strong song to strong song, making broader statements than the more Bemis-centric albums, although of course there is plenty of self-examination. Certain fans point out ANARCHY, MY DEAR as the downfall of Say Anything, in conjunction with Max’s marriage to Sherri, but the album greatly benefits from her ethereal vocals, let alone Bemis’ admitted happiness. I like all 11 tracks on the album, and it’s a briefer, more reined-in artistic statement than Say Anything’s previous and lengthy records. But no individual song from ANARCHY, MY DEAR soars quite as high as the best tracks on the other albums, and in spite of my avowed aversion to long-ass albums, sometimes their epic scope overwhelms me.

#4 — IN DEFENSE OF THE GENRE (2007)

Favorite track: “Shiksa (Girlfriend)”

And that’s the case with IN DEFENSE OF THE GENRE, a massive double album that carries with it a “sophomore album” sensibility in spite of the fact it was Say Anything’s third album. But it was only their second received on a broad level, and indeed it ratcheted up the ambition of the true sophomore effort, …IS A REAL BOY. But IN DEFENSE OF THE GENRE is no slump, if not a true improvement on what came before. Bemis cast a wide net in his collaboration with a number of pop punk and emo figures of the mid-2000s, and while doing so, he also avoided the most typical songwriting structures of the genre(s). I can’t help be impressed by and attracted to the world IN DEFENSE OF THE GENRE plunges me into. Also, shout out to the cover art illustrated by BONE writer/artist Jeff Smith, a clear homage to Bemis’ love for comics and perhaps a harbinger of his work in that industry as a writer himself.

#3 — BASEBALL: AN ALBUM BY SAY ANYTHING (2001)

Favorite track: “Mackdaddy”

Released when Say Anything was still “Sayanything,” BASEBALL: AN ALBUM BY SAY ANYTHING (space inserted retroactively) is a wholly refreshing and constantly energetic, catchy, and emotional pop punk record. The album doesn’t even feel “raw” in the way a small, indie debut would imply for a band like Say Anything. There are tremendous production sense and songwriting hooks on display on BASEBALL, and I can’t help but fall in love with many of its most angsty and/or angry songs, like “Mackdaddy.” It very closely clinches the top spot over one of my other favorite Say Anything songs, “The Last Great Punk Rock Song”…but my absolute love for it is with its incarnation on the preceding EP JUNIOR VARSITY. Nevertheless, all 16 songs on BASEBALL (including hidden track “All Choked Up”) are absolute bangers, already displaying Say Anything’s and Bemis’ ability to evade the brevity of many albums in the genre without losing potency.

#2 — HEBREWS (2014)

Favorite track: “Six Six Six”

HEBREWS came out in the summer between my high school graduation and my freshman year of college. I remember buying the CD at a record store, back when I was still collecting those damn discs. Now I have nostalgia for ten years ago, but even without it, HEBREWS emerges as nearly Say Anything’s most clear and compelling artistic statement. Capturing the epic scope of their best albums while clocking in at least half an hour shorter, HEBREWS is, as the title might suggest, a reflection on Bemis’ Jewish heritage. It’s a window into the clearest self-evaluation he’s yet done, fusing his apparently and relatively newfound happiness in a stable relationship with anxiety over the birth of his child and latent insecurities and mental illness. Oh, and did I mention that HEBREWS doesn’t have any guitar on it (barring bass, of course)? The album remarkably eschews, as Say Anything always has, an easy pop punk label, but this time by prioritizing keyboards, synths, and orchestration. Bemis and Say Anything craft a beautiful, lofty work of art that is a free, matured accumulation of Bemis’ ever-growing meta-narrative about his fears and the crafting of that very narrative. “Six Six Six” carries this most strongly as the most rousing song on the album, while “My Greatest Fear Is Splendid” more obviously gives insight into Bemis’ unease with the future. And he is accompanied by a great number of collaborators, not unlike IN DEFENSE OF THE GENRE. It’s all the more remarkable that they are simultaneously featured more prominently and subsumed into the sound and aesthetic of the band. HEBREWS is a declarative statement unlike any other for Say Anything, a refined yet still emotionally raw and alive record.

#1 — …IS A REAL BOY (2004)

Favorite track: “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too”

The story of …IS A REAL BOY is quite interesting. Released in 2004 in an abbreviated form of the 2006 release, and without one of Say Anything’s greatest songs, “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too,” the album precipitated a nervous breakdown in Bemis while simultaneously being established as the highest watermark for the band, not yet topped. It’s quite difficult to dismiss the group’s and Bemis’ daring in crafting a record of the scope of …IS A REAL BOY, something so much more than a “pop punk” album while carrying everything, and pardon the phrase, “fans of the genre” would find appealing. But then songs like “Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too,” a pure pop if angsty potential hit single, show up, and the record shifts gears yet again. I can only imagine the time I would have poured into listening to this record if I had discovered it even earlier in high school. It speaks to …IS A REAL BOY’s timelessness and incredible songwriting that I pour as much time into it today, even if I am a somewhat nostalgic and angsty adult.