I tried to pinpoint in my mind the time when they started sucking. In 2000 I saw them at an all ages show at the Break Room, which is now the Chop Suey. The Break Room was so-called because it contained within it a pool table. I thought the show was pretty great, but the most memorable thing about it was Carissa's Wierd opening for them. I saw Death Cab a bunch of times after that. I saw them open for the Pixies in Bend, Oregon. They sucked. Their presence could not fill an arena. I think the turning point for me was when I saw them at the Paramount touring in support of Transatlantacism. Something happened between the release of that album and their previous one, where I was no longer a constituent of their primary demographic. I was only 23 or 24, but I felt old at that show; everyone there were sweater-wearing make-out-club emo kids that glared at me for smoking a cigarette. That show sucked too. I should have stayed in Bellingham and gone to the Ruby Doe show that also occurred that night. I did see them at Marymoore park last summer (I think?) or two summers ago, and that show was all right, mainly because they frontloaded their set with a ton of old favorites. I was pleasantly surprised.
I still think Ben Gibbard is talented songwriter. No one can write a more beautiful melody. As years progressed, however, he's shown a tendency for this lyrics to veer into an obscene sentimentality with no ability to course-correct.
I went to wikipedia to see what year Something About Airplanes was released because my itunes said 1999, and I was pretty sure that was wrong. For some reason I thought it was 1996, but it was 1998. Their wiki mentions All-Time Quarterback and Pinwheel (if you're curious about Pinwheel, I heard them once and thought they sounded like a crappy Sunny Day Real Estate rip off), but failed to mention the release of their first split 7" on Elsinor. Is there some Death Cab superfan out there who's aware of this record and would want to mention it on their wiki page? The song was an early version of Your Bruise. I have uploaded an mp3 of said song for your benefit.
