I’ve previously said that I wasn’t a huge Get Up Kids fan as a teenager. There was a single reason for that: nothing could top my entry to the band, which was this, the Eudora compilation, which I bought specifically the track “Central Standard Time,” which is a top ten emo song, and spun on repeat for months at a time. As great as their studio albums were, nothing else grabbed my attention like this compilation.

As for why I hadn’t purchased this record until this week though, I can’t tell you that.

While I originally bought this solely for “Central Standard Time” and “Newfound Mass (2000),” I eventually fell in love with the rest of the record, which is culled from B-sides, bonus tracks, songs from splits and compilations (like their split with The Anniversary), and covers.

Not only does the record serve as an excellent sampling of The Get Up Kids’ range, which even includes some hardcore moments, but it was also my entry point to New Order, The Cure, the Pixies, and David Bowie’s deeper cuts—not that I did anything about it at the time. It was years later that I realized that their versions of “Regret” and “Close to Me” weren’t originals.

But honestly, I could care less about objective analysis about the curriculum vitae the comp paints of the band. Where most fans are nostalgic for records like Something to Write Home About or Four Minute Mile, this is the collection of songs that means the most to me. Every second of this record is still etched into the pathways of my brain. And when I get in a TGUK mood, there’s a very good chance that this will be the record I still pull off my shelf.