The Changing Faces of AFI

This one is for Ashley

AFI has changed musical styles as much as they have changed their fashion, but WHO CARES!? It is all good music.

The most criticism I hear from fans  of any band is that "the music has changed." 

After AFI released their latest album Crash Love in September 2009, I read a review that made me quite angry. The biggest argument in the review talked about how AFI has changed too much. It said that they loved AFI in the mid 90's because they sounded like the Misfits, and now they sound way too emo.

Really? You are upset because a band changed their musical style. Did you really expect them to stay the same for almost 15 years?

Yes, when AFI released their first four albums from years 1995-2000, they sounded very similar to The Misfits and this was primarily due to the fact that AFI lists The Misfits as one of their main musical influences, but after that AFI changed.

Why is this?

Well, in 2000 when Michale Graves left the Misfits, Davey Havok, the lead singer of AFI was asked to be the new lead singer of The Misfits, he declined.

This goes to show one thing. Davey didn't want to be like the Misfits.  He wanted to be something different.

After that, with each album came a new sound. They split from the pack and formed their own band.

For this, I applaud AFI. Their music from the mid 90s is awesome and Crash Love is also awesome.

I look forward to hearing your music in the future.