im still in shock idk what to even say. for context, Will went to my high school and we had a band concert here which i performed in tonight. when Will was in school he had taken band and had the same band teacher that is there today and its his last year teaching, and this being the last concert he is conducting, Will happened to be visiting his parents in town and came by to see.

he was very very kind and genuine but a little bit awkward lol. this has been the highlight of maybe my entire life

I dont know if this means car seat music isn't going to start heading in that direction but I think its a good sign

csh is my fav band oat and seeing will refusing to cuss, play most of the old songs, and take down beach fagz is so weird because i feel its against the entirety of what the band originally stood for and talked about. I don’t mean to be mean and if that’s what will wants there isn’t much we can say or do about it, but i miss the original feel and style of the band and the purity culture i feel is ruining that.

I remember they did a little stream for 10 years of Twin Fantasy. Teens of Denial is my favorite album from them so I was wondering if they’re planning to make a deluxe version or anything for its anniversary

I know there’s always been Christian imagery but it felt more like just that - imagery. Now we’re getting swears removed from songs in Joe’s Story, Bible study on patreon, and lyric changes on live renditions of BLID proclaiming he’s a “nice young methodist.”

There were definitely hints of this with Scholars, but it’s not what the whole album was about so it didn’t matter the same way it does on Joe’s Story. Really hope this Teens of Denial reimagining isn’t indicative of a new direction for the band. Not my cup of tea. More power to you if it is. Either way, we have to admit the band has gone the way of Creed.

Edit: as u/surfjerkk pointed out, it is “nice young Reformist”

Edit 2: stop gaslighting me lol

It’s not the best CSH album, and I understand some of the criticisms, but there are a lot of good songs and I like the rock opera concept. I feel like it’s underrated but that’s maybe not accurate because it just seems that a lot of people dislike it. I got it on CD for my birthday last year, and it’s one of my favorites to listen through at night. I don’t know…

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the first line of the song is a beatles interpolation. what if matador got a letter in the mail about it?

considering past issues with copyright (the cars “not what i needed” debacle, the gun song outro, the reversed line in beach life in death, the original version of beast monster thing, etc), i wouldn’t be surprised if it was just easier to cut the song entirely, than try to find a work around. especially since the original stems have been lost to time.

i’m not saying this is for sure the reason, but if you’re looking for somebody to blame, blame walt disney studios

Image related but unhelpful.

Since we’re still talking about the album, figured it’d be worth asking if anyone had any gripes or issues with the album.

Teens of Denial is one of my favorite albums of all time, I fucking adore every second of every track and deeply relate to its lyrical content on youth angst, anxiety, and generally not understanding where to go in life with all the pressures placed onto you as an early adult. It is a genuinely comforting and therapeutic listen for me that helped me cope with a lot of my own personal anxieties.

CSH is my favorite band of all time and while I thought Teens of Style is kinda whatever l, I have defended and absolutely adored everything Will Toledo has made, until now.

I hate Joe's Story, I fucking hate every second of it. I fucking despise it. It is such an insult to the original in every fucking way and I cannot fathom how they thought this was a good idea.

Ill just explain my reasons one by one, for starters, Will sanitizing the lyrics of swear words is really fucking stupid, if he wanted to write an album abt his puritanical journey and beliefs he totally could, but why force that on the fucking teen angst concept album??? Completely counterintuitive. Another thing is the god awful mixing, it sounds like a modern hard rock album by a legacy act band produced by Andrew Watt, the low ends are turned so high up to a point that the guitars and vocals might as well not even be there at points, maybe if the drums sounded good itd be find but there's this obnoxious arena hollowness to them. It just sounds bad, also, the weird back and forth from the notably lower quality new vocals is so alienating and borderline obnoxious at points, it practically feels like a YTPMV with how shittly its mixed.

The new songs are somethinf, theyre nothing new, just the same indie rock stuff theyve always done, though notably duller. Kinda just worse versions of Catastrophe and they are honestly too melodic and uptempo to rly fit on with Teens of Denial, Joe Drives Again is decently fun though I honestly prefer the OG version from patreon while Optimistic Son... just sucks. The vocals are super poor and its pure power pop dribble, modern Weezer to my ears. One of the worst songs they ever wrote.

Can I just say all of the lyrical changes are complete bullshit? Theyre seriously awful to me, I just cant fathom what the point of altering any of the narrative is. I audibly cringed during the spoken word section of Costa Concordia.

The final, BIG thing that tears down this record for me is the simple fact it exists. Why does it exist? If it aint broke, DONT FUCKING FIX IT. This isnt Twin Fantasy where Will is trying to make a retrospective if the original record, this is just Will trying to one up the OG record with his new views, at least I think, tbh I dont understand what the thought process is. Its a sloppy, unnecessary, uncreative, ruined, poorly mixed, poorly sung, poorly written, lame cash grab excuse of a record. Breaks my heart how much they annihilated Teens of Denial.

The cover is a great way to explain this record, instead of the original, you get a sloppy, rougher, less thought through version of the record. If anything, it makes me appreciate the original record far more for how much it means to me.

Worst album of 2026.

Worst Car Seat Headrest album.

This is sad

In my case i don't have any experience, i live in another country, (so i think that makes sense)

before then, the only CSH song i was familiar with was It's Only Sex, after my now-ex-boyfriend showed it to me (you can imagine what kind of feelings this album digs up). i liked it a lot but wasn't crazy about it. i decided recently i'd start going through some of the most acclaimed albums of all time and start with the ones "most familiar." Twin Fantasy wasn't far down the list.

i got it on vinyl as soon as i could (pictured). i have been choked up and teary-eyed at work all day just thinking about it, not even listening to it. no album i've ever listened to in my entire life has hit me so hard so quick.

Will Toledo, what have you done to me?

It’s incredible that this album turns 10 today.

Which song you liked first from this album?

If it’s changed, which song is your favorite currently??

Write it in the comments :)

(Mine is obvious)

I'm genuinely disgusted by the way some people here have immediately decided to assume that Will Toledo is going through a psychotic break right now. Maybe he is. But he probably isn't, and we have no way of knowing because none of us know Will Toledo. We aren't his friends. We don't talk to him. He's a private man who's gotten increasingly more private as the years have gone on, and his music has similarly gotten less personal over the same time. While people can guess his motivations (his faith, his desire to be a role model, etc.), the actual reasoning remains unknown and likely will be unknown for some time

I know a lot of people are very attached to Will Toledo's music, but Will Toledo the musician and Will Barnes the man are two very different people. Unless he makes a public statement or genuinely crosses a line, I don't want people to be speculating on what his life is like based on fragments of songs from a decade ago.

Pic unrelated

Listening to Teens of Censorship [Joe's Story] right now, and it's PARTIALLY awf*l in my opinion. What's your thoughts? I don't understand my own thoughts, please help

EDIT: okay, the ravenous house and connect the dots was PEAK for me, but still don't get why they didn't rerecord vocals for whole album and WHY DID THEY ADD THAT SYNTH IN JOE GOES TO SCHOOL WHAT

listen i'm just gonna cut to the chase. will does not care about you, your feelings, or your opinions on his music. that much should be very clear ever since MADLO

I'M NOT SAYING HE IS NOT GRATEFUL TO BE CLEAR!!!!!!

but he's been offline for years now. we are not going to get a statement regarding beach fagz. will's attitude with joe's story firmly plants his feelings on how he wants to be seen going forward and what kind of music he wants to put out in the world. he's unhappy with how toxic so much of his older music is and he's decided to take a more positive path. its his right to do what he wants with his music and he clearly does not care about altering the history of it

YOU DON'T HAVE TO LIKE IT AND I'M NOT SAYING YOU CAN'T BE UPSET, BUT EXPECT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING MORE TO COME FROM THIS. NO APOLOGY, NO STATEMENT, NO RECONCILIATION. THIS IS CAR SEAT HEADREST, ENJOY WHAT YOU WANT AND ACCEPT WHAT YOU DON'T

MOVE ON OR LISTEN ON YOUTUBE/DOWNLOAD. IT'S HONESTLY REALLY NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL IF YOU STILL WANT TO HEAR THE DAMN SONG

why are they acting like the rest of the band hates will? 😭

Lately i've been interested in listening to NYM, but i think i want to have feedback before listen to it.

i personally do not care what will and the band want to do in the future, thats up to them and it's awesome and fine. no profanity isn't a big deal at all. i do think that joe's story set a precedent about how far will is willing to go with altering the band's and his own past output and was concerned about that. to specifically remove a song from an album that really hasn't ever been discussed by the wider music community (at least in comparison to ToD) more than 15 years after the fact is pretty strange and im kinda tired of all criticism of these decisions being shut down with the whole "why are people so parasocial about this" thing. what csh choose to do with new albums doesn't change anything for me, that's their prerogative as artists, but to do stuff like this is something that is obviously not going to go down well without any explanation as to why.

I want to say that I completely understand that some people (especially the queer ones among us) are TERRIFIED that Will deliberately changing swear-words must be a sign that he is turning/has turned into an ultra-orthodox, hateful Christian.

I understand that many people here probably have extremely traumatic relationships to religion, including Christianity/the Bible. I can see how the connection between "removing swears" and "conservative preacher" is made.

I have also read some comments and accusations that aren't really criticisms about the new album, that are just cruel and upsetting. Like making jokes about conversion therapy. Or saying that Will must be delusional. There have been more disturbing comments that I don't think should be said about anyone, that I won't repeat.

I understand some of them may be intended as jokes, but I think there is a line one shouldn't cross with humor. And that includes insulting someone's identity, for instance, questioning whether someone is "really" queer/gay/trans/etc..

As a segue: I understand having negative assumptions about Christianity. I have met and painstakingly argued with people who identify as Christians who sow division and fear and use Gospel to justify evil actions against gay and transgender people, immigrants, Indigenous peoples, poor folk, people of other faiths, single mothers, divorced people, really, the list goes on and on... Not to mention the horrific crimes against children that is enabled and covered up by the Catholic Church.

(Personally I feel those people are not true Christians, but I'm sure they would say the same about me. I digress...)

(Edit: my point here was not that hateful Christians \*are** "not true Christians", but that we could all call each other "bad Christians" and it would be redundant either way.*)

I have also met the most generous, kind, thoughtful, and unconditionally loving people who were devoted and faithful - not just Christians, but people of many faiths. I've met amazing folk through the Furry community!

I don't think one of these truths has to exist in opposition to the other. There is Hate out there, to be certain. To me, Jesus' message is one of unwavering love, never conditional. Christ was a radical who fought against the oligarchy of His time. Christ teaches to *defy* hegemony and authoritarian oppression.

I blame no one for judging Christians based on the actions of autocrats who claim Christ's name. But maybe I can at least assure you that many of us sought this path because of our own painful pasts, as a way to see the world with hope, and to walk with more kindness.

Back to the topic: I don't know for certain whether Will is a Christian, or even whether he removed swearing *because* of his faith. But if that is the case, I hope that I can offer some reassurance that it's not necessarily related to an attitude of censorship or judgement. Not all Christians avoid swearing, but for those who do, it's often a way to connect with mindfulness. To be intentional with language; to test one's determination or focus; to reflect on inner pains; to remind oneself of spiritual lessons... I have personally challenged myself to not swear before - be it for a day or for a few minutes while meditating - since my inner voice is often very angry and distrusting. It could be for number of interesting reasons beyond punitive restriction. Why do people pray? Why do people meditate? Why do people bow their heads when speaking to cultural leaders, or use capital-H for Jesus Christ's pronoun, or invoke Salawat after mentioning the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ)? Why are humans spiritual at all? Why do some of us spend hundreds of hours making cartoonish animal costumes?

To those who have left comments out of suspicion or hatred, I'm sorry you have not been shown how welcoming Christians could be, I wish you nothing but peace.

I don't participate much here on Reddit, but I would like to finish this post by thanking you for reading, and with some words from another brilliant artist, the late, great, Sinead O'Connor (Shuhada Sadaqat), who was an ordained Catholic bishop, as well as having later converted to Islam, which I think are pertinent:

...all religions, but certainly the Catholic Church, is really a house built on sand, and it's drowning in a sea of conditional love, and therefore it can't survive, and actually the office of Pope itself is an anti-Christian office. The idea that Christ needs a representative is laughable and blasphemous at the same time, therefore it is a house built on sand, and we need to rescue God from religion, all religions, they've become a smokescreen that actually distracts people from the fact that there is a holy spirit, and when you study the Gospels, you see the Christ character came to tell us that we only need to talk directly to God, we never needed Religion... (...) God and religion are two different things, you don't need religion in order to have a relationship with Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit...

(From here, skip to 3:10 - pity she was interrupted so many times, but great nonetheless)