Looking back on Paramore's 'Riot!' • DIY Magazine

A little less than a decade ago, Paramore probably couldn’t have felt further from the arena-championing, festival-headlining outfit that they’d go on to become. Back in 2005, with debut ‘All We Know Is Falling’, they had solidified themselves as the brightest new hopes to come from label du jour Fueled By Ramen, and spent their summers causing ripples through the Warped Tour circuit. That, however, was all about to change…

Look up the meaning of the word ‘riot’ and two definitions will appear. While the title of the band’s second album may not quite fit in with a ‘violent disturbance of the peace’, it did indeed offer up an ‘impressively varied display of something’; energy and life, a vivid sweep of red, yellow and orange (most of which featured in Hayley Williams’ hair at the time) that would go on to propel the band into the consciousness of rock fans worldwide.

'Riot!' became the brilliant blueprint upon which the group would build their future.

With the 2007 record, the band – then technically a four-piece, after the departure of guitarist Hunter Lamb but before the official introduction of Taylor York to the band – gained a confidence which became the foundation for their ever-ambitious brand of pop rock. Defining the art of the hook with the infectious ‘That’s What You Get’, perfecting the hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck crescendo of ‘We Are Broken’, and showing off the multi-faceted gorgeousness of ‘Let The Flames Begin’ was all just part and parcel of the album. And that’s not even going into the rock club classic that is the record’s biggest hit ‘Misery Business’. As a second album, it was the brilliant blueprint upon which the group would build their future - and what an incendiary future they’d be celebrating ten years later.

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