There Are Rules
by The Get Up Kids
Metascore
62

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
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  1. Alternative Press
    Jan 24, 2011
    90
    There Are Rules truly stands out in the members' collective catalogs as a completely unique entity, and one that should be viewed as nothing less than an absolutely stunning success. [Feb 2011, p.85]
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  2. Absolute Punk (Staff reviews)
    Jan 27, 2011
    88
    This is The Get Up Kids years later folks. The familiar nuances have been rearranged and built into something stronger, but the attitude and depth is all the same, if not more adhesive and much more endearing than before.
  3. AllMusic
    Dec 7, 2011
    80
    On There Are Rules, the Get Up Kids never sound like they're trying to relearn how to do what they do: they manage the deceptively difficult trick of evolving without turning into something else, and they've made a powerful, engaging album that's worthy of their legacy.
  5. Drowned In Sound
    Mar 3, 2011
    70
    While the rest of the album does falter a little towards the end, as a piece of work overall it's one that they should rightfully be proud of.
  6. Prefix Magazine
    Jan 26, 2011
    70
    Yes, believe it or not, The Get Up Kids have produced the first truly surprising album of 2011.
  7. Q Magazine
    May 2, 2011
    60
    Their fifth long-player finds them back at their corrosive best. [Apr 2011, p.102]
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  8. Mojo
    Apr 22, 2011
    60
    Nothing here feels contrived. Instead we witness a rare thing: an inherently youthful band gracefully making good into their thirties. [Apr 2011, p.106]
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  9. The A.V. Club
    Jan 25, 2011
    58
    There's no doubt that these guys can still rock with all the heart-on-sleeve younguns they've influenced; now they just have to rediscover something worth writing home about.
  10. Pitchfork
    Jan 24, 2011
    54
    There Are Rules isn't a return to form sonically [...] but a return to results, a just-all-right record from a band that always felt a step behind even in their own genre.
  11. Rock Sound
    Mar 1, 2011
    50
    Suffice to say, the once-beloved Kansas City quintet are not Radiohead, and whilst they may have left their pioneering, emo-infused pop-punk behind over a decade ago, nothing quite prepares the listener for the insipid snooze-a-thon they've concocted here.
  12. Spin
    Jan 26, 2011
    50
    There Are Rules doesn't contain a single tune that lingers afterward.
  13. Paste Magazine
    Feb 18, 2011
    46
    Here the Get Up Kids sound a bit confused and rusty, making There Are Rules a late career footnote of limited urgency.
  14. Under The Radar
    Mar 23, 2011
    40
    Try as they might the songs just aren't there. [Feb. 2011, p. 71]
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  15. PopMatters
    Jan 27, 2011
    40
    There Are Rules sounds like the product of a band that knows well where it's been, but can't quite figure out yet where it wants to go.
  16. NOW Magazine
    Jan 27, 2011
    40
    On their fifth album, the Get Up Kids sound like a band who resent what made them popular in the first place.
  17. Slant Magazine
    Jan 24, 2011
    40
    While the style of rock for which they're best known might now be passé, the Get Up Kids pushes themselves entirely too far outside their comfort zone on There Are Rules, resulting in an album that is at turns strident and awkward.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. j-mack
    Jan 28, 2011
    7
    Give this record a chance and don't expect it to sound like any of their previous releases. It is more keyboard driven than their previousGive this record a chance and don't expect it to sound like any of their previous releases. It is more keyboard driven than their previous releases. It has more of a "bratty" sound as the review on Spin.com states. I also found it to sound a bit more "cold" than some of their other stuff. I think that is due to the heavy synths and effects that have been put on the songs. Many of the songs are not as immediately catchy or accessible as "Something to Write Home About" (which seams to be their golden standard to compare all others to). With that being said, it has grown on me and is a pretty good record. It is appropriate record for a band whose sound has matured over the years. Buy it and support them since it is self-released!… Full Review »
  2. dothevampire
    Mar 22, 2011
    8
    The Get Up Kids grew up, with that came excellent song structure, writing, and lyrics with more depth than their previous albums (yea! a bandThe Get Up Kids grew up, with that came excellent song structure, writing, and lyrics with more depth than their previous albums (yea! a band who grows!! WEE!). These are quirky dark pop songs that you can't get out of your head (Automatic, When it Dies). If you're looking for a copy cat album of S.T.W.H.A. then find a time machine or download all the carbon copy bands of 1999. This album really showcases the Pope brothers playing ability, they are a solid duo on bass and drums and it becomes apparent even more on this album. I highly recommend this album and their E.P. Simple Science which has 3 other tracks that are definitely note worth for their catalog (1 track, keith case shows up on the full length).… Full Review »
  3. rwiggum
    Feb 4, 2011
    10
    For some reason, every time The Get Up Kids release a new album, people are surprised that it doesn't sound like Something to Write HomeFor some reason, every time The Get Up Kids release a new album, people are surprised that it doesn't sound like Something to Write Home About. Maybe that was understandable in 2002, back when On a Wire made the shift from energetic power pop to a more alternative sound, but now more than ten years on from the release of the band's seminal 90's album, there isn't really an excuse. Now five albums in, no two Get Up Kids records have sounded the same, while at the same time always sounding like a "Get Up Kids album."

    So when I say that There Are Rules is likely the best thing the band has put out to this point, don't take that to mean that it's any kind of return to Something to Write Home About. I never imagined I'd be thankful for the band's dissolution in 2005, but clearly the three years apart working on vastly different musical projects (Spoon, The New Amsterdams, Blackpool Lights, Reggie and the Full Effect) has grown each of them as musicians. The result is a band that sounds like it's having fun again, in a way that hasn't come through this loudly since Four Minute Mile. It's wildly experimental at times, but it never stops being a Get Up Kids album.

    In all reality, the Get Up Kids are the best of the "high school bands," because they're the one that grows with you. It's depressing to see bands like the Ataris making a desperate return to their old sound after fans rejected the wildly different (but promising) "Welcome the Night." Nobody wants to see guys in their late-30's trying desperately to sound like they did in their early twenties so kids in high school will like them again.

    Thankfully, there's nothing desperate about "There Are Rules." If anything, it's openly defiant. The album closer, "Rememorable," reads as pre-written response to their detractors, ending with a simple decree: "You've got it all so wrong/Why don't you go away?"    … Full Review »
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