"Dear Maria, Count Me In" is a song by the American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
All Time Low
All Time Low is an American rock band from Towson, Maryland, formed in 2003. Consisting of lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Alex Gaskarth, lead guitarist Jack Barakat, bassist/backing vocalist Zack Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson, the band to ...
. The song is from their second studio album ''
So Wrong, It's Right
''So Wrong, It's Right'' is the second studio album by American rock band All Time Low. Following an unsuccessful showcase for Fueled by Ramen, Hopeless Records signed All Time Low in March 2006. They released an EP, ''Put Up or Shut Up'', thro ...
''. It was released May 6, 2008, through
Hopeless Records as the album's second single.
The song became the band's first to chart on a ''
Billboard'' chart, reaching No. 86 on the
Pop 100
The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009. It ranked songs based on airplay on Mainstream Top 40 radio stations, singles sa ...
, and had a music video that aired frequently on
MTV. The commercial success of the song contributed to All Time Low's greater success with their follow-up album ''
Nothing Personal'' in 2009. In 2011, the song was
certified Gold
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the
RIAA for reaching 500,000 sales, and later Platinum in 2015 for reaching 1,000,000 units consumed.
Music video
A music video for "Dear Maria, Count Me In" was released on February 14, 2008. The video was directed by Travis Kopach and features the band at a
strip club watching a stripper, portrayed by Gilli Messer, with the members'
alter egos, portrayed by the band themselves, on the other side of the club. Over the course of the video, the actions of the alter egos become more nonsensical, like riding a motorcycle on stage and letting a
chimpanzee dance on the pole. The video reaches a climax when the band members and the alter egos begin to fight, resulting in the alter egos being
arrested.
Legacy
Since its release, it has been considered a
pop-punk
Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti- suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other p ...
classic.
The song was featured in the first episode of the TV show ''
Stoked'', chosen by show-creators Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch.
In January 2021, the song went viral on
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version o ...
, also appearing on
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
’s “Viral Hits” playlist. The song first gained major traction on the app when a user posted a video of himself listening to the song in the car and declaring: "Mom, it was never a phase, it’s a lifestyle!" This started the viral "it’s not a phase" trend, which saw users quote the line while listening to "Dear Maria, Count Me In" to emphasize their continued appreciation for the
pop punk
Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti- suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other p ...
and
emo pop
Emo pop (also known as emo pop punk and pop-emo) is a fusion genre combining emo with the melodies of pop punk and/or pop music. Emo pop features a music style with more concise songs and hook-filled choruses. Emo pop began in the 1990s with ban ...
of the 2000s. The song gained further notice when users began to argue that it sounded similar to the songs often used in the
title sequence
A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a opening theme song with vi ...
s of popular anime.
This song also appeared in
Guitar Hero 5
''Guitar Hero 5'' (initially referred to as ''Guitar Hero V'') is a 2009 music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the fifth main installment in the ''Guitar Hero'' series. The game was released internat ...
DLC and
Rock Band 4
''Rock Band 4'' is a 2015 music video game developed and published by Harmonix. ''Rock Band 4'' allows players to simulate the playing of music across many different decades and genres using instrument controllers that mimic playing lead and bas ...
DLC.
Track listings
Digital download
# "Dear Maria, Count Me In" — 3:02
UK digital single
# "Dear Maria, Count Me In" — 3:02
# "Dear Maria, Count Me In" — 3:28
Live single
# "Dear Maria, Count Me In" — 6:46
# "Dear Maria, Count Me In" — 5:29
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Certifications
Release history
References
{{authority control
2008 singles
All Time Low songs
2007 songs
Hopeless Records singles
Songs written by Alex Gaskarth
Songs written by Jack Barakat
Songs written by Zack Merrick
Songs written by Rian Dawson