Oddly enough I first started listening to The Ataris because of their name (I kind of have an Atari fetish, if you didn't already know). They quickly moved to the top of my favorite bands list.
Now I listen to The Ataris almost everyday in my car on the way to work. It seems to me that they only write songs about one thing, lost love. Now you would think that one angsty lost love pop punk song after another would get old, but it doesn't. You know why? The lyrics. Almost every word of every Ataris song hits home with me (even the Claire Danes one). I just end up thinking about the same girl whenever I hear these songs.
Today I woke up alone wishing you were here with me,
I wanted us to be something that we'd probably never be.
From San Dimas High School Football Rules
I sometimes think about how things could be
If you would've took a chance and moved out here with me.
From 1*15*96
Finally got the nerve to tell you
How much you mean to me
You said that I was your best friend
A real sweet guy
But that's all I'd ever be
From Your Boyfriend Sucks
Every line of almost all their songs (or at least the ones I have heard), are just like the above. A guy like me (who is still hopelessly in love with a woman he hasn't seen in two years), cannot help but identify with this kind of stuff.
If you would like to experience the teen angst first hand, i recommend going over to mp3.com where The Ataris have put up a nice selection of some of their best songs for free download (enough to burn your own Ataris CD). Don't blame me if you find yourself singing along one second, only to feel sad the next.
You have been warned.