We all know the song by heart by now. “Step one, you say we need to talk / He walks, you say, ‘Sit down, it’s just a talk’ / He smiles politely back at you / You stare politely right on through,” are the lyrics fully ingrained in my head from the debut studio album from The Fray and their break-though single of the same name. How To Save A Life got a bit of an unfair shakedown from critics upon its release nearly 20 years ago today. Some critics went as far as saying the band “lacked originality”, but you have to remember what was going on in the Alt Rock scene at that time. Coldplay had already solidified themselves as major players with their first two records, Radiohead were releasing game-changing records left and right, and The Fray were coming onto the “soft rock” scene budding with promise and starry-eyed vision for their piano-laced music. How To Save A Life has since been certified double platinum by the RIAA, and it also became one of the all-time best-selling digital albums of that decade.