Start Static is the debut studio album by American rock band Sugarcult, released on August 21, 2001 by Ultimatum Music.

[15] "Saying Goodbye" is about wanting a change of scenery;[7] The Boston Phoenix writer Sean Richardson said it stars a "no-luck teenage runaway who sleeps with the boys for free".

[22] Around this time, they gained exposure when four songs from Start Static appeared in the film Van Wilder (2002), the soundtrack to which featured "Bouncing Off the Walls" and was also released through Ultimatum.

[23] The "Bouncing Off the Walls" video, directed by Steven Oritt,[5] premiered on MTV's Total Request Live on April 4, and featured Tara Reid and Ryan Reynolds, both of whom had starred in Van Wilder.

Older dropped off the tour, citing personal reasons, with Billy Lee from the 65 Film Show and Tim Cullen from Summercamp filling in his position.

[9] Dan Aquilante of New York Post wrote that almost "every song has the potential to be a single", and aside from the "few retro passages" that "twist your brain - in that what-song-is-that-like way", he saw it as an original effort from the band.

[42] Rock Hard writer Marcus Schleutermann said that the tracks have a "catchiness of various bravo punk bands, but in contrast, are provided with charismatic rough edges".

[39] Sacramento News & Review's David Jayne cautioned listeners: "When 'You’re the One,' 'Stuck in America,' 'Saying Goodbye' and the very catchy 'Bouncing off the Walls'—with melodies you’ll have a hard time escaping—get stuck in your head, beware".

[40] CMJ New Music Report writer Amy Sciarretto said "Bouncing Off the Walls" was an outlier, as the rest of the album does not "pogo up and down like they've been sucking down cases of Mountain Dew for three days straight".

[10] Ink 19 reviewer Marcel Feldmar said it was "not bad, it’s Get Up Kids fun, all bright and poppy," telling listeners to ignore some of the song titles, "because the tight melodics and fast forward dynamics keep my head moving and my face smiling".

[13] Melodic webmaster Johan Wippsson complimented Wallace's production, and said that the "standard of the songs [is] good enough to makes this record interesting".

It doesn’t bolster your senses with never ending mesmerising noise, rather sliding Tom Petty punk glimmers through your radio friendly sockets".

[38] PopMatters contributor Andrew Ellis wrote that instead of "being a mere clone of what’s come before, what makes their music sustainable in such a crowded scene is the solid songwriting" of Pagnotta.

He added that the guitar riffs were "crunchy and economic" as Pagnotta "has an interesting knack for filling his three-minute pop-punk tunes with more than your average teen-angst lyrics".

He felt that "what the music (and the name) perhaps lacks in originality, it more than compensates for in well-written, high-energy tunes that remain memorable long past the customary first few plays".