When Emo Conquered the Mainstream

Jake just hit a wall, he was ambitious to a fault. One Vyvanse a day, helps him work for the wage. His dreams went out the door, after they cancelled Warped Tour. Was going to tour with the band, instead he's home late cleaning the dirty pans.

I love some of the elements that band put out eventually carried over into the era of Warped Tour I knew best when Pop-Punk was having it's day - which is also having a renaissance of sorts :)

jakelazaroff2• 3 years ago

Okay this comment hit a little close to home!

caslon• 3 years ago

It's actually a song by SR-71; the Bowling for Soup version is a cover. The two versions have slightly different lyrics, and SR-71's feels slightly more urgent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sy8ulwexfY

Tade02• 3 years ago

My brother in law is now a "Back-Office Systems Systems Analyst", or essentially Richmond from The IT Crowd.

southwesterly• 3 years ago

That’s all I’ve ever wanted to be. Gliding in and out of the office.

DontchaKnowit3• 3 years ago

There is some absolutely incredible Emo/Screamo adjacent music being made right now. In particular, the screamo genre has turned into something very special. If you like screamo or black metal, check out Ostraca. Some of the most interesting new music I've heard in the last few years.

justinator2• 3 years ago

I thought Screamo turned into DubStep which I think we can all agree was a terrible move.

arcanemachiner• 3 years ago

I thought that was just Skrillex.

Tade02• 3 years ago

Dubstep seemed to have existed exclusively for people born in the same year as Skrillex and thus had a very short mainstream career.

DontchaKnowit3• 3 years ago

yeah absolutely not. Two very different genres. Also dubstep is fun. Its music made for raging at shows. its very good for that. otherwise it sucks, yeah.

Escapado2• 3 years ago

Ostraca sounds like a heavier mix of Saetia and the old stuff from Raein. I dig it!

DontchaKnowit3• 3 years ago

Never heard of either of these bands, but just checked em out. Definitely see the comparison. good stuff!

When you explore music in this genre, there are honestly just countless small acts that put out some really intense and well orchestrated music. Most people think of like, evanescence when they think of screamo, but its actually something entirely different that is closer to like 90s black metal.

c-hendricks3• 3 years ago

Sure "emo" (well, pop emo) isn't around as a genre, but IMO it lives on as "sadboy" / "sadgirl".

I'd probably argue anything with introspective, sentimental, or self-motivating lyrics is on the emo spectrum.

Have Heart & Ruiner sound like typical Bridge 9 hardcore, but the lyrics are sad as shit.

http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/ruiner/adheringtosuperstition....

http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/ruiner/gettingovertheovers.htm...

http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/haveheart/lifeishardenough.htm...

http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/haveheart/aboutface.html

jakelazaroff2• 3 years ago

I guess it depends on what you consider emo, but the genre is in its fifth wave and going strong!

tnecniv• 3 years ago

Eh I think that depends on how you define emo. Like most genres today it might not be as mainstream but there’s plenty of medium sized groups making music in that space with a dedicated audience.

If anything I’d say sadboy is a vibe that contains a lot of music, including emo. I’d say I listen to a lot of sadboy rock that is decidedly not emo as it doesn’t share much musically or lyrically with emo / emo-punk. Then you get your sadboy / sadgirl pop / hip hop, etc. too.

c-hendricks3• 3 years ago

I could also agree with what you're saying, and I want to state that I think genres are mostly society shoehorning things into boxes.

I’d say sadboy is a vibe

Yup, exactly. That's what I said about emo in another comment. Emo/sadboy/sadgirl are the same word from different eras.

I’d say I listen to a lot of sadboy rock that is decidedly not emo as it doesn’t share much musically or lyrically with emo / emo-punk. Then you get your sadboy / sadgirl pop / hip hop, etc. too

Yup, and in another era, those would have been lumped with emo.

surprisetalk• 3 years ago

I know a lot of programmers who are really into prog/metal but never venture into the emo/screamo side of things.

Off the top of my head, here are a few of my favorite albums from the genre:

• Origami Angel :: Gami Gang

• A Lot Like Birds :: No Place

• Dance Gavin Dance :: Downtown Battle Mountain

• Mars Volta :: De-Loused in the Comatorium

• Taking Back Sunday :: Where You Want To Be

• Underoath :: Define the Great Line

• Sky Eats Airplane :: Sky Eats Airplane

• From Indian Lakes :: The Man with Wooden Legs

• Circa Survive :: Blue Sky Noise

• Mew :: Frengers

• Other Men :: Wake Up Swimming

MuffinFlavored• 3 years ago

did not expect to see Origami Angel mentioned on hackernews

good mentions: hot mulligan, mom jeans, oso oso, free throw

Escapado2• 3 years ago

+1 for hot mulligan! Would add - Tiny moving parts - Bouquet - I feel fine - Hail the sun - Everything Anthony Green has been involved in - Body thief

cdme2• 3 years ago

Prince Daddy & the Hyena, The Hotelier, State Lines, Home is Where, Sincere Engineer, Spanish Love Songs, Anxious, Joyce Manor, Worst Party Ever, Michael Cera Palin, Macseal, Fiddlehead, Charmer, Dogleg, Knucklepuck, Pity Sex, Tigers Jaw and Title Fight are all good options too.

distortedsignal• 3 years ago

Instant Gratification by Dance Gavin Dance is one of my top albums of all time.

wu2Fe7sp• 3 years ago

I didn't expect to see DBM mentioned on hackernews today. That's the part where we bring up Jonny Craig?

thoughtpalette• 3 years ago

We only speak of Jonny in hushed whispers for what once was.

Dudester230602• 3 years ago

• Canadian Softball :: Peev Shalpatine

defrost2• 3 years ago

• Hearts That Hate :: Cry Tonight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxVPhaJtL8o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QRHQrJRmG4

soylentcola• 3 years ago

My daughter loves Dashboard, get me one of those!

RileyJames• 3 years ago

Great list, I’d add:

- Alexisonfire :: self titled

- Thursday :: Full Collapse

- Taking Back Sunday :: Tell all your friends

- The Used :: self titled

- From First To Last :: dear diary

Fun fact: The lead singer of the last band went on to become Skrillex.

jeremycarter2• 3 years ago

Thursday is very under appreciated. Their lyrics stand the test of time.

lawgimenez2• 3 years ago

I can add some to this list, not into emo, I am more into hardcore but I liked a few emo albums nonetheless.

• Thursday - Full Collapse

• Student Rick - Soundtrack for a Generation

• Saves the Day - Stay What You Are

• Dashboard Confessional - The Places you have come to fear the most

• Armor for Sleep - Dream to make believe

• Silverstein - When broken is easily fixed

Tainnor• 3 years ago

Mars Volta :: De-Loused in the Comatorium

Interesting, this one to me was always more post-punk (from the ATDI era) transitioning into prog rock (everything TMV did after their first album). Haven't really considered it to be "emo", but then again, I'm not an expert when it comes to musical genres.

Lammy• 3 years ago

The overwhelming maleness of emo, and especially the third wave

“What's the meanest you can be to the one you claim to love / And still smile to your newfound friends?”

TRiG_Ireland• 3 years ago

The overwhelming maleness of emo

Is that why it also exists as a genre of gay porn?

scottcorgan• 3 years ago

5th wave emo is the bet yet!

gorgoiler• 3 years ago

Ah yes dear friends, there is indeed a nice web culture crossover here. Who here remembers the Emogames?:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emogame

Flash beat-em-ups where you control control popular emo artistes of the day. For example, helping At The Drive-In’s bouffant Cedric Bixler battle a human centipede version of Puddle of Muddddd before taking on the end of level boss in the form of a pixelated Fred Durst while rocking out to Alkaline Trio etc.

Happy memories. I found a lot of bands through those games.

tehwebguy• 3 years ago

Jason Oda, who made these (I think entirely by himself), was probably asked to design merch and album covers by hundreds of bands but only ever did one that I’m aware of: Lydia’s This December; It’s One More and I’m Free

It’s incredible (and so is the album)

jeremycarter2• 3 years ago

I remember Absolute Punk being my homepage.

imp0cat• 3 years ago

Yeah, it's a nostalgia thing now. Don't believe me? Search youtube for "midwest emo".

zoklet-enjoyer• 3 years ago

Didn't like it back then. Still think it's cringey

whateveracct• 3 years ago

Emo is an interesting story of rock history in many ways.

First, is its intersection with the internet. The genre cannot be understood without myspace and limewire and the like. It's the sound of that time.

Second, is how (like grunge) it was a media phenomenon that tried to unified very different bands. My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and Taking Back Sunday are all labeled "emo" but sound nothing alike. But they did brush elbows and were in the same place at the same time. Taking Back Sunday even did a stint opening for MCR in their return tour.

fumblebee• 3 years ago

is how (like grunge) it was a media phenomenon that tried to unified very different bands [...] are all labeled "emo" but sound nothing alike.

Mostly agree, but there will always be within-group variation within the poor art form of taxonomising music scenes, and there were certainly similarities in the emo scene. For example, they almost all had the traditional structure of a guitar based band (guitarist, bassist, drummer) with big, melodic sounds well suited to stadium tours, and their lyrics shared similar emotional tones. You can point to most music scenes - grunge, Britpop, punk, post-punk, the 2000s garage revival, early 60s folk, etc - and I suspect you'd find more similarities than differences.

7373737373• 3 years ago

https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Emo

firecall• 3 years ago

Wannabe posers and conformists listening to Sunny Day Realestate.

stevefan1999• 3 years ago

well, as a MCR fan I don't think I'm mainstream at all.

baylessj• 3 years ago

Neat to see this on HN! I'm in a couple of fifth-wave emo bands currently, and there's some incredible music being made in this genre right now. I'll second the recommendations above, and add: Saturdays at Your Place, Ben Quad, Summerbruise, Arm's Length, MooseCreek Park, and Home is Where. They've all put out incredible albums in the last year or so :)

When Emo Conquered the Mainstream

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