Your comment reminded me of '1985' by Bowling For Soup and just how real it is for some of us :')
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 :)
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.
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.
It's best not to pull your hair out over it, but introducing the wider range of terms is low effort and it gives you a chance to introduce brostep fans to ancestrally related genres that they might also like, so I don't see the harm in gentle insistence here.
Pretty sure it’s a “people discuss musical genres” thing. I used to get mildly annoyed with my friends - who were all in to music more than me - when they were discussing which bands were in which genres. In the end each of their little (sub)genres had just a couple of bands each.
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.
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.
Portrayal of Guilt is another band that lives somewhere between screamo and black metal, especially on their early releases.
If you liked the sound of Raein, there are some other suggestions I’d like to offer.
These are (were, sadly) all, like Raein (Italy), European screamo bands and while often named together with their American contemporaries (bands like City of Caterpillar, Circle Takes The Square, Neil Perry, …), I’ve always felt their sound is quite a bit different.
France: Daïtro, Sed Non Satiata, Aussitôt Mort, Belle Epoque, Amanda Woodward, Mihai Edrisch
I mean, do I though? I'm aware of it's source from urban dictionary under "emo", but I can't help but feel that rant is weirdly steeped in misogyny and twisted notions of the masculine ideal.
Well, if you can explain how a guy who is married for fifteen years to the same woman, and has two kids with her, is in involuntary celibate, I'd be glad to stand corrected.
Oh! I understand the contention now. It wasn't really intended as an ad hominem against you. Rather, I meant that the passage to me reads like an incel-aligned world view being projected onto the author's description of what it means to be emo. The end result is more incel than emo sounding to me.
I like that you posted something somebody else wrote and then took it personally when somebody commented on the nature of the text that you didn’t write. It’s good discourse
It's funny that you say this because that's exactly how the word "emo" was used circa 2008. The same way anything really uncool and disliked and uncannily edgy is just reflexively called "incel", everything effeminate, dorky, and so on was "emo". Hipster went through the same cycle a few years after emo.
By the time these words go so mainstream, they lose all of their nuance and just became fill-ins for basic emotions, I guess.
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.
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.
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.
I love Joyce Manor — mainly that they drop straight into the hooks, no nonsense and an album is done in 20 minutes. Their ability to write catchy songs is remarkable.
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.
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.
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
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.
> 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.
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 :)
81 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 133 ms ] threadI would guess the average age is 20s readers or 40s commentators
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 :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sy8ulwexfY
Listen to some reggae and some older dub, then traditional dubstep, and you will see why it's useful to have different terms.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dub_music
It kind of defeats the point of a genre.
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.
If you liked the sound of Raein, there are some other suggestions I’d like to offer.
These are (were, sadly) all, like Raein (Italy), European screamo bands and while often named together with their American contemporaries (bands like City of Caterpillar, Circle Takes The Square, Neil Perry, …), I’ve always felt their sound is quite a bit different.
France: Daïtro, Sed Non Satiata, Aussitôt Mort, Belle Epoque, Amanda Woodward, Mihai Edrisch
Italy: Raein, La Quiete
Germany: Louise Cyphre, Tristan Tzara, Zann
That's from Urban Dictionary:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=emo&page=3
Some might consider it flamebait (like much content from urban dictionary), which is against the guidelines:
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
By the time these words go so mainstream, they lose all of their nuance and just became fill-ins for basic emotions, I guess.
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
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.
> 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.
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
good mentions: hot mulligan, mom jeans, oso oso, free throw
I got into emo quite late (in my late 20s, mostly due to Spotify discovery queue), but found it really fun to listen to.
Would also recommend Football etc, Adventures and Rainer Maria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxVPhaJtL8o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QRHQrJRmG4
Best I can do is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGxDVXGRQpY
- 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.
• 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
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.
“What's the meanest you can be to the one you claim to love / And still smile to your newfound friends?”
Is that why it also exists as a genre of gay porn?
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.
It’s incredible (and so is the album)
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.
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.