THE PLAYLIST #4 | Let’s Get EMOtional
Welcome to THE PLAYLIST, where we pick a theme and, er, make a playlist around it. Sometimes you might get an essay, other times you might get just one sentence as a precursor to the laser-focused audio delights that await below. Here’s Courtney Smyth with a 38-song avalanche of powerhouse emo…
There are many things I have admitted about myself publicly on the internet for all to see. There are many ways in which I’ve exposed myself verbally. What I’m about to do now is possibly the most shocking of all.
I was (and still am) an emo kid.
I know. I know what you’re thinking but the thing is, you just don’t understand me and this isn’t a phase (mom)!
Stemming from ‘emotive hardcore’, a derivative of the 80s punk scene, emo peaked in 2007, but it lives on in the hearts of those who can’t bear to move on (but who carry on, though they’re broken and defeated…). Grab your eyeliner, brush out your side fringe and don your black Converse because I am about to take you on a trip down a heart-wrenching, angst-ridden memory lane.
First up, we have My Chemical Romance. Though Gerard Way rather emphatically referred to emo as ‘a pile of shit’, it’s true that My Chem were at the forefront of emo culture up until a few years ago when they broke our hearts by splitting up. I’m still not over it. ‘Helena’, and ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ from 2004’s Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge are arguable anthems which still get played in the basement of Fibbers for gangs of ex-emo kids drunk on pitchers of JD and Coke, screaming the words into the very low ceiling in pithy angst. No one can deny the call of the opening note of 2006’s ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’, which I have on occasion responded to faster than my own name.
Brand New get a look-in with 2003’s Deja Entendu, my personal favourite of their albums and definitely the most rife with teenage angst. Honestly it was hard to pick just a few from that album but I think ‘Sic Transit Gloria’, ‘Guernica’ and ‘The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows’ are songs to cry to. ‘Sic Transit’ is a particularly serious topic about a rape, but told from the point of view from a young teenage boy. For 2003, I reckon that was fairly progressive seeing as we’re only now getting to a stage where rape is a widely discussed topic, but male rape is still laughed at by other men. ‘Guernica’ will make you feel like the boy/girl you’ve loved since the beginning of time has betrayed you, but is really about singer Jesse Lacey’s grandfather, while ‘The Quiet Things’ was a song about a doomed couple who got married too young.
I couldn’t leave out Paramore as Riot!, or more specifically, The Final Riot! (the live CD recording from Chicago back in 2008) got me through the Junior Cert. Yep, that’s how far back we’re talking. ‘Misery Business’, although problematically slutshaming (though excuseable because it was written by a teenage Hayley Williams at a time when slutshaming was not publicly called out much, if at all) was every single emo girl’s call to arms back in the day. ‘That’s What You Get’ had a similar effect, and was probably one of the reasons behind Paramore’s rapid rise to fame.
Next up is the holy grail embodiment of emo. Oh yes. Fall Out Boy may still be going strong with a newer, more mature sound, but back in the day Pete Wentz was a woe-ridden wordsmith. Being serious, Pete Wentz was and is one of the first celebrities of the alternative persuasion to speak out about the realities of mental illness and a lot of kids – me especially – found solace in Fall Out Boy lyrics. 2005’s ‘Sugar We’re Going Down’, ‘Dance, Dance’, off From Under the Cork Tree and ‘Grand Theft Autumn’ from 2003’s Take This To Your Grave are just some of the songs of my people. Seriously. Walk into any rock concert and shout ‘WHERE IS YOUR BOY TONIGHT?’ and you’ll get a chorus of people screaming the literal anthem of our people (at this point you’ll have probably realised that there are about a million anthems and that it’s best to just roll with it). I also have to throw ‘This Ain’t a Scene’ into the mix simply because it came on shuffle and I am experiencing the feels right now.
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This list is so extensive that at this point, for the sake of all of us and to ensure that there isn’t angst overload, the rest of the above playlist will be a quick-fire roll-call as follows:
We The Kings’ ‘Check Yes Juliet’. Fun fact: We The Kings were originally to be called Check Yes Juliet. Ain’t that a thing?
Yellowcard’s ‘Ocean Avenue’ – the song, not the album gets an honourable mention simply because. That’s right. Because.
New Found Glory’s ‘My Friends Over You’, because who doesn’t love a song about how much better your friends are than some dumb girl that broke your heart?
Panic At The Disco’s ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’, ‘Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off’ and ‘Time to Dance’. Fun fact: Brendon Urie hates ‘I Write Sins’ more than he hates the door being left open.
Jack’s Mannequin are up with ‘Dark Blue’ and ‘The Mixed Tape’. Beautiful piano-y angst. I need say no more.
Mayday Parade and ‘Miserable at Best’, ‘Jamie All Over’ and ‘Jersey’. I live for the keychange in ‘Jersey’.
All Time Low and ‘Dear Maria’, ‘Coffee Shop Soundtrack’ and ‘Jasey Rae’. Fun fact: All Time Low got their name from a New Found Glory song. Even more fun fact: they are my favourite band and choosing just three songs was like asking me to choose my favourite child.
Blink-182 and ‘I Miss You’ and ‘Adam’s Song. ‘I Miss You’ gets the biggest mention for best use of reference to The Nightmare Before Christmas, while ‘Adam’s Song’ did a great deal for suicide awareness.
Who could forget Hellogoodbye’s ‘Here in Your Arms’? I thought I had. Until now.
Jimmy Eat World, the arguable inventors of emo, are up with ‘The Middle’ and ‘Hear You Me’. Not so fun fact about ‘Hear You Me’ is that it was written about fans of theirs who were really good to them when they visited their home town, but sadly died in a car crash.
Good Charlotte and ‘The Anthem’, ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’. Fun fact: Benji Madden looks a hell of a lot like my dad these days.
Evanescence broke us all at one time or another with ‘Bring Me To Life’ and ‘My Immortal’. Fun fact: ‘Bring Me To Life’ can be selected as a track on Rip Ride Rockit in Universal Studios. The ‘wake me up’ bit drops as soon as the carriage does.
Underoath and ‘A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White’ and You Me At Six’s ‘Save It For The Bedroom’ bring up the rear of this playlist. I have no fun facts for either, other than the fact that they’re both tunes, so make of that what you will. I promised myself I wouldn’t go overboard on the list but let’s face it – I left out hundreds of potential songs for the sake of everyone who deigned to peruse the playlist, so I guess a thank you is in order?
Yeah. That.
