Regarding emo

This article appeared in the March 22, 2006 of La Salle University's student-run newspaper, Collegian. Two years later, it's still kinda relevant, I guess. What's funny is that the genre got even dumber.

“I built this life and now it’s mine.” – Jawbreaker, “Accident Prone”

For what it’s worth, I like “emo” music (hereafter referred to without quotation marks). Bands like Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional helped me deal with the painfully awkward experience that was high school, not to mention assorted sordid drives from Pennsylvania to Maryland and New Jersey in the summertime, with tuneful/tuneless emotional outlets. As one who has always had a good deal of social anxiety (or ineptitude), I can relate when I hear a singer croon/wail/whine about his or her own public shortcomings, and sometimes triumphs. I had a lot of angst back in the day.

Emo is a product of ’80s hardcore and is short for “emotional hardcore.” The movement has gone every which way since then, and is now ridiculously hard and pointless to define. So long as it is angst-tastic, it can have the emo label slapped on, which is unfair, lazy and annoying. Fashion seems to play into the genre now as well, as black-rimmed glasses, ink-black dyed hair and black eyeliner seem to have become prerequisites. While I do not doubt the earnestness of such bands that follow this dress code, I am annoyed as heck at their presence. It is in the interest of proliferating good music over bad that I will ignore such tripe and focus on three really good emo bands from the ’90s that I think need more credit and listeners. Since emo means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, I’m going to call this “Joe Pelone’s List of Three Bands That are Kind of Angsty but are Still Rocking.” Good enough?

Jawbreaker: Formed in the late ’80s, Jawbreaker combined punk rock intensity with journal-like lyrics. Frontman Blake Schwarzenbach’s throaty shout had an everyman kind of feel to it on the technically ambitious Bivouac and the straight-forward rock of 24 Hour Revenge Therapy. Throat surgery cleared his singing voice up a bit for the band’s last album, Dear You. While each album is musically unique, the frankness and imagery of Schwarzenbach’s lyrics is continuous throughout. Songs like “Bad Scene, Everyone’s Fault” discussed the politics of a party, while “Chesterfield King” agonized over the intricate actions that go into making a close friend a love interest. Elsewhere, “Boxcar” flipped off the entire underground with its catchy “1-2-3-4, who’s punk? What’s the score?” hook. Jawbreaker was one of the best punk/emo bands of the ’90s, period.

Discount: Described by many as the female-led version of Jawbreaker, Discount rocked just as hard and emoted just as wonderfully. Even more simple and direct than Schwarzenbach, frontwoman Alison Mosshart could convey the many ups and downs of a single day in two minutes or less. She did even more than that when she summed up an entire long distance relationship on in “Half Fiction.” Guitarist Ryan Seagrist (unfortunate name, indeed) could tear away at his strings with the fervor of Johnny Ramone. Discount broke up well before they should have, and the group’s three studio albums are all out of print. However, they can all usually be found used (and cheap!) at the various record shops on South Street. Ataxia’s Alright Tonight and Half Fiction rock out in a Tsunami Bomb meets The Buzzcocks fashion, while swan song Crash Diagnostic is like a more punk Sleater-Kinney record, or early Pretty Girls Make Graves.

Sunny Day Real Estate: Before Coheed and Cambria got the designation of “The Prog Rock Emo Band,” there was Sunny Day Real Estate. The best Sub Pop band ever, (apologies to Nirvana, The Shins) SDRE’s lyrics conjured up abstract moods more than the specific scenes of Jawbreaker or Discount, but Jeremy Enigk and Co. shouted the lines with such hard conviction that it didn’t really matter. When not breaking up for the umpteenth time, the band released four solid albums, the best being the debut Diary.“Seven” rocks at a frenetic pace while Enigk shreds his vocal chords. Elsewhere, “In Circles” trudges better than most grunge bands ever did, or could. The band’s eponymous follow-up extended Diary’s efforts, while third album How It Feels To Be Something On slowed down the tempo and turned up the moody ambience. Songs like “Pillars” are chilling and mature. Turmoil and discontent finally killed the band in 2000, but members have gone on to form the similarly sounding The Fire Theft.