You may be aware of my unconventional music preferences. Online, I’ve often produced self-deprecating pie charts and bar graphs making a statement about the contents of my library. While some armchair psychologists would say this is because I secretly have a deathwish or can empathize with the lyrics and use them as a metaphor for my own life, I reject those theories because they’re obviously nonsense. Sometimes, just tuning out lyrics and listening to a mass-marketable chord pattern is enough of a musical experience.
This emo phenomenon is even more pronounced when you look at my Zune Card. Note how all the artists from a "top played" selection are groups of four guys who really need to have their barbers stop standing crooked.
In no particular order except alphabetic, and because I’m interested in checking out Windows Live Writer’s support for uploading posts, here are some artists you might find kicking around my library. I can’t condone that you actually listen to any of them unless you’re really hard-up for content.
(What I really want to do with this post or potential series: hope that somebody puts in some angry comments below about their favourite group not being emo, and chuckle.)
Emo Rating: Rock Band says they’re emo, so that’s good enough for me.
- Track suggestions from their self-titled album: "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" and "End of the Beginning"
- Attack on "A Beautiful Lie" is one of the better tracks for Rock Band, because it’s not too hard to sing and it’s an excellent workout on the drums
- It also needs to be blasted at top volume for full angst value
Emo Rating: More screamo than anything, but any group with a song titled "The Sky Is Falling" and "Hurt Me" had better be ironic if not emo.
- Track suggestions include "She Will Love You" and "I Set My Friends on Fire", in addition to the Chicken Little-esque Sky Is Falling piece
- They’re listed as "post-hardcore" on Wikipedia, which generally is good comedy fodder
- For even more emo kid fun, look up the lead vocalist’s page and check out
- The run on sentences!
- "but during wiL’s years dabbling with drugs he was no longer active within a band and only began re-playing guitar during his rehabilitation as a form of therapy and it developed from there."
- The oh-so-awesome "reliance on friendship"!
- wiL has also shown his reliance on friendship. The song Silent Eyes from the Rain in Hell EP was written about Bayside drummer, John ‘Beatz’. whilst on tour with Aiden, Hawthorne Heights and Silverstein, the Bayside bus flipped on a patch of black ice. ‘Beatz’ died due to severe injuries.
- The stupid way he spells his name, apparently!
- "What sort of stupid way is that to spell a name? "wiL"? What the fuck? –79.65.26.141"
- The run on sentences!
Emo Rating: Pretty damn emo. "Sharks and Danger" starts with a recorded call to the St. Catharine’s Psychiatric Hospital.
- Recommended songs: "To A Friend", "Hey, It’s Your Funeral Mama" and "Control"
- Screamo, although apparently that characterization will be changed next album
- The band describes their music as "the sound of two Catholic high-school girls in mid-knife-fight"
Emo Rating: It doesn’t get much more emo than this. At least My Chemical Romance has a gothic feel going on, but these guys hate life on an equivalent Simple Plan level.
- I can’t in good faith recommend any song off either album. "Move Along" is okay in Rock Band after an odd number of beers greater than five
- Actually I don’t even know why I have the full album anyway, because it sucks and they’re all rated as "don’t like"
- Some lyrics from "Can’t Take It", sung in a whine –
- You speak to me
I know this will be temporary
You ask to leave,
but I can tell you that I’ve had enoughI can’t take it
This welcome is gone and
I’ve waited long enough to make it
and if you’re so strong
you might as well just do it alone
And I’ll watch you go
- You speak to me
Emo Rating: Why won’t you stay? You’re so far away. (Never Say "I Told You So")
- "Southern Weather" is the money track, although "Everyone Here Smells Like a Rat" is a pretty decent title
- Drastic departure from the vocal styles of Underoath, making the album very tolerable as background music
Hopefully these five artists are enough to get your inner emo kid on. I’m not sure how many of you will care, but I’ll go down the list in future if anyone is actually, honestly interested in this stuff.
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