• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Rolling Stone ranks the top 40 emo albums of all-time

Status
Not open for further replies.
Gave that Owls record another listen today and it's fucking ace. Too bad Two didn't quite live up to the high expectations, sounding more like a Joan of Arc album. Those Kinsellas really had a handle on emo.
 
You forgot Algernon, the Get Up Kids, and Texas is the Reason. But I feel like you are the only one that gets it in here so I like you.

That list is so awkwardly mixed with real emo and music that was just thrown that term because "why not".
I like both of y'all :x
 

kiguel182

Member
Brand New is an Emo band at times but I'm not sure The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me is an Emo album. A loooooot of that album has to do with religion and stuff. I mean there are still emo elements in it but as a whole not sure I would classify it that way.

Also Brand News best album

And I could see how a lot of people could say its emo. Its depressing as hell and dark most of the time, but to me Emo is more about relationships and less about personal self doubt. Thats just my interpretation though

That's a little reductive.

The Hotelier is one of the best emo bands around and they talk about more stuff than relationships, same for World Is a Beautiful Place. And these were just the first two that came to my mind.

Also, as a side note, I need to listen to some more old emo stuff. But some records are weirdly absent from streaming services.
 

kiguel182

Member
They are nothing alike but I don't see how an album with songs like dead that has a chorus that says no one really liked you anyway (in referring to something like a dead cancer patient), or probably the quintessential "stadium rock" song you're talking about, welcome to the black parade, could be seen as anything but emo, especially when you look at the album as a whole. Its very concept is emo.

Because stadium rock isn't emo?

I mean, I have nothing against MCR but they aren't making emo music. Making a concept album about dead isn't emo.
 

zerotol

Banned
This list is total bullshit. They left off Lynyrd Skynyrd. They had guitars and they had a song or two about relationships. Guitars and a few songs about lost love. They were fucking emo pioneers. Not to mention ZZ Top. Neil Diamond? Where is he listed? No Cat Stevens either? Tony Orlando and Dawn? tiny Tim? Your high school marching band. All love lorn emo

jawbreaker wasn't an emo band
 

Timedog

good credit (by proxy)
Is Thursday - Full Collapse emo? This is one of those albums that ruined emo by bringing about hot topic emo. I NEVER would have called it emo at the time, but in retrospect there's something about it that seems kind of emo. Like it's the missing link that bridges hot topic emo and real emo. It made emo kids want to get loud.
 
Is Thursday - Full Collapse emo? This is one of those albums that ruined emo by bringing about hot topic emo. I NEVER would have called it emo at the time, but in retrospect there's something about it that seems kind of emo. Like it's the missing link that bridges hot topic emo and real emo. It made emo kids want to get loud.

When this album came out it was HUGE and became extremely influential for the genre. I remember being at the show after they got signed by Victory. It was the Catch-22 release show for Alone in the Crowd and Victory pushed Thursday onto the bill. The crowd was entirely filled with ska kids and Thursday opened. There were a lot of shocked and confused faces.

Did drive-thru records ever release a good album

Their back catalog is pretty stacked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive-Thru_Records#Release_catalog

Love or hate the bands on there, there are a lot releases that at the time were massive. Something Corporate, Starting Line, New Found Glory, Midtown, etc were all headling touring bands. Between them and Vagrant there were some serious heavy hitter albums coming out.
 
Such a useless, non-specific genre classification. Makes me feel all emo.

I mean, fuck, what about Slint - Spiderland? Is that not "emo"? I'm asking because I don't know. It doesn't make sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-o3l8uKloM

Nah, they're more slowcore. Same with Codeine or Low.

If you're gonna put a jawbreaker album on your list I don't see why it should be dear you.

Not that it isn't great.

Dear You is probably their most emo record, though.
 
I know nothing about Emo, but I also know Diary is the best emo album I've heard. Used to listen to the shit out of that in the mid-90's. One of the first albums I ever bought on Vinyl too despite not even having a record player at the time.
 
Hopefully, Hipinion's got a thread going on this topic. They blocked it at work randomly, which has to be my fault because I'm for sure the only person here who lurked there.

And for the subset of people who were excited by this list and also live in the Southern US, the Wrecking Ball ATL fest (in Atlanta, if that wasn't obvious) confirmed that they're having "some" of the bands on this list. They haven't said who yet, but the lineup is releasing later this month, I think.

For reference, last year slayed.
 

Rran

Member
Just wanted to say that I never really listened to much emo music during my youth, but I'll always have a special place in my heart for The Juliana Theory's, "Emotion is Dead" <3
 

truly101

I got grudge sucked!
Such a useless, non-specific genre classification. Makes me feel all emo.

I mean, fuck, what about Slint - Spiderland? Is that not "emo"? I'm asking because I don't know. It doesn't make sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-o3l8uKloM

I thought Slint was considered a post rock band, one of the first. I don't really know to be honest, but they've never been considered emo. Most of the stuff classified as post rock I can't stand. Slint never did anything for me.
 
Fallout Boy, Paramore, and Panic! At the Disco do not belong here.

They are all fundamentally pop or pop punk bands.

Having any album from the Used on the list that isn't their self-titled is a joke.

Also, having Thursday - Full Collapse outside the top ten, let alone the top five, is killing me.
 

Arkeband

Banned
Coheed deserves praise but being 35th best Emo album is just hilariously misplaced. That album is as prog as the best of Rush.

I'm surprised that some more post-hardcore stuff like Pierce the Veil, Saosin, Chiodos, D.R.U.G.S., or Isles and Glaciers didn't qualify, since they're basically begging for weepy adolescent tears (though musically gifted AF)
 

kris.

Banned
Coheed deserves praise but being 35th best Emo album is just hilariously misplaced. That album is as prog as the best of Rush.

I'm surprised that some more post-hardcore stuff like Pierce the Veil, Saosin, Chiodos, D.R.U.G.S., or Isles and Glaciers didn't qualify, since they're basically begging for weepy adolescent tears (though musically gifted AF)

probably because those are all post-hardcore bands and are not emo bands

also Saosin's Translating the Name EP is the only good bit of music any of those bands have put out
 

Arkeband

Banned
probably because those are all post-hardcore bands and are not emo bands

also Saosin's Translating the Name EP is the only good bit of music any of those bands have put out

Chiodos Bone Palace Ballet is pretty great, but if A Letter from Janelle isn't emo, I don't know what is.

Emo is less of an instrumental style and more of an expressive lyric style, so post-hardcore bands can (and often do) qualify as both, they aren't mutually exclusive.
 

NinjaBoiX

Member
lol at everyone arguing that their choice of band isn't "emo".

Also, this:

Coheed and Cambria, 'Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness'

Is the wankiest album title I've ever heard.

Fuck off Coheed and Cambria.
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
lol at everyone arguing that their choice of band isn't "emo".

Also, this:

Coheed and Cambria, 'Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness'

Is the wankiest album title I've ever heard.

Fuck off Coheed and Cambria.

You ever seen Bal-Sagoth album titles? But then again, their whole thing is sorta kinda based on Conan the Barbarian, so their album titles are deliberately pompous and cheesy.
 

Codeblue

Member
Is a Real Boy would have been my personal pick.

Awwwww yessss a list for me!

Under The Cork Tree is such an incredible album, but I do think Infinity On High is better. But UTCT scored pretty damn awesome! Suck it Panic! fans :p
Also the MCR representation was Three Cheers? Darn, I think Black Parade and Danger Days are so much cooler.

Also my favorite album of all time is number 28!

Awesome list that made me happy :D

I know they denied any association with the emo genre, but if you're going to include MCR, then yeah, Black Parade is their masterpiece.
 
While Dear You might be Jawbreakers most "emo" record and it was unfairly maligned at the time, I still think it is probably their weakest album.
 

olympia

Member
That's a little reductive.

The Hotelier is one of the best emo bands around and they talk about more stuff than relationships, same for World Is a Beautiful Place. And these were just the first two that came to my mind.

Also, as a side note, I need to listen to some more old emo stuff. But some records are weirdly absent from streaming services.

Good luck finding Indian Summer. pretty deep cut.

While Dear You might be Jawbreakers most "emo" record and it was unfairly maligned at the time, I still think it is probably their weakest album.

Which one is your favorite?
 

_Clash_

Member
Just need to pop my head in and say Brand New absolutely robbed on this list.


WTH Rolling Stone. 2 in the top 10 at least.
 

blackjaw

Member
As far as "emo" Mineral or Texas is the Reason should be #1...just my opinion

And LOL at jawbreaker, cursive and a few of the modern pop-punk bands being"emo"
 

blackjaw

Member
There's a really great "Map of Emo" over on r/Emo that breaks a lot of the popular bands down to first wave, second wave, emo pop, etc. Really great for looking at the genre as a whole because you can see the context surrounding bands/albums and see what kind of influences they were working with. It's also great for finding new stuff to listen to.

I like this breakdown better than most

And props to them for including p99 and city of caterpillar in there somewhere

I like 99% of the bands listed...haha
 
The best Get Up Kids album is Something to Write Home About. My wife was beyond embarrassed as I sang every lyric when they played the album in full at Riot Fest two years ago.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom