Emo is a music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and post-hardcore from the mid-1980s Washington, D.C. hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands Rites of Spring and Embrace, among others, pioneered the genre. In the early-to-mid 1990s, emo was adopted and reinvented by alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, and pop-punk bands, including Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, Cap'n Jazz, and Jimmy Eat World. By the mid-1990s, Braid, the Promise Ring, and the Get Up Kids emerged from Midwest emo, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the genre. Meanwhile, screamo, a more aggressive style of emo using screamed vocals, also emerged, pioneered by the San Diego bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow. Screamo achieved mainstream success in the 2000s with bands like Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Story of the Year, Thursday, the Used, and Underoath.
Jimmy Eat World is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona. The band is composed of lead vocalist and lead guitarist Jim Adkins, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch, and drummer Zach Lind. They have released ten studio albums, the last nine featuring the current line-up.
Something to Write Home About is the second studio album by American rock band the Get Up Kids, released on September 28, 1999, through Vagrant Records and the band's own label Heroes & Villains Records. Following the promotional tours for their debut album Four Minute Mile (1997), the band were in discussion with Mojo Records. During this period, James Dewees joined as the band's keyboardist. As negotiations with the label eventually stalled, they eventually went with Vagrant Records. They recorded their next album at Mad Hatter Studios in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California, co-producing it with Chad Blinman and Alex Brahl. Described as an emo and pop-punk album, Something to Write Home About expands on the harder edge of its predecessor, with frontman Matt Pryor citing the works of the Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World and Wilco as influences.
The Get Up Kids are an American rock band from Kansas City. Formed in 1995, the band was a major act in the mid-1990s Midwest emo scene, otherwise known as the "second wave" of emo music. Their second album Something to Write Home About remains their most widely acclaimed album, and is considered to be one of the quintessential albums of the second-wave emo movement. They are considered forefathers of the emo genre, and have been widely credited as being an influence, both by contemporaries Saves the Day and later bands such as Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday and the Wonder Years.
Mineral is an American emo band originally from Houston, Texas. Soon after their formation, they relocated to Austin. All four members of Mineral were signed to Interscope Records, but disbanded before a release was made. The band worked on other musical projects after disbanding, including The Gloria Record, Pop Unknown, and Zookeeper.
Four Minute Mile is the debut studio album by American rock band The Get Up Kids.
Bleed American is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Jimmy Eat World, released on July 24, 2001, by DreamWorks Records. The album was re-released as Jimmy Eat World following the September 11 attacks; that name remained until 2008, when it was re-released with its original title returned.
Static Prevails is the second studio album by American rock band Jimmy Eat World, released on July 23, 1996, through Capitol Records. Following the release of the band's self-titled debut album (1994), they signed to Capitol in mid-1995 for further releases. Carrier member Rick Burch replaced bassist Mitch Porter, who left to become a Mormon missionary. Recorded at Sound City in Los Angeles, California, and at Big Fish, in Encinitas, California, Wes Kidd, Mark Trombino, and Jimmy Eat World acted as producers for the album.
Clarity is the third studio album by American rock band Jimmy Eat World. It was released on February 23, 1999, through Capitol Records, with which Jimmy Eat World clashed several times while recording their second studio album Static Prevails (1996). The band recorded a follow-up with producer Mark Trombino in May and June 1998, and were free to make it however they wanted without interference from Capitol. The recording sessions began at Sound City in Van Nuys, California, before moving to Clear Lake Audio in North Hollywood, California. Clarity, which is described as an emo, pop punk, and punk rock release, marked the beginning of frontman Jim Adkins' tenure as the band's main vocalist, taking over from guitarist Tom Linton.
The Vehicle Birth (VB) was a rock band that performed and recorded between January 1993 and May 1999.
Deep Elm Records is an independent record label releasing albums by bands such as Lights & Motion, The Appleseed Cast, Brandtson, The White Octave, and Planes Mistaken for Stars. It also released the compilation series The Emo Diaries.
"Lucky Denver Mint" is a song by American rock band Jimmy Eat World from their third studio album Clarity, which was released on February 23, 1999. The song was also formally released as a promotional single in early 1999.
Davey von Bohlen is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known for serving as lead vocalist and guitarist of the emo band The Promise Ring and also as guitarist and backing vocalist in short-lived cult band Cap'n Jazz originally from 1993 to 1995.
Seven Storey Mountain is an American rock group from Phoenix, Arizona. The group's music is heavily influenced by the early Washington, D.C. post-hardcore scene.
"Animal" is a song by Australian alternative rock band Jebediah's, released on 9 August 1999 as the lead single from the band's second studio album. The song reached number 16 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and polled at number 19 on national radio station, Triple J's Hottest 100 for 1999. The track was co-written by all four band members: Chris Daymond, Brett Mitchell, Kevin Mitchell and Vanessa Thornton.
The American rock band Jimmy Eat World has released ten studio albums, twenty-three singles, seven extended plays, three live albums, one compilation album, one video album, and one song on the "various artists" compilation What's Mine Is Yours.
Emo pop is a fusion genre combining emo with pop-punk, pop music, or both. Emo pop features a musical style with more concise composition and hook-filled choruses. Emo pop has its origins in the 1990s with bands like Jimmy Eat World, the Get Up Kids, Weezer and the Promise Ring. The genre entered the mainstream in the early 2000s with Jimmy Eat World's breakthrough album Bleed American, which included its song "The Middle". Other emo pop bands that achieved mainstream success throughout the decade included Fall Out Boy, the All-American Rejects, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco and Paramore. The popularity of emo pop declined in the 2010s, with some prominent artists in the genre either disbanding or abandoning the emo pop style.
The Emo Diaries is a series of twelve compilation albums released by Deep Elm Records between 1997 and 2011. The series had an open submissions policy and featured mostly acts that were unsigned at the time of the albums' releases. Deep Elm founder John Szuch claims that the original name for the series was intended to be The Indie Rock Diaries, but this was ruled out by the fact that the first volume included Jimmy Eat World and Samiam, who were both signed to major record labels. The Emo Diaries was chosen because The Emotional Diaries was too long to fit on the album cover. Despite the title, the bands featured in the series have a diversity of sounds that do not all necessarily fit into the emo style of rock music. Andy Greenwald, in his book Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo, claims that the series "stake[s] a claim for emo as more a shared aesthetic than a genre":
[T]he bands included hail from all over the world, and the musical styles range from racing punk to droopy, noodley electro. Still, the prevalence of the series—coupled with its maudlin subtitles and manic-depressive tattoo cover art—did much to codify the word "emo" and spread it to all corners of the underground.
Reubens Accomplice is an American band from Phoenix, Arizona.
Alex Garcia-Rivera is an American rock drummer, drum-tech and recording engineer from Boston, Massachusetts. He has been the drummer for the bands Shelter, Piebald, Good Clean Fun, Bloodhorse, 454 Big Block, Saves The Day, Cold Cave, but is best known as the drummer for hardcore/punk band American Nightmare. He also performs all instruments in a solo band under the moniker Chrome Over Brass and owns and operates Mystic Valley Studio, an all-analog recording studio in Medford, Massachusetts.
