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40 Years of Emo: The best of every year

(1985-1995)

Hey so if you saw my previous post regarding emo's anniversary, you know that the first ever emo album, the 1985 Rites of Spring self titled record, was released in June, making this June emo's 40th birthday! For this reason, I compiled a list of what is, in my opinion, the greatest record of each year by listening to a whole lot of emo music over the last 6-7 months up to June 2025 (the 40th anniversary of the genre's first album). Unfortunately it took me like a whole 3 and a bit months longer than expected to make this post, so we're late but better late than never! My main goal here is to showcase just how much change emo has undergone in the past 40 years and basically give a rough history of the genre through its best music! The only restriction I am setting for this list is that a band may only feature once on this list, because I want to show the range of the genre and it is hard to encapsulate what emo was like in each time period because it is always rapidly changing, so it would feel wrong to have one or two bands hog an entire time period. Finally if you have any recommendations for other emo albums/think a different album should've gotten a spot, let me know!

Rites of Spring- Rites of Spring (1985)

Rites of Spring, as previously stated, are generally agreed upon to be the first ever emo band, and their debut is agreed to be the first ever emo album. Rites of Spring arrived onto the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene at a pretty exciting time for the genre, known as the Revolution Summer, which was a movement in which alot of hardcore punk bands attempted to distance themselves from the mainstream hardcore scene, which was rapidly becoming known for being infested with skinhead nazis, open and proud sexism, and excessive violence, and most importantly, destruction of the venues they relied on for their shows. Furthermore, the founders of Revolution Summer disdained elitism and encouraged experimenting within the hardcore punk genre. This led to the formation of post-hardcore, which is a subgenre uses the basic sound of hardcore punk while introducing more complex musical arrangements and experimentalism, such that it is related to hardcore punk but couldn't necessarily fit within the genre.

One such example of innovator was Rites of Spring, who was already experimenting with the new post-hardcore scene, and decided to experiment further regarding the tone of their music, eschewing the stereotypical masculine anger and sarcasm for brutally honest and cathartic lyrics. Many other bands in this growing scene would follow the lead of Rites of Spring, leading to the term emocore being created for the sound of the scene. There is often disagreement over how the term emocore, short for emotional hardcore, came about, but it is generally agreed that it was originally used as a joke among members of the scene or as a derogatory term that outsiders who disliked the scene used, and then unfortunately some didn't get the message that it wasn't a genuine label, leading to Thrasher magazine writing an article about it, in which the name became official whether the bands it was given to liked it or not. While Rites of Spring lead vocalist Guy Picciotto had some choice profanities for anyone who labelled Rites of Spring with the term, it stuck around, and as emocore began to truly deviate from hardcore, it lost the -core suffix. Rites of Spring would only exist as a band for roughly 3 years, and they would only release this one album, but their legacy remains to this day.

I promise not every review will open with such a huge exposition (or maybe it will if I'm having this much fun), but I think it's important to explain the roots of the genre, but as for the important question, how does it sound, well it sounds pretty damn awesome! Rites of Spring stand well ahead of most other contemporary bands within the punk scene based on their innovative instrumentation, which is so noisy and fast paced, almost giving you whiplash in the way the chord progressions quickly shift, and none of that is even paying attention to the real star, which is Guy Picciotto himself. While still in line with alot of the norms of the hardcore music scene he was brought up in in comparison with more modern emo acts, Picciotto's vocal delivery is so effortlessly edgy and intense, and his lyricism is so gripping. Being an album that hails from the underground, it's a little bit lofi in it's production and mixing, but I think that adds a certain charm to it, I wouldn't want something like this to be polished or perfect. Overall this is a very strong outting for emo's very first full length album.

Can I Say- Dag Nasty (1986)

Hailing from the same scene as Rites of Spring, in my opinion Dag Nasty were emocore's first stars. While Rites of Spring were big in their own right, they, like many bands of this era, only lasted a small handful of years and bowed out after one album, whereas Dag Nasty remained a constant and consistant crowd pleaser throughout the 80's, releasing 4 albums in their original run, all of which have somewhat of a following to this day. This first album remains their most popular to this day, following a pretty similar formula to Rites of Spring, though swapping out their edgy vocals for a more awkward, paranoid and raw style, while going even faster on the instrumentals. Overall a very solid emocore album, and the gold standard for the genre at this point in my opinion.

Embrace- Embrace (1987)

If you were to ask a bunch of hardcore punks what they think the greatest hardcore punk band is, alot of them would probably answer Minor Threat, and if you were to ask the same question to a bunch of post-hardcore fans, that would probably be a harder question because the scope is way more huge and post-hardcore encapsulates a way bigger concept than hardcore punk, but alot of them would probably answer Fugazi. It's hard to understate the significance and innovation of both of these bands, but the reason I bring both of these bands up is because not only were they both led by the same guy Ian McKaye, but for roughly 8 months this same guy was an emo, and this was his band. While Embrace only had one release and only played 9 shows, they still stand as one of the most popular emocore bands to this day. While I bring up Ian McKayes other musical exploits to drum up interest in this album, I want to make it clear this isn't a nepo album, Embrace deserves this spot just as much as any other album here, arguably the most important emocore album behind Rites of Spring, it holds the same standards as Rites of Spring and Can I say but the production on the album is so much more raw and exciting that my first thoughts listening to it is it feels live, like I could imagine McKaye strutting across whatever basement show or independant venue they played in as the music played. Overall a wild but wonderful record from a band that I so dearly wished stuck around and dropped a few more albums.

Tied Up With A Monkey - Foundation (1988)

I'll level with you, 1988 is generally considered to be a dry year for the development of emo, most other "Best of every year" compilations just straight up skip it, however for me it was a fun opportunity to go looking for some hidden gems from this year. This was my favourite of the year, it's a more traditionally punkish album but with a fair bit of playfullness within the genre. The first major moment of the album that drew me into it was the chorus of the opening track, there's something a little gothic about it, and that little guitar solo midway through is just delightfully spooky and thrilling. To be honest I think my favourite part of the album as a whole is it's guitar work, it's always thrilling but in such a way that feels like they're having alot of fun. I also found the cute little piano interlude "The World Turns All Around Her" to be a surprising breath of fresh air. Vulnerable, softer moments on emo records at this point are pretty much unheard of, so even if this group doesn't have many followers in the modern day, I personally think they deserve a listen-through.

Every Song- The Hated (1989)

Though I do love every album on this list, this is the only one so far that I can describe as pure, transcendant bliss. Remember how I said it was incredibly rare for emo bands to get all tender and vulnerable at this point in the development? Well this is the exception to the rule. While emo albums of the 80's often start with immediate noise and yelling to thrust oneself into the depths of chaos or maybe a moment of guitar feedback to set the tone, The Hated open their album with 4 minutes of guitar and drum, setting the tone and beckoning you into what is sure to be a glorious experience, the only vocals being wordless moaning, a wonderfully bittersweet expression of emotion that just completely transcends words. There's something so heartbreaking about the opening track, "Wordless descriptions of Uncontrollable Urges", though I can't place it, because without even saying anything, The Hated immediately pull my heartstrings stronger than any of the bands so far. This song is followed up by the grim and hapless 8 minute meditation "These are the days", showing off lowkey guitar progressions and what I assume to be grunge inspired vocals as they wearily croon their sorrows, with such a strong sense of hopelessness but also a subtle warmth, and the album follows in much of the same fashion. I'm not incredibly good at describing this sound but I hope I'm getting across just how different this album is to everything that came before it; while previous emo bands rile and gnash and fight their emotion at every turn, The Hated wallow and ponder and romanticise their emotions, letting it fill the listener slowly over the course of 9 extended ballads. It's a travesty that this album doesn't at least have a big cult following of some kind, I implore that you check it out and maybe tell a friend.

Unfun- Jawbreaker (1990)

This band marks a very special development for this list: it is the first band not to be from or around Washington D.C! I'm not exactly sure when this happened, but in the late 80's to early 90's emo began to slowly spread West across the United States as the Washington D.C. scene slowly died out as quick as it came in. Jawbreaker, natives of New York, would quickly establish themselves as one of the new innovators of emo in the early 90's, and grew popular enough that, while they never achieved mainstream success, groups such as Nirvana and Green Day were ranked among their peers. This album, Unfun, is their debut, and while they were still pretty underground at this point, they are undeniably much catchier, much more pop-punk oriented than any emo album that has come previously. Pretty much from the moment I heard it, I have intermittently had the chorus of opening track "Want" stuck in my head. It's such an infectous track, and the rest of the album follows suit. Overall though, I think it's lead singer Blake Schwarzenbach's charisma as a performer and lyricist that put Jawbreaker ahead of the pack. In contrast with previous bands, which have been incredibly aggressive or hopeless, Schwarzenbach comes off as relatable, down on his luck, someone you could root for or see yourself in, which makes this album an especially engaging listen

Structure - Monsula (1991)

As mentioned before, the old emo scene began to die off as the new one struggled to emerge, and in this between space very little output was made. Once again this allowed me to go digging for bands that were releasing music and I ended up finding this cool band named Monsula. Monsula hailed from San Francisco in 1988, though they only released material for 3 years, 1990 to 1993, before the members decided to split up and join other emo/hardcore bands, as was the case with literally anyone involved with the scene (seriously you look up the members of any band in the DIY emo scene and you wonder did they quit because they got jobs or grew up or something and the answer is always no. They were in 3 more bands and then became a session musician for some bigger band or something). However, having listened to their two albums, I personally think they held alot of potential. The singer has alot of personality and catchy hooks up his sleeve, and the music is fast paced and aggressive. It's alot like the early bands on this list, but a bit more chilled out, like something you'd listen to at a party if you were really cool and hip and from the 90's. If I had to pick a favourite song, it would be Razors, a pretty cute ballad about stabbing each other to death with Razors.

Weak- Seaweed (1992)

Seaweed are an interesting case among other bands of this era because from what I can tell, the majority of their fanbase were not from the emo scene at all. Seaweed, being a band from around the Seattle area, were lucky enough to be the youngest band to sign with independant label Sub Pop in the early 1990's. Sub Pop, for those who don't know, were the central figures in the growing grunge movement, signing bands such as Nirvana and Soundgarden as they made their breakthrough into the mainstream. This automatically made any band signed to the label pretty popular, and Seaweed became one of the many darlings of edgy college radio stations, particularly with this album's opener, Recall. While I would describe Seaweed's output in general as fast paced drum heavy punk with a grunge tinge to it, they dabbled a little in emocore from time to time, and in this album they decided to throw a whole heap of it into the mix, which especially come through in the vocals. Overall the 3 genres blend very smoothly, making for a fast paced thrasher and a nervous breakdown all in one.

Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly- Moss Icon (1993)

To be honest, though I love almost every album on this list so far, emocore has been a developing genre and as such has yet to reach its full potential. But now every album from here on out will be a banger, starting from this one: Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated rock albums of the 1990s. Coming from Maryland in 1986 at a time when there was no real emo scene to speak of, Moss Icon took their principal inspiration from British post-punk groups such as Joy Division, and claim their hardcore heritage only in their DIY ethic and noisy edge. The album's release itself has a very interesting story, it was recorded in 1988 across 3 sessions, before the band broke up in 1991 without ever getting the chance to properly release these songs. The guitarist, Tonie Joy, would later join the popular hardcore band Born Against, the lead singer of which was the owner of Vermiform Records, who upon hearing about Joy's old high school band (Moss Icon) decided to release their music, purely because he found the idea of releasing the music of a group of teenagers who never quite made it charming.

Lyburnum didn't find any initial praise, but it's reputation grew slowly and steadily over time due to just how unique it is. It's hard to put a finger on one specific aspect of what makes Lyburnum so great, but if I had to start somewhere it would be in the tension of the songs. Most emocore albums so far, as I've said before, hit you like a truck, and this isn't to say that Lyburnum won't hit you like a truck but it will have you bracing yourself for the impact well in advance, because it builds tension and atmosphere so well. Take, for example, the build up in the second track "I'm back sleeping or fucking or something", right before the chorus, it feels to me like being encircled by ravenous animals in a dark forest. While you listen to that same track, note the production in the track, how heavy and noisy it feels, while also being crisp and clear and subtle. This is an especially astonishing feat for a band of this time when you note that the band insisted on playing all in the same room like a live show, which would make mixing a nightmare.

As spine-tingling as the instrumentals are, it's lead vocalist Jonathan Vance's terrifying performance and evocative lyrics that truly bring the house down. Vance rarely sings in this album, one can more easily imagine himself pacing back and forth, pulling at his hair and grinding his teeth as he veers between ranting and raving to no one in particular, paranoid mumbling under his breath, chanting threateningly at the viewer to full on screaming at the world, usually with a certain stream-of-consciousness quality to it. That is why I use the word "performance" and not simply singing or vocals, the power of his emotions and the variety of his deliverance simply feels too real. Finally, we must speak about the lyrics, which are incredibly opaque, esoteric and uncomfortable, ranging between topics of the colonisation of America, nihilistic and hateful religious imagery, and a loss of a sense of self. Today, Moss Icon has thankfully developed a large cult following, and has been accepted as a staple of early emo music among those who enjoy the genre. I don't think it's enough though. These guys should be in the history books for the greatest underground rock musicians of all time. Listen to this album, and then tell everyone you know.

Diary- Sunny Day Real Estate (1994)

There's a notable minority of rock music aficionados nestled between the emos who know emo music began in the mid 80s and the average joe who thinks emo began in the Y2K, who thinks that emo was created in the early 90's with the release of this album, and though they're definitely wrong and likely just haven't done their research, on some level they do have a point. While Sunny Day Real Estate didn't create emo, they were the first band to become popular while really taking emo in a direction completely devoid of it's DIY hardcore basement show roots, creating somewhat more of a catchy, commercialized sound which would become the mainstream from here on. This aggressive change in the sound of emo is generally refered to as the "Second Wave" of emo, and while there is no agreed upon idea of when the Second Wave begins, I personally think you would be silly to place it at any other point than the release of this album. While not wildly successful (they did get a few appearances on MTV though), SDRE would gain enough of a cult status that emo music and bands would grow much more common, which will be evident going forward.

As for how Diary sounds, you'll find that the sound of SDRE differs greatly from the emo music of before, it is infused with alt and indie rock and has a very strong grunge inspiration, especially in it's guitar work, which is heavy and fuzzy but not in a way that obscures the song. You'll also note just how polished it all sounds, and the song structures feel unique but in a way that feels natural and comes full circle. It's edgy, heavy, but also euphoric and passionate, definitely something that would fit in on the radio amongst the smashing pumpkins and nirvana to the point that I'm surprised they never made a proper breakthrough, and Jeremy Enigk's vocals are delivered in a quiet, somewhat nasal manner that would be copied for decades to come.

Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On, and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over - Cap'n Jazz (1995)

(Otherwise known as "Shmap'n Shmazz".) The early to mid 90's also saw the development of a new style of emo music, which would come to define the scene in this decade (and also in the 2010's but we're not there yet). Midwest Emo, the dominant form of emo music developed in the Midwestern United States (though, importantly, not restricted to that area), mixed emo music with indie rock, as well as math rock (a type of experimental rock that relies on complex, arpeggio-heavy guitar progressions and weird time signatures). While Diary is also often considered a midwest emo album, I picked this album to speak on midwest emo because I believe that, as a band, Cap'n Jazz more clearly embody the common idea of midwest emo that people held back then and today. It more heavy leans into its math rock influences, being incredibly unpredictable and bouncy in its chord progression. Secondly, while SDRE got their debut album out faster, I believe Cap'n Jazz pioneered the midwest emo sound properly first, forming roughly 3 years before SDRE. Thirdly, most midwest emo music created today is almost always taking direct inspiration from the style of Cap'n Jazz or a band inspired by Cap'n Jazz. Algernon Cadwallader, one of the founders of the fourth wave of emo (we'll get to them later), once jokingly stated when asked to introduce their band, "Hey, I’m in this band called Algernon Cadwallader. We’re a DIY band from Pennsylvania. We sound like Cap'n Jazz." Overall, in my mind this is the definitive midwest emo album by the first midwest emo band.

I've given the history lesson, and explained the significance of the album, and got so lost in it I forgot the most important part, how does it sound? Well, it's hard to explain exactly, but the draw for me whenever I'm listening to an emo album, and what I assume to be the draw for everyone else, is the bittersweet euphoria that one feels hearing someone unload their shit violently over awesome rock music. I don't have a name for this specific feeling, but I know only the best emo songs can only capture it for a moment, usually at the emotional and musical climax of the song. This album. Feels like taking that feeling, putting it in a syringe and injecting it straight into your veins, with all the jitteriness that that high would imply. It is an album so fast paced yet so raw, you'll want to dance and jump about, while scream-crying into your pillow simultaneously. The album starts as the guitar, already playing so fast and wild, fades into your eardrums and then it doesn't let you down for the rest of the album, like a tidal wave of rock coming in from the horizon and pulling you along with it out to sea. The instrumentals are so noisy and rough around the edges but in a way that only heightens the performance, and despite it's amateur facade, the chord progression is so meticulous and interesting for its time (I say "for its time" because this album would of course inspire a wave of even more meticulous albums). Vocalist Tim Kinsella is one of the rawest singers I've ever heard, I can barely understand the lyrics and honestly I don't want to know because his gutting delivery is all I'll ever need to know. This album is so undeniably impressive, it's honestly shocking that it was formed in the band member's mid-teens, and much less shocking that every member would go on to continue to be incredibly influential in their later endevours, including a band that will feature on this list a little later.

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