Let your inner emo shine: a tribute to pop-punk music
The Arctic Monkeys’ anthem “R U Mine” blared through one speaker as muffled static came through the other. The volume was on maximum to battle the wind coming in from the open window as my beat-up Acura barreled up the 101. I couldn’t help but to turn to my co-pilot and friend, Charlie, and point out how cliché we were as her short, pixie cut flew around her Lennon-esque glasses and my multicolored half buzz flit back and forth with the breeze. She flicked her cigarette out the window as she laughed at the truth of the matter.
As she lets the cigarette crash into the asphalt at 80 miles an hour, we discussed what era we wish we could’ve been born in. Charlie’s a follower of Bowie, a lover of the Velvet Underground and is one of the only people my age I know who can name all four members of Led Zeppelin (yeah, there was more than just Jimmy Page and Robert Plant). So naturally, she chose sometime in the latter half of the 20th century. And from my description of myself, you’d probably assume I’d choose the same. Sorry to disappoint, and to be honest, as a walking cliché, this is the first time I’ve done something unpredictable but I chose the early 2000s. I know, what could I be thinking, right? Bullet ammo adorned belts, terrible highlights and edgy polo shirts? What did the noughties have to offer? Well, thank God I have around 500 more words to explain.
Music has a long and storied history. Even if we limit that to just rock-n-roll, it’s come so far and has even farther left to go. That being said, the 2000s has one especially interesting characteristic: it saved lives. Yes, I know music has always been a powerful tool for inspiring and motivating its listeners and yes, it’s hard to imagine that the Hot Topic-clad boys and girls of this era could save lives, but I stand by it. The early 2000s was filled to the brim with authentic vulnerability. Bands upon bands declared their mental illnesses, their struggles with happiness, and their fear of society in a way that had never been done before. Fall Out Boy popularized being a weirdo while My Chemical Romance took depression from being a fault to being armor. Mayday Parade, Panic! At the Disco, Good Charlotte and early Paramore were soldiers in an army against the norm.
Emo rock, pop punk, pop rock– whatever you want to call these bands of misfits – reignited a war that glam rock started in the ’80s. Alice Cooper and Twisted Sister made their generalized “f-ck you” anthems against the man, and the early ’00s put that through a strainer. Suddenly, it went from battling a mysterious you to battling the demons within, the expectations of society and the loneliness of an evolving world. Fans everywhere went from casual listeners to active warriors. Myspace and now cobwebbed forums are littered with tales of how mentally-ill youth and bullied outcasts found homes in their newly purchased iPods.
Let’s look at an example that even those who weren’t deemed “scene” would recognize; the beloved Jimmy Eat World. The song “The Middle” isn’t just a fun piece of nostalgia to sing along to when drunk; it’s a fight song. With lines like, “You know you’re doing better on your own (on your own), so don’t buy in” and “Hey, don’t write yourself off yet/It’s only in your head you feel left out or looked down on,” the boys of Jimmy Eat World were singing to a nation of disillusioned youth and reminding them it’ll be alright.
These bands were just one-off stadium rock songs about victory or powerhouse ballads of struggles. Their reminders to keep fighting weren’t just one single hidden in an album of love and breakups. They were entire brands reminding their fans that they weren’t alone, that they weren’t defeated and that they had a purpose. Whether it was the darkness of My Chemical Romance starting conversations about what depression really looked like, the balance of Fall Out Boy representing the wounded warrior or the countless other perspectives on pain that the early 2000s offered, it was an era that saved lives.
Recommended Playlist:
“Move Along” – All-American Rejects
“Snitches and Talkers Get Stitches and Walkers” – Fall Out Boy
“Let The Flames Begin” – Paramore
“London Beckoned About Money Songs Written By Machines”
– Panic! At The Disco
“Don’t Be So Hard” – The Audition
“Big Casino” – Jimmy Eat World
“Carve Your Heart Out Yourself”
– Dashboard Confessional
“Liar [It Takes One To Know One]” – Taking Back Sunday
“The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows” – Brand New
“Welcome To The Black Parade”
– My Chemical Romance
Malorie McCall is a junior majoring in philosophy. Her column “Mal’s Mix” runs on Fridays.