This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply. Vulture put together a list of the “100 greatest emo songs” of all time. By and large, pretty damn good list. It’s full of great songs and there’s some massive nostalgia factor in there. Obviously, I have a pretty strong attachment to this genre of music. And, I thought the authors handled the issue of Brand New about the best you can: Initially, they were considered a viable candidate because telling the story of emo without Brand New would be like making a 1980s list without Thriller. “More broadly speaking, there’s a difference between not supporting a band going forward and writing them out of history,” Garland noted. But on further reflection, this isn’t simply a historical account of emo, but rather a series of subjective opinions organized to quantify greatness. Especially after witnessing Leaving Neverland and Surviving R. Kelly in the time since the initial voting, it became impossible to include Brand New on this list and not replicate the same mistake that’s plagued popular music throughout history — condoning an artist’s actions and minimizing the victims if the music’s good enough. This is a topic I think about a lot and I still have no good answers. I keep thinking one will come, but maybe I’m just lying to myself that I’ll be able to think my way to some kind of clarity. I’ve started and stopped various essays on this topic multiple times because I still feel too close to it and it always ends up with me in a weird headspace. But, how the authors handled this feels right to me. Expand - View Original
Only three or so songs in but it gets a capable nod from me when I see Copeland's "When Paula Sparks" make the cut.
I love that one of my favorite albums from just last year made it in. Origami Angel. Been in constant rotation. The rest of the list continued on.
I already don't recognize an embarrassing amount of the artists/songs listed here. Looking forward to setting aside some time for a deep dive!
I feel like they handled it perfectly. They did include Brand New -- not on the list but in the (reasonably extensive) introduction. Brand New was a major part of emo for a long while, and that is acknowledged. The writers are basically saying they recognise the band's importance and influence to the genre, but will not actively promote its music by including it on a list of the best songs.
I wish there were more random late 90s / early 00s shoutouts (like Further Seems Forever, Acceptance, The Early November, The Juliana Theory, etc) but it's a really fun list altogether.
I've been visiting this site now and again for their TV show reviews, mainly back when the Leftovers was current. I really enjoy them, especially the end of the reviews, "Under The Hood" section.
There are so many great songs on this and a bunch that I need to look up because I’m completely unfamiliar with them. I’ve always thought that “Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is one of the best emo songs of all time, even though I wouldn’t put the band in that category. This is a really cool list.
A big part of the "Konstantine" blurb reckons with it as being about a relationship between McMahon and an underage girl...but unless I'm mistaken, Andrew McMahon would have been recently 18 when that song came out in its earliest version (and very likely under 18 when he wrote it). It just seems like a weirdly accusatory piece of writing to attach to a song in retrospect without acknowledging how young the bandmembers were when they recorded it.
The lack of Anberlin is sad. I kept waiting for "Paperthin Hymn" to show up. Otherwise, super well-written and fun read. I need to check a lot of these out.
My thoughts exactly. They wrote about Brand New in a way that recognized them as possibly one of the best bands of this generation while explaining clearly and thoughtfully why they couldn't include them on the list. Thought it was pretty perfect. Yeah this part I didn't get either. Also is it ever even explicitly said someone is "underage" in this story? He just says "Damn it you're so young". You can be 18/19/20 and still be considered too young to tour the country with a rock band haha
It just felt like they were reading it as if he wrote it now (which would definitely be weird) versus a literal teenager writing it. The song reads like a teenage confession of love. That's part of what made it so resonant to a lot of people.
Comparing Jesse Lacey to R Kelly is a stretch. But hey, it’s this guys article and if he wants to keep them off, that’s his prerogative.