New Found Glory - Sticks and Stones (2002) Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism (2003) Coheed and Cambria - IKS (2003) Midtown - Forget What You Know (2004) FOB - Take This To Your Grave (2003) I really can't pick between the 5! Each album was life changing and I'll listen to forever. What a golden time for music and this genre. I still pick up new bands but there hasn't been anything comparable.
QOTSA - lullabies to paralyze clipse - hell hath no fury oasis - don't believe the truth the white stripes - white blood cells
blink-182 - Takeoff Your Pants and Jacket Weezer - Green Album Box Car Racer - Box Car Racer Rise Against - Revolutions Per Minute Honorable Mentions: AFI - Sing The Sorrow NOFX - War On Errorism Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
Really hard to pick but four that come to mind are (no repeating artists otherwise it would be the first four Coheed records): In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 by Coheed and Cambria Vheissu by Thrice The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place by Explosions in the Sky Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie Five runners up: The End of History by Fionn Regan Doppelgänger by The Fall of Troy Pink Moon by Nick Drake The Ghosts Among Us by Our Last Night Menos el Oso by Minus the Bear
Freshman year: Sum 41 - Does This Look Infected? Sophomore year: Blink-182 - Untitled Junior year: Say Anything - ...is a real boy Senior year: Motion City Soundtrack - Commit This To Memory
my chemical romance - three cheers for sweet revenge the used - in love and death silverstein - discovering the waterfront underoath - they’re only chasing safety I was the stereotypical emo kid at my school.
Whitechapel - This Is Exile The Devil Wears Prada - Plagues Paramore - All We Know Is Falling Bring Me The Horizon - Count Your Blessings I was such a scene kid. My MySpace page probably took 10 minutes to load.
Saves The Day - Through Being Cool The Get Up Kids - Something To Write Home About Midtown - Save The World, Lose The Girl Backstreet Boys - Millennium Honorable Mentions: N'Sync - N'Sync 2 Skinnee J's - SuperMercado! Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
EDIT: Had to fact check myself here and make some modifications! Apparently, Apple Music incorrectly lists Eve6's Horrorscope as being released in 1999 when it was, in fact, 2000. I chose to go the route of albums that were released contemporaneously with each year I was in school. 1998 - Freshman Year - Pearl Jam - Yield 1999 - Sophomore Year - Live - The Distance To Here 2000 - Junior Year - Our Lady Peace - Spiritual Machines (But in reality a 3-way tie between OLP / Radiohead - Kid A / Eve6 - Horrorscope!) 2001 - Senior Year - Pete Yorn - Musicforthemorningafter A very difficult exercise, indeed! The debut 3EB album was easily the biggest album of 1998 for me, but was released in '97. A lot of "indie/emo" albums also came out during these years that I would later discover during my college years. I own these all on vinyl, so that might be today's listening exercise!
If it's all about what I was into in HS...and I'm being honest with myself... 1999-00 Silverchair - Neon Ballroom 2000-01 311 - Soundsystem 2001-02 System of a Down - Toxicity 2002-03 Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head Honorable Mentions that I know were in heavy rotation: Machine Head - The Burning Red 2 Skinnee Js - Volumizer Limp Bizkit - Significant Other Symphony X - Odyssey Metallica - S&M Static X - Wisconsin Death Trip
Its kind of a shame what Coldplay became because A Rush of Blood to the Head was a pretty great record! There was definitely a time where I would have ranked that record on par with something like The Bends by Radiohead. (I'm not sure whether I'm helping my cause there or not with that comparison :) )
At that time, it was great to see such an album get so popular. Clocks got big, then the Scientist went massive. I went years without listening to it but went back recently and still love it.