Can You See the Sunset From the Southside?: A spoonful of emo revisited

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

A spoonful of emo revisited -

Way before what teens today think of as emo, the term was shorthand for emotional hardcore. It was not a dirty word that referred to the lifestyle that gets so much negative press these days. Originating in the Washington, DC music scene of the mid-1980's, some so-called "first-wave" emo or emocore bands included Rites of Spring, Embrace, and Moss Icon. Then came Fugazi (featuring ex-members of Rites of Spring and Embrace), Jawbox, and so on from there...

This is (according to me) a brief history of emo in music only. Yes, it will be incomplete in some areas and too inclusive in others depending on who you ask, but that's life. And while I could have written about my feelings for all the bands, all the factual stuff has already been said and I'd just be rehashing much of what you can find here, here, or even here. Anyhow, much of this music is out of print, so dig in, enjoy, and let the hate mail begin.

MP3 | Sunny Day Real Estate - In Circles
MP3 | Knapsack - Cellophane
MP3 | Lifetime - Ostrichsized
MP3 | Shotmaker - Shortwave Radio

MP3 | At The Drive-In - Napoleon Solo
MP3 | Boxer - Georgia
MP3 | God's Reflex - The Summer In Between

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21 Comments ↓

krist at 8:07 AM: Do I need to say how AWESOME this post is...??

Krist
thepunkguy
jswede at 9:08 AM: Best post I've read (anywhere) in 2007. Gauge and Friction bring me back to...... that VFW in Elmhurst in early 90s I think?
wifey at 10:04 AM: this is one of my favorite posts that you've done!
Eric Grubbs at 10:35 AM: Hell yes!!!!

Great post my friend.
Anonymous at 12:17 PM: What a great, nostalgic post...do you by chance have the Promise Ring song off of the 'Ground Rule Double' comp.? Out of print, so hard to find.
JB at 1:06 PM: Well, itseems it's more a of love mail than a hate mail you get! And how deserved! There are so many great memories you bring back. Everyone has his favourites and mine are 'For want of' and 'If it's here when when we get back...'. They are everything. Thank you.
Ryan at 1:17 PM: drone!
oh man, the memories... "back sleeping or fucking or something"...
geeze

i have a still life record and a TITR/Promise Ring split 7"...

so good...
Anonymous at 1:30 PM: The Hoover track link is broken, btw...
Mich at 2:00 AM: AMAZING. thanks for that, it's awesome to revisit the good times when emo wasn't all about black tees, eyeliner and 'My Chemical Romance'. (pfft)

braid, mineral, sunny day, texas is the reason. ahhh.
Designate at 3:13 PM: Thank you for this. Always good to educate myself with bands I don't know. This is gonna make my weekend :)
billy at 4:34 PM: wow! a Gauge track from the "43" ten-inch. makes me a proud 'dad' to see the Gauge given some love. thanks! awesome post! - billy (Actionboy Records)
Jonathan at 10:15 PM: Great post! Nice to see Knapsack in the mix of bands up there. Always liked them a lot.
Ol' Fuss & Feathers - Fuss & Feathers Forevers at 2:59 PM: Gauge was my very first punk rock show, ever - it was in the basement of a house in Elmhurst(I think the kid that lived there was named Ryan Efgen (sp?). Anyway, after that I saw Friction, Cap'n Jazz, Indian Summer, 8 Bark, Angel Hair etc and my life was changed forever. Great post!
GET OVER YOURSELF at 4:09 PM: This post is like the soundtrack to my life. every song/band is awesome
christopher at 9:49 PM: oh god. I think i might implode with the champaign/urbana of it all. thank lord.
christian at 4:11 AM: i wish i could download them...all the links are broken..can you post it up again.. great thanks!
Anonymous at 9:47 PM: nothing short of amazing . . but the files dont exist or maybe the bandwith expired? if you can fix that thatd be cool
Kevin at 5:01 PM: Wow, I thought I was the only one who cared enough anymore to explain to tweeked-out 15 year old myspace kids that "emo" used to mean a COMPLETELY different type of music not even 10 years ago.

Go you. I'm gonna go dig up my old Dischord Records LPs

God I feel old and I'm only 30.
naomi whatley at 10:33 PM: Oh...

Oh my.

i think this is the best blog post i've seen all year.

Yep.

i think i'm just going to bookmark this as a handy reference to forward to every 15 year old i know.

It hurts me to think what you're music collection must look like.
Eric at 10:37 PM: Thanks Naomi. I'm reposting this list (plus a ton more) within the next few weeks. Keep an eye out.
Naomi at 7:34 PM: Hurray!