Now that most of our emo anthems are 20 or more years old, we get choked up when we listen back to certain songs. It doesn’t feel like we were emo kids two decades ago, and we wonder where the time went. Among songs that didn’t age well, these millennial ballads bring a tear to every elder emo’s eye.
“i will follow you into the dark” by Death Cab for Cutie
Younger emo fans have no clue the chokehold Death Cab For Cutie had us in with this track. It’s one of the most sincere emo tracks and continues to be the band’s top track. It’s a raw track, recorded using only using one microphone and with little to no editing involved. That’s what makes this track so personal. You feel you’re sitting in the room with Ben Gibbard himself. Every elder emo has had a moment where this song comes on and takes them back to 2005. It still holds up as one of the most beautiful tracks of the 2000s.
“cancer” by My Chemical Romance
Sure, My Chemical Romance has numerous tracks that make elder emo fans tear up. “Welcome To The Black Parade” will do it every time. But true MCR fans understand the power of their track “Cancer” from The Black Parade. It’s about the physical decay that comes from chemotherapy, and saying goodbye to a loved one while losing a cancer battle. As cancer has taken countless lives over the years, this track is a tender one.
“Cause the hardest part of this is leaving you” completely guts me every time. I recently stumbled upon a video of MCR performing this track on SNL, and you can tell there was not a dry eye in the audience. It was a bizarre setting for a live performance of the track, but it got me while watching.
“the only exception” by paramore
Many emo fans came from broken homes or at least knew friends who had. Hardship such as this is what led to the popularity of emo music in the first place. This ballad is about letting go of the hurt of a broken home and the fear of love that comes with it. It’s hard to love when you’ve seen how bad it can get. This song serves as a reminder to open your heart and your mind, and to let go of the troubled past. The broken home you come from shouldn’t define how you accept love into your own life. It remains one of the most mature emo ballads of the 2000s, and has stood the test of time.
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