A while back, I put together a short list of 3 No-Skip Elder Millennial Screamo Albums, and I accidentally put a bunch of Christian (or Christian adjacent) scene bands, and, shit, did you guys let me know about it…
Multiple DMs, emails, and social media comments, all asking, “Why are they all Christian bands?” Well, that’s because I’m a 40-something ex-vangelical youth group kid who also grew up going to shows, so cut me some fuckin slack. (I’m sorry for cursing.)
This brings us to a new list! I’m running down a handful of underrated 2000s emo albums that I think deserve more love today, and I made sure to mix it up as much as I could. I trust that you’ll let me know if I got it wrong, so get to s̶c̶r̶u̶t̶i̶n̶i̶z̶i̶n̶g̶ reading!
Remember Right Now – Spitalfield
I feel like Spitalfield, overall, never got the credit they deserved for being such a solid and exciting emo band. These dudes were cranking out absolute BANGERS in the early 2000s, going back to their debut album, Remember Right Now.
The record is a killer emo-rock project with pop-punk sensibilities and a flow that was damn near unrivaled by any of their peers. I’m telling you… You can turn this record on at the beginning of a drive, and you’ll have the songs on repeat before you even realize it.
Prepare to Be Wrong EP – Straylight Run
A lot of aging scene kids might point to Straylight Run as a general underrated emo band (which I don’t disagree with) and would likely point out the band’s self-titled debut album as an important moment in the 2000s emo era (which I also don’t disagree with).
However, if that album is underrated, then their 2005 EP Prepare to Be Wrong is DEFINITELY underrated. The project found the band being more abrasive about their social frustrations and incorporating more electronic elements, so… less Death Cab and a little more Radiohead.
Look, “Hands in the Sky (Big Shot)” is already one of the most important songs to emerge from the early 2000s emo scene, and then they drop in a cover of Bob Dylan’s “With God on Our Side” that goes so hard. It’s almost not fair to other emo bands.
Swiss Army Romance – Dashboard Confessional
I know what you’re thinking… “Stephen, you only put this album on here so you could use a picture of Chris Carrabba as the featured image and trick us into reading your list.” Well, I don’t appreciate you clocking me like that, so now I’m really gonna have to sell it…
Before there was “Screaming Infideliites” or “Again I Go Unnoticed” or “Hands Down” or the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack… There was “Turpentine Chaser” and “Living in Your Letters” and “Screaming Infideliites” and “Again I Go Unnoticed” and… you know what, half the album is literally the tracklist for Dashboard’s second album, The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most, but that’s kind of the point.
Dashboard Confessional is often heralded as one of the greatest emo bands of all time, but you have to go back to the roots to really grasp the importance. And speaking of Chris Carrabba’s emo roots…
Hide Nothing – Further Seems Forever
I like to think I’ve saved the best for last here. It’s perfect, beautiful, and flawless. No skips-level elite.
Hide Nothing, Further Seems Forever’s third album was also their only one with former Sense Field vocalist Jon Bunch, following the exit of founding vocalist Chris Carrabba and a short stint with singer Jason Gleason (who recently returned to the band after Carrabba came back for a while and then exited once more. The FSF lore, she is rich).
So what is it that makes Hide Nothing such a jewel in the band’s crown of music? Well, it’s two-fold. First, the band had grown quite a bit over a short few years, and you can hear that creative growth in the musical arrangements. The timing (and off-timing) on Hide Nothing is incredible, and their sense of balancing melodies is much stronger than on their first two albums.
The second thing that makes this album glow… is Bunch. He gives off this vulnerability and hope in his singing, and his lyrics reflect a man desperate for the happiness he’s encouraging the listener to give themselves. I’ve maybe never felt more emotional than scream-singing “Love is coming! Love won’t let yet die alone!” along with the band when I saw them at Rocketown in Nashville shortly after the album came out.
Sadly, Bunch passed away in 2016 at the age of 45, and it was such a terrible loss for the emo scene. RIP Jon. Thanks for inspiring us to see the “light up ahead.”
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