500 Emos Can't Be Wrong

THANK YOU to all 500+ of you! I launched this thing just a month ago and I cannot believe there’s already this many people who’ve subscribed to the newsletter. While I lured most of you here with my MCR themed zine, I hope y’all stick around and find something you like to continue reading up on week to week. Catch up on my intro post here.

Have any feedback? Hit reply to this email and let’s talk. I wanna make this something y’all enjoy reading.

Missed last week’s newsletter? Read it here

🖤 Elisa

IT’S NOT A PHASE

Things found on the interwebz this week:

• Billie Eilish announced a single for Barbie soundtrack. Y’all I hope this one’s a banger, I don’t have my “song of the summer” yet so this could be it. → Variety

• Livenation is getting in the mindful app business. Listen, I’m down for a music-based meditation app but not from the company with a chokehold monopoly on the music industry → Forbes 

• More Barbie goodness, I’m declaring Ryan Gosling an emo king with ‘Just Ken’ - an 80’s style power ballad with Slash → YouTube 

FROM THE PIT

Sometimes I want to go to a show, just to go to a show. I’m lucky to live within walking distance from a small music venue so the option is always there. Sunday night I went down the street to see The Juliana Theory and The Rocket Summer, I’ve been a casual fan of both since my high school days. The Rocket Summer has been in my peripheral for as long as I’ve been in the scene - they’re from the Dallas/Fort-Worth area, same as me and it was a Big Deal when they would roll back through DFW to play a hometown show.

The Juliana Theory’s currently touring in acoustic form, and I ate it up. I love hearing reimagined versions of songs I know. And it felt just right for the room, I’ve seen a variety of hardcore shows, jazz jams, and emo nites in that venue - but the acoustic duo where everyone in the crowd is singing along felt like the most natural fit for the place.

I was smiling ear to ear, bobbing my head along to the poppy tunes from The Rocket Summer. I found myself singing along to a few choruses that I remember, including So Much Love. Bryce Avary kept thanking the fans that he recognized in the crowd, calling on most of them by name and making a point to call out how many shows each of them had traveled to see - one fan said 200+ shows over the years! I can see why people continue to come back for more. He has that magnetic charisma that pulls people in, it was pure fun to watch.

While walking home I kicked myself for not having followed both bands more in the last decade. I won’t make that mistake again.

FROM THE SHELF

This review is a few weeks overdue, I had gotten through about the first third of this book and then Geoff Rickly’s book showed up at my door and I had to pause to devour that one right away.

Music journalist Chris Payne’s book Where Are Your Boys Tonight? An Oral History of Emo’s Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008 is the book every person who calls themself an Elder Emo should have on their bookshelf. This paired with Dan Ozzi’s Sellout are a perfect combo to get a fairly comprehensive look of the music scene during this specific period of time.

There’s so much history packed in this book directly from the people who shaped the scene. The index at the back is fourteen pages, Payne crafted a wide net of sources and references. Even if you know everything about your favorite band - like me with MCR - there’s still something new to learn as each interviewee recalled stories about specific events of the third-wave emo movement.

I kept putting the book down to play the albums being discussed, to listen with a new perspective. And while I loved the experiences I had growing up in the DFW music scene, reading about the DIY scenes made me wish I had been even more involved in putting shows together back in my day. (And I was a merch girl! I slung many a t-shirt and ran band Myspaces.) But I deeply respect the people Payne interviewed that built up pockets of thriving music scenes all over the country.

I’ve said it here before that my life motto is “Live Everyday Like its Warped Tour 2005” and I love that Payne said something similar in the book’s introduction. He said, “The same way rock historians talk about 1977 and 1991, 2005 was the lynchpin of emo, the big bang of the 2000s.”

NOSTALGIA BLAST

Since I was reminiscing my DFW music scene days this week, I had to spin PlayRadioPlay.

CHEER UP EMO KID

Like what you see? Subscribe Now or Partner With Us

Rawr Means I Love You In Dinosaur