In February, From First To Last reunited onstage with their former frontman Sonny Moore (aka Skrillex) at Emo Night in LA.
The band premiered live their new single ‘Make War’ to a crowd of genre faithfuls and throwback enthusiasts.
A similar club night is launching tomorrow in Sydney, with AM//PM joining the global revival at The Burdekin on Oxford Street each month.
To celebrate, here’s nine emo tracks to take you back to a time when song titles were entirely unrelated to the lyrical content and themes of love, loss and blood were a requirement.
The Used – ‘All That I’ve Got’
This song is an emo classic, simply because it covers so many classic emo themes: love, loss, blood, insisting you’re fine when you aren’t… It makes you want to find the person who broke Bert McCracken’s heart, and make them apologise. But fun fact, the song is actually written about his dog who was hit by a car.
Taking Back Sunday – ‘MakeDamnSure’
Is there anything that captures the essence of emo more than Adam Lazzara lamenting the fact that he is level 12 friendzoned? Somehow suggesting that you’ll keep your love interest held hostage just feels so emo.
Thirty Seconds to Mars – ‘From Yesterday’
Widely regarded as the most expensive music video in history, From Yesterday earns a coveted place on this list only because of Jared Leto’s beautiful, guyliner-rimmed eyes. Swoon.
My Chemical Romance – ‘The Ghost of You’
Bet you thought this would be ‘I’m Not Okay’ or ‘Helena’, huh? Surprise. This (slightly) lesser-known My Chem song earns itself a place on this list because of the epic emo feels when Gerard Way watches his baby brother Mikey die. War is hell.
Fall Out Boy – ‘Grand Theft Autumn’
Even before Pete Wentz grew out his fringe, Fall Out Boy were one of the essential pillars of early-2000s emo. ‘Grand Theft Autumn’ takes us back to a more complicated time, where Fall Out Boy songs ended with surprise poetry from Wentz, and the song titles were entirely unrelated to the lyrical content.
Panic! at the Disco – ‘But It’s Better If You Do’
The opening line “now I’m of consenting age” is cute and deeply ironic because baby-faced Brendon Urie was literally too young to legally enter a strip club when he made this music video. We could have gone for ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’ here, but honestly that goddamn song about the goddamn door is so overdone, and ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’ is an emo masterpiece from start to finish.
Blink-182 – ‘I Miss You’
When a song features the lyrics “morgue”, “spiders” and literal direct references to The Nightmare Before Christmas, it is arguably the most on-the-nose emo song in modern history. Even without those lyrical features, ‘I Miss You’ deserves a feature on this list simply for Tom DeLonge’s mastery of the English language as he repeatedly whines “the voice inside my ’ead”.
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – ‘Face Down’
Remember when a song about spousal abuse was all over the radio in 2004? Emo music: always pushing the envelope and tackling the taboo topics. The best part about this song is that there’s two versions: the actual version, and the radio-friendly version which is entirely clean vocals.
From First to Last – ‘Emily’
Before Skrillex was all “yo Skrill, drop it hard” he was Sonny Moore and was much more “her sparkling eyes make me weak at my words”. ‘Emily’ continues to be a seminal, unplugged emo classic for all those who empathise with unrequited love (which is all of us). Also friendly reminder that From First To Last is back and their new single is a total banger.
