By Lain Patton
In 1985, a writer at Thrasher wrote a review of multiple hardcore bands located in Washington, D.C. In this article, he writes a review of the band Embrace’s debut album and uses the word “emocore” to describe the band’s music style. Although Ian Mackaye, the lead vocalist of Embrace and prior vocalist for Minor Threat, took offense to the word, calling emocore “the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” this term would end up describing a large genre of music, dense with history.
Bands like Rites of Spring, Moss Icon, Gray Matter and Soulside are considered the foundation of the emo music genre — sometimes referred to as the first wave of emo. The second wave of emo began in the early ’90s with bands like Jawbreaker, The Get Up Kids, The Promise Ring and, above all, Sunny Day Real Estate.
Formed in 1992 in Seattle, Washington, Sunny Day Real Estate became one of the most influential bands in the emo scene. Their debut album “Diary,” released from Sub Pop Records in 1994, was critically acclaimed and still stands as the most influential emo album. This 11 track album was coincidently released on the same date as Weezer’s self-titled album (blue album), May 10.
Sunny Day Real Estate’s album was different from other albums coming out of Seattle’s hardcore scene. The sound was melodic with rough edges and lyrics fueled by emotions. The first two tracks on the album “Diary” were the singles “Seven” and “In Circles.” Both of these singles are considered some of the greatest emo songs of all time. The first track of the album, titled “Seven,” is a genre defining emo song, mapping out the emo music style with poetic lyrics accompanied by the loud instruments of punk rock music.
The second track of the album, “In Circles,” has become the most popular song released by Sunny Day Real Estate. Fans of the band and the emo community even created a website titled “meetmethere.com” which is based on the lyrics in the song. Fans used this now deleted website to discover, appreciate and discuss emo music (my dad personally used this website back in the day).
Without Sunny Day Real Estate, the Midwest emo scene would have never developed. Bands like American Football, Cap’n Jazz and Cursive were inspired by the stylistic choices of Sunny Day Real Estate and another essential emo band, Braid.
If you are someone who has never really understood what “emo” was beyond the black skinny jeans and floppy hair, or perceived bands like My Chemical Romance and other lackluster emo pop bands as “real” emo music, take some time to explore this album. Put on your sneakers, vintage t-shirt, nerdy glasses and dark denim jeans to get the true ’90s emo experience while jamming out to “Diary.”