Music is perhaps the most divisive pop culture topic. With books, movies, TV, there are a few examples that you would call masterpieces, there are the blockbusters and the classics that appeal to everyone. With music, you pretty much stick to your genre, and everyone has their genre. I have mine, but I try to keep an open mind listening to other stuff. I've seen several performances on Saturday Night Live by bands or artists outside of my genre that were impressive, and left me feeling, "Well, they're still not for me, but ... I get it." I'm not going to make anyone listen to my favorite songs, with the exception of my longsuffering boyfriend, whon I've done that to a lot lately. But here, merely for your consideration, are five albums that have made my life better by being in it.
5. BLEED AMERICAN - JIMMY EAT WORLD
I'm on my feet, I'm on the floor, I'm good to go
All I need is just to hear a song I know
I wanna always feel like part of this was mine
I wanna fall in love tonight
Anyone who knows them only for "The Middle" probably would not guess Jimmy Eat World identifies as an emo band. I wouldn't even really classify this as an emo album. It's an album with a fierce, powerful, but optimistic energy, songs about someone who might be struggling but is determined to own this life and make it work. Even the songs that have lyrics that are somewhat emo are still in a sense uplifting. "Your House" is a sad breakup song, but has a gentle melody and is overall about acceptance and focusing on how to manage your pain. My favorite track from the album, "Sweetness," might have the most emo lyrics of all, but an upbeat melody and some fumbling sense of hope. (Stumble til you crawl, sinking into sweet uncertainty.)
This album came out when I was a teenager and very much on the cusp, wondering what life held for me, wanting to fall in love. So, kind of perfect timing. It continued to be a staple in my early 20's, and I loved drumming the hell out of our Rock Band set when my roommates and I played "Sweetness."
Last year, I went to Riot Fest by myself, and Jimmy Eat World was the last band I saw. They played a lot of songs from Bleed American, and I felt my soul gradually seeping out of my body. I was already crying a little bit when they got to "Sweetness," but when they did, I kind of exploded. Or imploded. There was a plosion. I was mourning my lost youth, my lost sense of hope or direction, the friends I no longer see, the relationship I didn't have, and I started sobbing so hard I could not see the band and the girl next to me who had apologized to me earlier for whacking me with her fan was asking me if I needed help.
I'd do better with a Jimmy Eat World concert now. Maybe. Due to various things that have snowballed, I'm restarting my life in more ways than one, and here, in the middle of the ride, I can identify again with a lot of these lyrics. I am damaged, but determined. I want to always feel like part of this was mine.
4. ORIGIN OF SYMMETRY - MUSE
For one moment, I wish you'd hold your stage, with no feelings at all
Open-minded, I'm sure I used to be so free
My favorite Muse songs are "Muscle Museum," "Stockholm Syndrome," "Hysteria," and "Unnatural Selection." None of those are on this album, but dear god, this is the BEST Muse album. Listening to it is an experience. I've called it "the Cirque du Soleil of vocal cords" before. You have to listen to it all the way through, and get to the fantastic finale, "Megalomania."
When I listen to this album, I feel like I'm transported somewhere. Lost in a magical forest would be the closest approximation. It's fascinating yet unsettling, like something from Pan's Labyrinth.
So, what songs ARE on this album? There's "Newborn," which was used to great effect in the harrowing horror movie High Tension. It will make you feel like you're being chased. Great for listening to while running. There's "Citizen Erased," which is inspired by the novel 1984 but also a strangely good song for leaving a job or relationship. There's a cover of "Feeling Good" and they even manage to give that the same unsettling eerie aura of the rest of the album. In short, this album is escapism, and I'm here for it.
3. FROM UNDER THE CORK TREE - FALL OUT BOY
The best part of "believe" is the lie
I hope you sing along and you steal a line
I need to keep you like this in my mind
So give in or just give up
Fall Out Boy is in a three way tie for my favorite band, and this is the album that rocketed them to stardom with the single "Sugar, We're Going Down." They've been through their ups and downs over the years. My favorite Fall Out Boy song, "27," was written by Pete Wentz when he was approaching the age of 27, and thought he was going to join the 27 club. Shortly after, the band went on a long hiatus, and it's fitting that when they came back, they released what is now my second favorite Fall Out Boy song, "Phoenix."
Neither of those songs are on this breakout album, though. So, what is? So much good stuff. There's the frantic "Dance, Dance." There's "XO," which has an infectious melody and captures the ironic detachment of a one-night stand. There's "Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part to Save the Scene and Stop Going to Shows)", which is ... ultimate emo. Especially that rant Pete Wentz goes on. That song used to be my ringtone. And, possibly my favorite track, "Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year," which is kind of wistful and in a way beautiful. It's so sad thinking a group of friends in their early twenties would think they've already seen their best times, and thinking what they've been doing doesn't have any true meaning. Fall Out Boy apparently felt like they'd burned out fast. But, they came back. Eventually.
Wearing their vintage misery, no I think it looked a little better on me
They changed them, like a remix, then they raised them, like a phoenix
2. THE BLACK PARADE - MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE
Give me a shot to remember, and you can take all the pain away from me
A kiss and I will surrender, the sharpest lives are the deadliest to lead
What can I even say about MCR? Gerard Way is a BRILLIANT performer, writer, and artist. If you haven't guessed, this is another band in my three-way favorite band tie. The Black Parade is a loosely structured concept album telling the life story of a man who is dying in the first track and is recounting his life, and, it is so good.
What is good about this album? EVERYTHING. There is not a bad song. There are bangers that are super fun to sing and headbang along to like "Teenagers" and "Mama" (Liza Minelli was featured in "Mama" whatttt?). There are incredibly relatable breakup songs like "This Is How I Disappear" and "I Don't Love You." The song "Sleep" deserves an honorable mention because my sister, my dad, and I have filmed a cover music video of that one, and, well, I think it's pretty great. And, of course, there's the legendary anthem "Welcome to the Black Parade." They could have released just that song and this would still be one of the best albums of all time.
Anyway, I'm gonna stop talking about this one because I might just start drooling or something.
1. AMERICAN IDIOT - GREEN DAY
And in the darkest night, if my memory serves me right
I'll never turn back time
Forgetting you, but not the time
This is the defining album of my life.
I was already a Green Day fan, with songs like "Basket Case" and "When I Come Around" having helped turn me from the world of NSYNC and Britney Spears to the world of alt rock, and when this album came out, it was EVERYTHING. (I feel like I'm saying that a lot.) It was the only tape (I'm old) I had in my car for a while, and I just played it on repeat.
It's a concept album even more so than Black Parade, with a linear story and named characters. Well, kind of named. It's a quiet political protest with also a hint of a love story, as the main character is vastly disillusioned with Bush-era America but also a bit distracted by a certain rebel they call "Whatsername" who has a hold on his heart like a hand grenade.
I tried to go as Whatsername for Halloween one year. I bought my outfit at a thrift store, and I had a plush heart-shaped hand grenade custom made for me. Unfortunately, I did not end up going anywhere that Halloween and no longer have said grenade.
This album is a masterpiece and I'm so glad that they made it into a musical, and so sad that I did not get to see it when it was in Chicago. Maybe someday. I'll be losing my shit the whole time, but it will be worth it.
Anyway, I will not talk too much about this one either, but know that deep inside, my heart is a plush hand grenade.
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