Yesterday morning I was listening to a few Texas is the Reason songs from Do You Know Who You Are? Then found myself looking up the American Football track from today too, not thinking much of it. It was my body feeding itself a little therapy to ease the eventual dark spiraling last night.
There are those who think of it as wallowing, or as fueling those inner fires of doubt and anxiety. I’ve always found the relatability and release therapeutic. It’s music to be sung loudly and alone. The emo genre gets written off as just a bunch of sad guys shoe-gazing and crying, but there are definitely pockets of deep introspection, incredible song writers, with genuine human experience. There is a good amount of crying though, tbh.
Texas is the Reason “Back and to the Left”
The album contains a lot of 1960s era Dallas and JFK related themes. Along with this one, some others on theme include “The Magic Bullet Theory”, “Jack with One Eye” and “Nickel Wound”. Their name is a line from “Bullet” by The Misfits ( “Texas is the reason the president is dead”).
The 15 and 20 year anniversaries have come and gone for this record and there was even a ~8min documentary about it here. You’ll hear this track as the opening credits.
American Football “Never Meant”
The emo heroes you knew you’d find here. Those pleading vocals layered on the carefully constructed guitars can really speak to a certain mood. A Polyvinyl records band from the start, they laid the ground work for many emo, indie, punk, noiserock, whatever bands.
David Byrne (not that one, to most of you) told me I should check out a song because it is “guitar driven rock” like I enjoy. Mind blown, I didn’t know it, but that was a great way to describe the type of music I was into. Not sure if I’m poisoning future content, but I think the song he recommended that time was Ides of Space “Arthur’s Car.”
Braid “Killing a Camera”
I backed into this band off a Sles recommendation freshman year of college. Not sure how Dude discovered so many gems that year, but he was and still is a wellspring of life changing music and cultural guidance. He’d tipped us off to Hey Mercedes, specifically Every Night Fire Works. Our weekends were always starting on Wednesdays in those Jefferson Commons ATX days.
Anyway, Bob Nanna was lead singer of seminal emo band Braid before he went on to form Hey Mercedes. Their record Frames and Canvas is another Polyvinyl records classic from the late 90s.
I didn’t need more convincing, but I grabbed his 4 track solo acoustic cover of Alkaline Trio’s “Fuck You, Aurora” off i2Hub in college. I searched for it today and found it on Bob’s yt channel with 100 views. People are missing out.
