The musical genre of emo is one of the most popular yet, misunderstood musical genres. Deep, personal lyrics paced to punk rock or hard-core rock music make up the quintessential emo track. Narrowing down the exhaustive list of emo songs available to pick the best is a difficult task, but fret not, that job is done.
What is it about music and human moods or emotions? Light, breezy, poppy tracks are for those happy days, wailing rock and hardcore sound for the angry beast within and soulful, melodramatic tracks for the pensive or thoughtful mood. For angst and heartbreak, for days when you feel the whole world is against you, for the times when you do not want to live anymore and no one can understand what you are going through, the definitive genre is Emo. Emo music is not sad and sobby lyrics paired with classical or depressive music. Rather, it combines the explosive highs and stirring notes of rock music with deep, personal and very confessional lyrics. Emo tracks make excellent air guitar songs.
The genre of emo music is synonymous with mutinous, sullen teens, who are actually screaming their hearts out internally with greasy, scraggly hair and beaten up sneakers. Most emo bands dress this way too. Songs deal with a variety of personal problems or issues, with a very explanatory and depressive twist. Breaking up with a girlfriend, the unfairness of life, trying to get a girl to like you, a messed up first date… are a few examples. To really understand the flow of emo music and get you into the emo frame of mind, here’s a small lyrical excerpt from Blink-182’s I Miss You track:
Where are you and I’m so sorry
I cannot sleep I cannot dream tonight
I need somebody and always
This sick strange darkness comes creeping on so haunting everytime
And here’s an excerpt from Weezer’s Teenage Dirtbag:
Man I feel like mold
It’s prom night and I am lonely
Low and behold
She’s walking over to me
This must be fake
My lip starts to shake
Eternal Emo Classics
The following are the best emo songs divided based on album release date. Some bands in the list, are not pure emo but that particular single or track can be classified as emo music.
| ★ Top 10 Emo Songs 1990s ★ |
| ♫ Rites Of Spring “Deeper than Inside” – Rites Of Spring (1985) |
| ♫ Jawbreaker “Do You Still Hate Me?” – 24 Hour Revenge Therapy (1994) |
| ♫ Hoover “Pretender” – The Lurid Traversal Of Route 7 (1994) |
| ♫ Joan Osborne “One Of Us” – Relish (1995) |
| ♫ Weezer “Say It Ain’t So” – Weezer/The Blue Album (1995) |
| ♫ The Promise Ring “A Picture Postcard” – 30° Everywhere (1996) |
| ♫ Texas Is The Reason “Something To Forget” – Do You Know Who You Are? (1996) |
| ♫ SwitchFoot “You” – The Legend Of Chin (1997) |
| ♫ Fugazi “Break” – End Hits (1998) |
| ♫ Mineral “Lovelettertypewriter” – EndSerenading (1998) |
| ★ Top 10 Emo Songs 2000-2004 ★ |
| ♪ The Calling “Wherever You Will Go” – Camino Palmero (2000) |
| ♪ Lifehouse “Hanging By A Moment” – No Name Face (2000) |
| ♪ Blink-182 “Story Of A Lonely Guy” – Take Off Your Pants And Jacket (2001) |
| ♪ Remy Zero “Save Me” – The Golden Hum (2001) |
| ♪ Jimmy Eat World “The Middle” – Bleed American (2001) |
| ♪ All American Rejects “Swing, Swing” – The All-American Rejects (2002) |
| ♪ Blink 182 “Stay Together For The Kids” – Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2002) |
| ♪ Def Leppard “Long Long Way to Go” – Album X (2002) |
| ♪ 3 Doors Down “Here Without You” – Away From The Sun (2003) |
| ♪ Evanescence “Hello” – Fallen (2003) |
| ★ Top 10 Emo Songs 2004-2011 ★ |
| ♫ Jimmy Eat World “Pain” – Futures (2004) |
| ♫ 3 Doors Down “Let Me Go” – Seventeen Days (2005) |
| ♫ Flyleaf I’m So Sick – Flyleaf (2005) |
| ♫ All American Rejects “It Ends Tonight” – Move Along (2006) |
| ♫ Fall Out Boy “Dance, Dance” – From Under The Cork Tree (2006) |
| ♫ Evanescence “Lithium” The Open Door (2006) |
| ♫ Lifehouse “Whatever It Takes” – Who We Are (2007) |
| ♫ Puddle Of Mudd “We Don’t Have To Look Back Now” – Famous (2008) |
| ♫ SwitchFoot “Your Love Is A Song” – Hello Hurricane (2009) |
| ♫ Weezer “Memories” – Hurley (2010) |
From the above list of emo songs, it’s easy to see why music critics tend to criticize emo as a male dominated and centered genre. There are very few emo bands with girl members, Flyleaf being such a rare band and even emo tracks deal with problems and issues faced with girlfriends and crushes. Love them or hate them, the emo genre is a definitive music classification but with the recent domination of trance and dance numbers on the charts, it seems to be a dying musical type.
