Recommendations - The Golden Age of Angst

What early 2000s bands are you missing out on? Here are a few songs and albums I singled out from some of the bands that helped build the scene.

Band: Silverstein

Album: Discovering the Waterfront (2005)

Song(s): Call It Karma, Smile In Your Sleep, My Heroine

Discovering the Waterfront is my favorite album by Silverstein. The album itself came out in 2005, and much like many of the other albums that were released in the early 2000s, its loud, angry, and has a few solid pic slides.

Band: The Used

Album: The Used (2002)

Song(s): The Taste of Ink, Buried Myself Alive

Released in 2002, this self-titled album by The Used seemed to never lose its charm. Although I'm not the biggest fan of The Used, this album brings out angst that you may not have known you had. If you ever need an album to listen to while you drive your parents car into a lake, this is probably the one. The album gets a little intense at some points, but overall, its great.

Band: Story of the Year

Album: Page Avenue (2003)

Song(s): Anthem of Our Dying Day, Until the Day I Die

Another early 2000s release, Page Avenue by Story of the Year is another one of my favorite albums. This album makes you see exactly what they see, the imagery is amazing. If you want to be put in another place, this is the album that'll do it, especially with songs like Anthem of Our Dying Day and Sidewalks. I love this album.

Band: Finch

Album: What It Is to Burn (2002)

Song(s): Letters to You, What It Is to Burn

A 2002 release on Drive-Thru Records proved to be just as good as the label. Finch is a band that proves that there is a happy middle between screaming and not. Overall, I really just like the sound that they have on this album. Good when angry.

Band: Thrice

Album: The Artist in the Ambulance (2003)

Song(s): The Artist in the Ambulance, The Abolition of Man

This 2003 album is great. Thrice has a pretty distinct tone throughout this album, and if you like how they sond from The Artist in the Ambulance (the single) then you'll probably like the album in whole. Some of the songs on the album are heavier than others, like The Abolition of Man, but nevertheless, it's a good listen.

Band: Senses Fail

Album: Let It Enfold You (2004)

Song(s): Slow Dance, Angela Baker and My Obsession With Fire

Senses Fail, like The Used, isn't one of my favorite bands, but if you're angry, they'll become one of yours. This is the album that would probably be a great example of what went wrong with Warped Tour around 2004-05. Though the album itself is good, it was part of a whole new genre invading the mainstream, commonly known as, you guessed it, emo.

Band: The Ataris

Album: So Long, Astoria (2003)

Song(s): The Boys of Summer, So Long Astoria, My Reply

A list of good music from the early 2000s without The Ataris isn't a valid list. The Ataris hit a grand slam when they covered The Boys of Summer, which is deservingly still played on the radio to this day. These Warped Tour legends will never go out of style for as long as this album, and all of their previous works are still avaliable.

Band: Hidden in Plain View

Album: Hidden in Plain View (2005)

Song(s): Bleed For You, A Minor Detail, Twenty Below, American Classic

Hidden in Plain View released some pretty amazing songs off of their 2005 self-titled album, maybe not as genre defying as The Ataris or Taking Back Sunday, but still amazing. Unlike a few of the albums I put on this list, I could sit and listen to this album for days. By far one of my favorite releases from 2005.

Band: Midtown

Album: Living Well Is the Best Revenge (2002)

Song(s): Like a Movie, Become What You Hate,

Midtown was a great early 2000s pop-punk band, but that all ended when the lead signer probably tired meth for the first time and made Cobra Starship. As they say, nothing gold can stay.

Band: The Movielife

Album: The Movielife Has a Gambling Problem (2001)

Song(s): If Only Duct Tape Could Fix Everything, Hand Granade, Operate

The 2001 EP by The Movielife was a solid release for the band, and a solid release for me, too, because this is a certified school classic in my phone. If you need to feel like you're the star of an early 2000s movie, this would be your soundtrack.

Band: Thursday

Album: Full Collapse (2001)

Song(s): Understanding In a Car Crash

Thursday was one of those 2000s band like Finch, who had their own sound. This isn't an album I come back to often, but Understanding In a Car Crash is a great song.

The end of the list has come, but below will be a string of bigger bands that I did not mention, probably because they were too good to only single out one album from. These bands helped bring angst to the mainstream, these bands are legends.

Taking Back Sunday (1999-)

Brand New (2000-)

Something Corporate (1998-2006) (2010)

Allister (1994-2007) (2010-)

The Starting Line (1999-2008) (2009-2012) (2015-)

My Chemical Romance (2001-2013)

Yellowcard (1997-2008) (2010-2017)

The Juliana Theory (1997-2006) (2010) (2017)