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Diary is the debut studio album by American rock band Sunny Day Real Estate, released on May 10, 1994. The album is considered by many to be a defining emo album of the second wave, and key in the development of its subgenre, Midwest emo. It has also been called the missing link between post-hardcore and the nascent emo genre. Diary was remastered and reissued in 2009, with bonus tracks "8" and "9" from their 1993 7-inch Thief, Steal Me a Peach and newly written liner notes. The album was different from those released by popular Seattle grunge bands at the time. Its melodic but urgent sound has had a clear mark on future emo groups. Despite being the only album by the band to never chart, it has since become the seventh best-selling album released on Sub Pop, having sold more than 231,000 copies. In a retrospective article about the 40 greatest emo albums of all time, Rolling Stone wrote that Diary "captures the vague inner-turmoil of Enigk's lyrics and propels those turbulent emotions to the heavens." In 2020, Vulture ranked "Seven" and "In Circles" as the 5th and 11th greatest emo songs of all time, respectively.
A fucking classic and one of my favorite album covers
Perhaps it's just the mood I'm in, listening to this in the morning after waking up to the news that my fellow countrymen have inexplicably made the decision to elect one of the worst people in the world to the highest office in the land. It's a dark day for democracy and for the world. It's a dark day for women, for the LGBTQ community, for minorities, for immigrants seeking a better life. It's a dark day for dissent, it's a dark day for Palestinians, for Ukrainians. It's a dark day for justice, for the economy, for the middle class. It's just a dark fucking day. But back to the music. It's okay, just kind of strikes me as Nirvana-lite. Got better toward the end. 3 stars.
There really wasn't much emo on this list. "American Idiot"-era Green Day, Drive Like Jehu... It needs more of this. More Jimmy Eat World, Jawbreaker. SDRE is the bridging gap between melodic hardcore and emo, and God bless em for it. Favorite tracks: "48", "In Circles"
This band has been on my periphery for ages and it’s on me for not listening to them sooner. The highs here were great, a mix of charging/simmering instrumentals coupled with perfectly insidious vocal delivery that yield some haunting hard rock. The lows unfortunately drag the whole LP down to a sludgy crawl (hence the rating) and could definitely be trimmed to make this a leaner, meaner LP. That being said I will be returning to more than a few tracks off of this one and look forward to diving into the Sunny Day discography!
Ok we've got some 90s alterna-punk stuff. Half grunge, half indie etc. Sounds alright? A bit dated to hear for the first time in 2024. Didn't recognise any of it, which was a surprise given I grew up in the 90s and soaked up this kind of stuff. Maybe that little bit too indie for 10 year olds at the time. 3/5.
The first thing I actually listened to while ringing in the new year was The Jerry Garcia Band playing a live version of They Love Each Other. Sunny Day Real Estate's Diary is the first actual album I listened to. The Garcia band and SDRE have very little in common and I'm not going to try to create some kind of artificial link between the bands or their music but I will make one between their "vibes" in relation to this new year 2025. I don't think there are too many people with any amount of self-awareness or empathy who thinks this year is gonna be amazing, maybe some billionaires will be able to keep more of their money, maybe some dictators and authoritarian leaders will feel less pressure to real in their more extreme positions and policies, and maybe some people who are full of hate for various vulnerable people and populations will get to feel seen and approved of. I think many people, my self included, are looking towards the future with some combination of disgust, fear and shame. I think it's going to be important to look out for people who need looking out for, make our angry voices heard by the people in power but also when possible, give ourselves a break. Let punk rock be one of our guiding principles but also remember to love one another, dance and laugh when we can. Don't let yourself get burned out because they want you to give up. Do what it takes to maintain your sanity. I don't know if I successfully brought together the vibes of JGB and SDRE, this has turned into some kind of stream of consciousness thing. Be safe everyone.
The best emo has to offer
Kind of a predecessor to Pop Punk. Bridging the early 90s gap of styles. Not incredible but enjoyable.
Okay-ish. I enjoyed listening, but it didn't really amaze me
This might be a case of having become too familiar with the descendents without ever learning about the progenitors but I couldn't pull much distinct out of this over a pretty broad swath of the post- whatever (hardcore, punk, The rockier side of new wave) - through to emo. Pretty heavy guitar rock, mumbly introspective lyrics. I didn't dislike it or anything.
Rating: 6/10
Good. General culture
Pretty good. Reminds me a little of Stone Roses. And I guess that's a bit of the problem. I'm trying to find a reference point for them, which is ultimately not the goal, right? It's good, but not sure how many more times I'll listen to it.
I thought this was fine. It's very listenable as post-hardcore or Emo goes, if not super memorable. The vocals don't do a thing for me. Fave Songs: In Circles, Seven, Song About an Angel, Round
When the grunge is grunging and you want to be slightly different you call yourself Midwest emo instead. This was basically the closest alternative to a grunge album that had a more simplified and approachable sound. It still had solid guitar riffs and upbeat songs but just not as hardcore as grunge was during this time. 6.4/10
It has a good style, however I think it fails to take off, most of the album feels flat, stuck in a cycle with the same intensity, there are instruments that stand out or feel too loud. Their main singles defend them enough.
Probably list worthy to represent the genre, but not to my taste.
Generic US rock
This is the type of emo that I’m not a huge fan of. It doesn’t have the excitement or power of something like my chemical romance and just sounds like a bland 90s grunge/indie rock album
Ordinary emo rock. Nothing special
An album with a lot of emo style music I dislike and it just drags one (unlike My Chemical Romance)
Early emo that sounds like it was played under water. Rating: 1.5 Playlist track: In Circles Date listened: 09/12/24
Emo, post-hardcore, indie rock, grunge. Tostón. Un 2.