Diary

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.

A fucking classic and one of my favorite album covers

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.

This is one of those albums that holds a special place in my heart. It opened up new doors and led me down some musical paths I would otherwise never have. Me and the small goup of my music-loving friends all fell madly in love with this album when it came out, and every Sunny Day Real Estate album that followed it. We idolized them. Jeremy Enigk was a God for us. His unique and instantly recognizable vocals always give me goosebumps and tell me that something special is happening - special to me anyway. Always has been and always will be.

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.

Brilliant. A band I had never listened to before, but have now added all their albums to my 'after the (expanded) list' list. Sounds like early biffy clyro, which is pretty much the highest praise I can give! Hints of at the drive-in and early emo as well, which is again a good thing. Predates all of the above though, suggesting I have it back to front and the bands I love actually sound like these guys! Thank you so much to whoever suggested this.

The best emo has to offer

It's weird that this album is from 1994 when the peak of emocore was probably around 2004/2005. It's a shame this genre died out...

Not as good as "How It Feels to Be Something On", but still a milestone Emo record that should definitely have been on the list. Also one of the rare albums where some of the best songs are the bonus tracks. Very much worth it to stick around for "8" and "9". Strong 4/5.

Never heard of them or listened to any of it. Quite solid. Some is excellent. Sorry i didn’t discover it in 1994

Hardcore!

A pivotal album in the emo scene that I never got into when I was younger but felt somehow nostalgic listening to it now. It’s strange to think SDRE are from Seattle because it’s so removed from the grunge that had defined that area and basically the entire alt-rock scene at the time. This really does bridge the gap from the hardcore emo of Rites of Spring and those other punk-adjacent bands to the more melodic side, and its influence can be heard pretty wildly. From the likely candidates of Jimmy Eat World and American Football to the more theatric ‘emo’ of the mid-‘00s to even stuff like Biffy Clyro’s debut - this feels like the birthing pool of all of those sounds and styles. And even if it didn’t inspire anything, it would still be a great listen

Kind of a predecessor to Pop Punk. Bridging the early 90s gap of styles. Not incredible but enjoyable.

Siri, please play 1994 Sub Pop radio

I prefer screamo

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

I was really hoping to enjoy this more... I had heard a lot about it and it was a genre i really like. The album starts pretty strong with Seven and In Circles, but it never really gets anywhere past that. Ultimately it reminded me a lot of what i think Nirvana would sound like if they had no melodic hooks. Take all the catchiness out of nevermind and you get some passable alt rock that doesn't really engage to effectively. Interesting, but not great for me.

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

Grungy, enjoyable enough.

Always wanted to give this album a shot. Exactly as anticipated, which was fun for a bit, moody, proto-emo, but now dated a bit.

Pretty good.

I've got to say all these bands sound the same so it's difficult to judge whether they are genre-defining or inspirational. I like Green Day and this band sounds like Green Day but they came before Green Day so they must be Genre-defining!

I didn't realise emo sounded like this this early on!? It's not for me, but they were certainly ahead of the curve.

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.

Fairly non-descript emo album, I got a little excited seeing the name Real Estate but that's a different band (and they have an album called Days too). Not much on here that stuck with me, not bad but not much for me either.

A key emo album, it’s stated. I don’t know about that but it all sounded the same and felt more like light punk or something.

While I liked a lot of grunge things back in the 90s, this was not really appealing to me then. I can’t say time has made it much more palatable. It was mostly ok though.