Welcome back to my inactive blog. A while ago, I tried to document Chicago emo from 2004 to 2021. It was out of a desire to try to understand the genre's roots in the city I grew up in. I always wanted to expand the series to get even a bigger picture. What you see below may be part of a bigger project I take on in the future. It is my subjective timeline of Chicago emo from its start to its present. It is incomplete as any project such as this will be. I will update it as people make suggestions or as I do more research. I found the period of 2004 to 2008 nearly impossible to fill out. Basically, the gap between emo's third wave and its revival seems to be erased from the internet. I hope you find something to enjoy or at least get a deeper appreciation for how the Overton Window of what is considered emo has shifted between 1986 and 2026.
Also, just a quick editor's note. I picked each band's first substantial release when creating the timeline. There are some exceptions if I had trouble tracking down what was a band's first release. In Articles of Faith's case, I chose their last record because it felt like in conversation with what was happening in DC at the time with the birth of emo-core. I picked Tuesday's LP because that feels more emo than their demo. I could go through the entire list providing reasoning, but who cares.
Articles of Faith-In This Life (1986)
Heel-Slipped My Mind... (1992)
Cap’n Jazz-Boys 16 to 18 Years... Age of Action (1993)
Self Help Mantra-Love’s Sweet Confection b/w Faith (1993)
Back of Dave-1-Tunnr EP (1993)
Sidekick Kato-Des Plaines (1994)
Third Rail Rhyme-Double Helix (1994)
Cinco De Gatos-Epiphany Wants To Come Home (1995)
The Sky Corvair-Unsafe at any speed…(1997)
Joan of Arc-A Portable Model Of (1998)
The Wayouts-Better Days (1998)
Hertzsprung Gap-Hertzsprung Gap (1998)
Stillwell-My Eyes Are Blue Again (1998)
Notaword-You Can Only Grow So Much (1999)
John Brown Battery-John Brown Battery (1999)
Summerleague-To Twilight Ruminations (2000)
Holden's Catch-Last Sunday I Watched You Die In White Lights (2001)
There is No Shining Heart-There Is No Shining Heart (2001)
Five Fingers Half a Hand-Five Fingers Half a Hand (2003)
Midwest Blue-Remembering to Forget (2003)
Blonde Allibi-Just Tell Me Who It Was (2004)
The Academy Is-The Academy (2004)
Make Believe-Make Believe (2004)
Into It. Over It.-52 Weeks (2008)
The Please and Thank Yous-Mulligan (2008)
Oceeans-Nothing Collapses (2009)
Coping-Lawndale Cassette (2010)
Stay Ahead Of The Weather-We Better Get Goin’ If We’re Gonna (2010)
Mountains For Clouds-Some People Buy Scenery Like This (2010)
Island of Misfit Toys-Bear Hair (2011)
Dowsing-All I Could Find Was You (2011)
Pet Symmetry-Two Songs About Cars. Two Songs With Long Titles. (2012)
Brighter Arrows-Division and What It Is To Abide (2012)
Lifted Bells-Lifted Bells (2013)
Churchkey-The Great American Challenge (2014)
Morning Effort-I heard you the first time, it just wasn’t funny (2014)
Regular Oatmeal-Regular Oatmeal (2015)
Darkle-Birds Bees and Sweaty Palms (2016)
Bottom Bracket-Bottom Bracket (2016)
Retirement Party-Strictly Speaking (2017)
Rust Ring-Finally//Since June (2017)
Mush-Protect Your Brand (2017)
Hospital Bracelet-Silver Cactus (2019)
Your Arms Are My Cocoon-Your Arms Are My Cocoon (2020)
Cinnamon Cigarettes-Demo (2020)
Thank You, I'm Sorry-The Malta House (2020)
Snow Ellet-Suburban Indie Rock Star (2021)
Summer 2000-John Krasinski (2021)
Routine Fuss-I (Never) Want To Be Left Alone (2022)
Demo Division-Wish You Were Here (2022)
Elder Jack-Elder Jack Long Play (2022)
the feat-Schemes For Decades (2024)
Tenmonthsummer-fate lines (2024)
mail.-What The Red Flare Meant (2026)
A Doll for Abigail-A Doll For Abigail (2026)
