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POST: A Look at the Influence of Post-Hardcore-1985?2007
POST is a look at how post-hardcore/emo music developed since its unintentional inception in the mid-1980s. With each chapter broken up by influential band or label, it focuses on a broad style of independent music that developed because of the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethic.Focusing on bands like Fugazi, Jawbox, Jawbreaker, Sunny Day Real Estate, Braid, the Promise Ring, Hot Water Music, the Get Up Kids, At the Drive-In, and Jimmy Eat World, as well as labels like Dischord, Jade Tree, and Vagrant, these bands and labels came from the ideas of DIY and sustained them. In turn, they inspired plenty that came after them. Looking at the surroundings and circumstances from where they came, this a look at the bonds that formed and the music that came out.". . . a gripping, Our Band Could Be Your Life-style narrative," ? Aaron Burgess, writer for Alternative Press and Revolver.
356 pages, Paperback
First published August 25, 2008
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340 people want to read
About the author
Eric Grubbs
3 books23 followersLives in Dallas. Used to write for Punk Planet. Currently writes for the Dallas Observer and the Fort Worth Weekly.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 7, 2024
I’m going to keep this review short and sweet, because I feel like this is one of those books where if you’ve found your way to it, it’s going to satisfy. First I should say, I was into all this music at the time. Of course the word we used to describe this was “emo”; a word that has always had certain connotations, but this was still before bands like My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and Panic at the Disco redefined the term. That was never my thing; here we’re talking about Midwest Emo, second wave, or the more accurate and general term, post hardcore.
Most, but certainly not all, of the big definers of this sound came from the Midwest—bands like CapN Jazz, Joan of Arc, American Football, The Promise Ring, Braid and The Get Up Kids. However some of the bands that popularized the sound the most, like Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral, and Jimmy Eat World (circa Static Prevails and Clarity) weren’t from the Midwest at all. The music itself varies in sound, but has a certain creativity, angst, and often a famously twinkly sound that separated it from the punk and hardcore much of it grew out of. In fact, a lot of it has more in common with indie rock.
But enough about the music. Clearly, I was an emo kid in the late 90s. I picked this book up after a little digging because most of the books out there that claim to be about emo, are actually about third-wave Hot Topic mall-emo. This book dedicated each chapter to a different band, and includes bands like The Promise Ring, Jimmy Eat World, Jawbreaker, At The Drive-in, the Get Up Kids, and more. We get a detailed run-down on how the bands formed and in many cases, broke up only a few years later. I think this book is the most detailed you’re going to find on the subject, and I’m grateful to Eric Grubbs for putting together this documentation on the bands that were so important to a certain subset of punk rockers in the late 90s. Many of these musicians are phenomenally talented, and it’s a shame that some of them get essentially written off by this emo label.
So if you were into it back then, or you discovered these bands later, this is a great history of this sound, and the bands that were so vital to it, and it’s worth reading.
Also, Jimmy Eat World’s Clarity record is truly fantastic. If you haven’t heard it, you should give it a listen 😉
And to everyone who was into this stuff at the time, you should revisit The Promise Ring’s Wood/Water and tGUK’s On A Wire….they’re actually great albums!
Most, but certainly not all, of the big definers of this sound came from the Midwest—bands like CapN Jazz, Joan of Arc, American Football, The Promise Ring, Braid and The Get Up Kids. However some of the bands that popularized the sound the most, like Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral, and Jimmy Eat World (circa Static Prevails and Clarity) weren’t from the Midwest at all. The music itself varies in sound, but has a certain creativity, angst, and often a famously twinkly sound that separated it from the punk and hardcore much of it grew out of. In fact, a lot of it has more in common with indie rock.
But enough about the music. Clearly, I was an emo kid in the late 90s. I picked this book up after a little digging because most of the books out there that claim to be about emo, are actually about third-wave Hot Topic mall-emo. This book dedicated each chapter to a different band, and includes bands like The Promise Ring, Jimmy Eat World, Jawbreaker, At The Drive-in, the Get Up Kids, and more. We get a detailed run-down on how the bands formed and in many cases, broke up only a few years later. I think this book is the most detailed you’re going to find on the subject, and I’m grateful to Eric Grubbs for putting together this documentation on the bands that were so important to a certain subset of punk rockers in the late 90s. Many of these musicians are phenomenally talented, and it’s a shame that some of them get essentially written off by this emo label.
So if you were into it back then, or you discovered these bands later, this is a great history of this sound, and the bands that were so vital to it, and it’s worth reading.
Also, Jimmy Eat World’s Clarity record is truly fantastic. If you haven’t heard it, you should give it a listen 😉
And to everyone who was into this stuff at the time, you should revisit The Promise Ring’s Wood/Water and tGUK’s On A Wire….they’re actually great albums!
December 2, 2024
The short of my review: the book cites a very good amount of zines and webzines that don't exist any longer, so it's a way around the archive problem with (post-hardcore and) emo music. But, other users are right - this book has good information and pretty poor writing. It cites Wikipedia and uses its great access to band members' time to reach banal conclusions about the music industry in the West, 'emo' as a social phenomenon, and emo as an instrumental style.
Scoring "POST" as music book:
- Scoping: A. I'm gonna scoot this section of the review up to the top, here, because it expresses everything that's good about this book. I generally really appreciate the chosen narrative thread (outside of Hot Water Music?), and this became expressive of the most helpful bit of information which I came to understand through the book, which is that a lot of what we recognize as emo and midwest emo history today was not consciously wedged off from post-hardcore, and was selected around incidental tropes which were not so significant to the experiences of the band, up until the very late years of the 1990s (you don't really hear about anyone's decision to write / not write 'emo' until a very brief remark from The Get Up Kids, in the 2000s, where they associate emo with octave chords). That's what worked about the book.
- Self-insertion: Let's call it a B-. Grubbs had some decent access to the historical figures in writing this book (almost every chapter is built out of quotes from just 1 member of the major act in question), and he navigates this by hiding the process to access. It feels pretty rough, like something that should be better addressed. For example in the Jawbox chapter, it's clear he had access to Zach Barocas because everything about Zach Barocas sounds like it's coming from Zach Barocas. It's clear when he doesn't have access to a named subject, because generally he'll pull from reference in these cases. I'll avoid expounding further. It's just very clear where the limits of the writer are pulled into the piece, even though the writer tries to remove himself from the piece.
- Rigor: C. The path through each band's story feels simultaneously under and over-expressed. It can feel very eat-your-vegetables (discussing details of every track, sometimes specific lyrics on key releases) or it can feel very fast and loose (essentially skipping over entire releases or acts that the band themselves grew to repudiate), again, the point made about self-insertion.
- Sociology: D+. American. Minor-major-label drama. Stuff about emo lyricism. Mentioning but not delving into fanzines at all. Stuff about the beginnings of mp3 culture, stuff about the beginnings of commercial emo. Really fast mentions of bands like Thursday (and I think MCR and Senses Fail? but I might be wrong) even though he's writing in the late-00's and I'm sure these bands were clearly historically relevant by then. Let's keep going.
- Captured Character / Premodernism: D? Tour sucks, I know. Major labels want to hear major chords. Bands grow to love eachother and appreciate the experience of playing in-step with one another, even when they fall out of love with the life of a semi-professional touring musician. The conclusions to every chapter felt so banal that I found myself skipping them. The twists and turns of each band's story are massively predictable and .. again, the point from the 'self-insertion' section is worth repeating here, the author feels glaringly limited or, charitably, like his style is just to give out exactly the band's narrative given to him.
In no uncertain terms, skip this book if you don't love the music altogether, if you are confused by the idea that there's an archive problem with emo music, and if you can't handle a white non-academic of his generation writing about punk. I am sure what I'm saying here is not an issue Grubbs specifically should be blamed for, it's just what it is, non-academic music writing of its time.
Scoring "POST" as music book:
- Scoping: A. I'm gonna scoot this section of the review up to the top, here, because it expresses everything that's good about this book. I generally really appreciate the chosen narrative thread (outside of Hot Water Music?), and this became expressive of the most helpful bit of information which I came to understand through the book, which is that a lot of what we recognize as emo and midwest emo history today was not consciously wedged off from post-hardcore, and was selected around incidental tropes which were not so significant to the experiences of the band, up until the very late years of the 1990s (you don't really hear about anyone's decision to write / not write 'emo' until a very brief remark from The Get Up Kids, in the 2000s, where they associate emo with octave chords). That's what worked about the book.
- Self-insertion: Let's call it a B-. Grubbs had some decent access to the historical figures in writing this book (almost every chapter is built out of quotes from just 1 member of the major act in question), and he navigates this by hiding the process to access. It feels pretty rough, like something that should be better addressed. For example in the Jawbox chapter, it's clear he had access to Zach Barocas because everything about Zach Barocas sounds like it's coming from Zach Barocas. It's clear when he doesn't have access to a named subject, because generally he'll pull from reference in these cases. I'll avoid expounding further. It's just very clear where the limits of the writer are pulled into the piece, even though the writer tries to remove himself from the piece.
- Rigor: C. The path through each band's story feels simultaneously under and over-expressed. It can feel very eat-your-vegetables (discussing details of every track, sometimes specific lyrics on key releases) or it can feel very fast and loose (essentially skipping over entire releases or acts that the band themselves grew to repudiate), again, the point made about self-insertion.
- Sociology: D+. American. Minor-major-label drama. Stuff about emo lyricism. Mentioning but not delving into fanzines at all. Stuff about the beginnings of mp3 culture, stuff about the beginnings of commercial emo. Really fast mentions of bands like Thursday (and I think MCR and Senses Fail? but I might be wrong) even though he's writing in the late-00's and I'm sure these bands were clearly historically relevant by then. Let's keep going.
- Captured Character / Premodernism: D? Tour sucks, I know. Major labels want to hear major chords. Bands grow to love eachother and appreciate the experience of playing in-step with one another, even when they fall out of love with the life of a semi-professional touring musician. The conclusions to every chapter felt so banal that I found myself skipping them. The twists and turns of each band's story are massively predictable and .. again, the point from the 'self-insertion' section is worth repeating here, the author feels glaringly limited or, charitably, like his style is just to give out exactly the band's narrative given to him.
In no uncertain terms, skip this book if you don't love the music altogether, if you are confused by the idea that there's an archive problem with emo music, and if you can't handle a white non-academic of his generation writing about punk. I am sure what I'm saying here is not an issue Grubbs specifically should be blamed for, it's just what it is, non-academic music writing of its time.
December 1, 2019
Really more like 3.5 stars. If you’re a fan of post-hardcore and emo this is a perfect book for you. It’s given me an excuse to remember bands I had forgotten and explore some who I never heard before. The writer does get sidetracked a fair amount, though, and some of those sidetracks seem like they would make more interesting chapters than the ones included.
January 11, 2022
Loved the in depth look at the bands covered. The chapters were well researched, and well presented. Oftentimes, in books like these, it can feel like you're just getting started looking at a band, and the author has moved on. Grubbs takes the time, and care, to tell the story of each band giving you time to really 'live' in the moment.
November 16, 2024
Nostalgia through an academic filter. Academic cuz this fringe subgenre gets the full-book treatment, nostalgic cuz by the last chapter the impact of these bands is mobilized for one last push against it being more than just a precursor to screamo. You'll learn more about the Get Up Kids than you knew before.
August 8, 2020
This book is not particularly well written but it is packed with information about bands I care about and others that I probably should. Even though I experienced only a small amount of the history when it was actually happening, I am still discovering a lot of the music, which makes it resonate.
August 8, 2025
Pretty poorly conceived structure, also written almost at the level of those shiny paperbacks in libraries about famous athletes that are meant to get little boys into reading
January 31, 2010
Not the most well written book, and especially poorly edited. But, this look at the history and influence of late 80s and 90s post-hardcore and emo was informative, fascinating and FUN. The book featured lengthy chapters on each of the following: Dischord Records and Fugazi, Jawbox, Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, Braid, The Promise Ring, Hot Water Music, The Get Up Kids, At the Drive-In and Jimmy Eat World. My entire time spent reading this felt like I was hanging out with an old friend.
August 9, 2022
Funny to see how many of these tales now have a new “resolution” as these bands are going on reunion tours.
An interesting read, but ultimately can’t help but live in the shadow of “this band could be your life” and “nothing feels good”
For even the bands I knew we’ll, I struggled at time with the use of last names in text, and first names in quotes, and switching back and forth (sometimes within the same sentence)
An interesting read, but ultimately can’t help but live in the shadow of “this band could be your life” and “nothing feels good”
For even the bands I knew we’ll, I struggled at time with the use of last names in text, and first names in quotes, and switching back and forth (sometimes within the same sentence)
June 3, 2010
Definitely could have used an editor, but I'm a sucker for these band bio books and I certainly enjoyed this one. Where's the Texas Is the Reason chapter though?
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews