Hear Their Pain

More than any other punk subgenre or scene, emo is defined almost completely by the listener. It has also moved through at least three generations--an ‘80s scene led by Rites of Spring, Fugazi, Moss Icon, Heroin, et al; a ‘90s successor marked by Seattle grunge-oriented Sunny Day Real Estate; and now a millennial pop-punk incarnation.

These albums are generally regarded as landmarks:

1. Dashboard Confessional, “The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most� (Vagrant). One-man band Chris Carrabba changed the whole idea of emo with his gut-wrenching solo guitar screeds on the much-cited album “The Swiss Army Romance.�

2. The Promise Ring, “Very Emergency� (Jade Tree). This group has changed direction on its new Epitaph album, “Wood/Water,� but the chiming, tortured “Very Emergency� is a perfect example of emo-punk.

3. Saves the Day, “Stay What You Are� (Vagrant). This new album has been called a sellout by hard-core emomaniacs but isn’t a huge shift from the band’s aptly titled emo masterwork, “Through Being Cool.�

4. Jimmy Eat World, “Jimmy Eat World� (DreamWorks). The difference between Jimmy Eat World and, say, Blink-182 has shrunk markedly on this new album, but new emo fans can’t help but love the radio-friendly singles “Sweetness� and “The Middle.�

5. The Get-Up Kids, “Something to Write Home About� (Vagrant). Like the Promise Ring, the Kids have changed their sound significantly since this 1999 album was hailed as God’s gift to emo, leaving listeners a bit confused over their new (and better) “On a Wire.�

6. At the Drive-In, “Relationship of Command� (Virgin). ATDI broke up after this 2000 album, spinning off two new bands, Sparta and the Mars Volta. This album and the “El Gran Orgo� EP were faves of the genre.

7. Juliana Theory, “Emotion Is Dead� (Tooth & Nail ). Brad Detar’s seriously earnest lyrics made 1999’s “Understand This Is a Dream� a guitar-punk classic, but he really hit his emo stride on new tunes such as “If I Told You This Was Killing Me, Would You Stop?�

8. Pedro the Lion, “Control� (Jade Tree). Seattle’s Pedro the Lion (a.k.a. David Bazan) turns down a notch from his popular emo work “Winners Never Quit,� with ruminations on extramarital sex and vanity.

9. Further Seems Forever, “The Moon Is Down� (Tooth & Nail). This is the former band of Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba, driving his lyrical fixations on the pain of heartbreak with the heavy emotional weight of a full rock band.

10. Various artists, “The Emo Diaries,� Volumes 1-8 (Deep Elm). Besides featuring new emo stars such as Jimmy Eat World in earlier incarnations, this 1997-2002 series pounds away at exactly what is emotional about emo, with titles including “I Guess This Is Goodbye,� “The Silence in My Heart� and “Me Against the World.�