It’s Not a Phase: 3 Pop Punk/Emo Anthems That I Still Proudly Sing at the Top of My Lungs

What’s better than screaming down the highway and singing at the top of your lungs to your favorite songs? Maybe singing along to all your favorite emo and pop-punk songs you listened to in high school and reminiscing about your youth. Singing in the car has always been a ritual for me, so some of those songs are intrinsically linked to the cars I was driving at the time. Here are just three songs that are forever in my rotation, and some of the moments that became burned into my memory along with them.

[RELATED: It’s Not a Phase: How Early 2000s Emo Shaped Me Into the Music Lover I Am Today]

“Weightless”— All Time Low

All Time Low knows pop-punk, and “Weightless” from their 2009 album Nothing Personal is one of those songs that has stayed in the rotation for years. I was driving my mom’s 1998 Infiniti I30 in 2009, which we called The Machine, so while all my friends were passing the aux cord, I still had to buy CDs or burn my own mixes. I bought this album when it came out and played it to death the summer before junior year. “Weightless” was the opening track, and it got its claws into me with the infectious chorus—Maybe it’s not my weekend / But it’s gonna be my year / And I’m so sick of watching / All the minutes pass as I go nowhere / And this is my reaction / To everything I fear / ‘Cause I’ve been going crazy / I don’t wanna waste another minute here. It’s particularly cathartic when screamed in the car as a high schooler stuck in Boring Nowhere, Florida.

“The Phrase That Pays”— The Academy Is…

Almost 20 years on from this song’s release and every word comes flooding back immediately. The Academy Is… was one of those sleeper emo bands that didn’t really go anywhere after the emo boom of the 2000s, but allegedly they’re coming back after a long hiatus. Still, their 2005 album Almost Here is full of hit after hit. “The Phrase That Pays” was one that stood out to me when I first heard it. From the ominous opening featuring William Beckett letting his voice go raw, to the build up to and emotional climax of the line Hold your head high heavy heart. “The Phrase That Pays” will always be in the rotation because of its perfect composition and execution. Honestly, I missed The Academy Is…, and I hope they don’t still “make plans to break plans,” as the song says.

“Pete Wentz is the Only Reason We’re Famous” — Cobra Starship

Cobra Starship has been as always will be a good-time band. They’re goofy, clever, and aren’t afraid to make fun of themselves or design their official website like a 2000s MySpace emo fever dream. I also bought Hot Mess when it came out in 2009. By the end of that year I’d be driving my own car, a 2004 manual Ford Focus that still didn’t have an aux cord, so of course all my CDs came with me. Hot Mess was always in the rotation for the next 10 years, when I would eventually have to retire the Focus, or The Machine 2, as it was known. Still, “Pete Wentz is the Only Reason We’re Famous” still conjures up memories of singing along with youthful abandon to I’m not street but I do what I gotta do / So what, you’ve got a crew? / I got a crew too / I’m not street but I do what I gotta do.

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