Music: Fave back in the day (rock & emo)

Story of the Year is an American rock band formed in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1995 under the name 67 North. The band eventually changed their name to Big Blue Monkey in 1998, and then subsequently changed it again to Story of the Year in 2002, after the release of their EP titled Story of the Year on the indie label Criterion Records. At the time, they claimed they discovered that a blues group named Big Blue Monkey had already existed. Later, on their podcast "Page Avenue Crew", they clarified that they just didn't care for the name and made up the excuse of another band having the same name.

Taking Back Sunday is an American rock band from Long Island, New York. The band was formed by guitarist Eddie Reyes and bassist Jesse Lacey in 1999. The band's members currently are Adam Lazzara (lead vocals), John Nolan (lead guitar, keyboards, vocals), Shaun Cooper (bass guitar) and Mark O'Connell (drums), accompanied by Nathan Cogan (guitar) for their live performances. Among the band's former members include Lacey, Reyes and guitarist and vocalist Fred Mascherino.

Lazzara replaced original vocalist Antonio Longo prior to the release of the band's 2002 debut album Tell All Your Friends. Nolan and Cooper left the band in 2003 to form Straylight Run before returning in 2010. The band's breakthrough album, 2006's Louder Now, featured the popular lead single "MakeDamnSure", sold over 900,000 copies, and peaked at No. 2 on the United States Billboard 200, surpassing the band's previous Billboard 200 peak in 2004 at No. 3 with Where You Want to Be.

Hawthorne Heights, formerly A Day in the Life, is an American rock band from Dayton, Ohio, formed in 2001. Their lineup currently consists of JT Woodruff, Matt Ridenour, Mark McMillon, and Chris Popadak.

The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah, that formed in 2001. The group consists of vocalist Bert McCracken, bassist Jeph Howard, drummer Dan Whitesides, and guitarist Joey Bradford. Former members include Quinn Allman, Branden Steineckert, and Justin Shekoski.

The group signed to Reprise Records and rose to fame in June 2002 after releasing their self-titled debut album. They followed up with their second album, In Love and Death, in September 2004 and their third album, Lies for the Liars, in May 2007. Shallow Believer, an EP that featured most of the band's B-sides, was released in February 2008. Their fourth studio album, Artwork, was released in August 2009. A fifth album, Vulnerable, was released in March 2012 through the independent label Hopeless Records. In July 2013 they released another EP: The Ocean of the Sky. Their sixth album, Imaginary Enemy, released in April 2014. Their seventh studio album, The Canyon, was released in October 2017. Their eighth studio album, Heartwork, was released in April 2020 and a deluxe version with the b-sides from the session was released in September 2021. Their ninth studio album is planned for released in spring 2023.

Armor for Sleep is an American rock band from New Jersey. Their current lineup consists of lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Ben Jorgensen, lead guitarist PJ DeCicco, bassist Anthony DiIonno and drummer Nash Breen.

A Change of Pace is an American five piece pop punk band from Peoria, Arizona, United States. The band was on both the 2005 and 2006 Warped Tours.

Silverstein () is a Canadian rock band from Burlington, Ontario, formed in 2000. Their band name is a reference to the famous children's author Shel Silverstein, whom the band had admired and whose work they had read as children. They have released a total of 11 studio albums, seven EPs, a compilation album and a live DVD/CD. Their lineup had remained unchanged for eleven years since December 2001, consisting of lead vocalist Shane Told, lead guitarist Neil Boshart, rhythm guitarist Josh Bradford, bassist Billy Hamilton, and drummer Paul Koehler. In September 2012, the band had announced that Neil Boshart had been fired and would be replaced by Paul Marc Rousseau, who also joined Billy Hamilton on backing vocals. The band achieved moderate success with their second studio album, Discovering the Waterfront, which was nominated for a Juno Award and reached No. 34 on the Billboard 200 charts, with the following two albums charting at similar positions. Silverstein has sold over 1,000,000 albums worldwide.

+44 (read as Plus Forty-four) was an American rock supergroup formed in Los Angeles, California in 2005. The group consisted of vocalist and bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker of Blink-182, lead guitarist Shane Gallagher of The Nervous Return, and rhythm guitarist Craig Fairbaugh of Mercy Killers. Hoppus and Barker created +44 shortly after the initial 2005 breakup of Blink-182 and before it was later reformed. The band's name refers to the international dialing code of the United Kingdom, the country where the duo first discussed the project. Early recordings were largely electronic in nature, and featured vocals by Carol Heller, formerly of the all-girl punk quartet Get the Girl.

The All-American Rejects are an American rock band from Stillwater, Oklahoma, formed in 1999. The band consists of lead vocalist and bassist Tyson Ritter, lead guitarist and backing vocalist Nick Wheeler, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Mike Kennerty, and drummer Chris Gaylor. Wheeler and Ritter serve as the band's songwriters; Wheeler is the primary composer and Ritter is the primary lyricist. Although Kennerty and Gaylor are not founding members, they have appeared in all of the band's music videos and on all studio releases except for the band's self-titled debut.

Amber Pacific is an American pop-punk band that formed in 2002 in Federal Way, Washington. The band has released four full-length albums, The Possibility and the Promise in 2005, Truth in Sincerity in 2007, Virtues in 2010 and The Turn in 2014.

Bedlight for Blue Eyes was an alternative rock band from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey signed to Trustkill Records.

Cartel is an American pop punk band from Conyers, Georgia, United States, that formed in 2003. The group was featured on the MTV television series Band in a Bubble in 2007 as part of an experiment where they were given 20 days to write and record a full album. The current members of the band include vocalist/bassist Will Pugh, lead guitarist Joseph Pepper, guitarist Nic Hudson, and drummer Kevin Sanders. In April 2020, Pugh released an EP for a new side project, TAURIDS, with fellow Nashville residents Bobby Holland and Adam Bokesch—both musicians and audio producers/engineers from the band The Daybreaks.

The five band members of Cartel grew up in Rockdale County, Georgia, and Cartel was formed in late 2003 while they were attending Georgia State University. In 2003 Chris Black (aka Done To Death) started managing Cartel. The band built a strong fan base and eventually was signed to The Militia Group, an independent record company in Long Beach, California, releasing their EP The Ransom. Around this time personal differences between Andy Lee and the rest of the band came to a head; and he was replaced as guitarist by band friend Nic Hudson. With their new lineup, the band released their first full-length album, Chroma, in September 2005. The pop punk album was powered by the melodic hits of "Say Anything (Else)" and "Honestly".

Matchbook Romance was an American emo band from Poughkeepsie, New York and was formed in 1997. They were signed to Epitaph Records. They released two full-length albums and one EP. Their EP, West for Wishing, released in 2003 was their first recorded album during their time on Epitaph; their full-length debut album, Stories and Alibis, was recorded in the same year.

Senses Fail is an American rock band formed in Ridgewood, New Jersey, in 2002. Founded by vocalist James "Buddy" Nielsen, drummer Dan Trapp, guitarists Garrett Zablocki and Dave Miller, and bassist James Gill (replaced by Mike Glita shortly after); the band has seen many lineup changes, with Nielsen being the only consistent member.

The band has released eight studio albums, Let It Enfold You, Still Searching, Life Is Not a Waiting Room, The Fire, Renacer, Pull the Thorns from Your Heart, If There Is Light, It Will Find You, and Hell Is in Your Head. In addition, the band has two EPs, From the Depths of Dreams and In Your Absence and one live album, Joshua Tree.

Senses Fail's beginnings started in October 2001 after Nielsen posted an advertisement on the Internet to recruit members for the band. The advertisement attracted attention from Garrett Zablocki, who then began writing with Nielsen. Later Zablocki contacted Dave Miller to join the band who also brought along his friend, James Gill. After a short time with another drummer the band came across Dan Trapp, who was only 14-years-old at the time. Before the band signed to Drive-Thru Records, James Gill was kicked out of the band due to irreconcilable differences; he was replaced by former Tokyo Rose drummer Mike Glita.

Scary Kids Scaring Kids (abbreviated SKSK) is an American post-hardcore band formed in Gilbert, Arizona, United States, in 2002.

The band's name was taken from the Cap'n Jazz song of the same name. They released two studio albums The City Sleeps in Flames (2005) and the self-titled Scary Kids Scaring Kids (2007) with the late member and lead vocalist Tyson Stevens. The band disbanded following a farewell tour in 2010. In 2019, the group reunited for a 15-year anniversary reunion tour in January 2020 and have continued to tour and announced a new album for release in May 2022.

The band – which originally was composed of Tyson Stevens on bass guitar and lead vocals (later to be strictly the vocalist/songwriter), guitarists Chad Crawford, DJ Wilson (later to switch to bass) and Steve Kirby, Pouyan Afkary on keyboards, and drummer Peter Costa – recorded their self-financed debut EP, After Dark, while they were still in Highland High School. The band graduated from Highland in 2003. After Dark was eventually re-released by Immortal Records in 2005. After nearly disbanding, they decided to pursue the band full-time, hosting nude carwashes and taking out loans to finance their tours.

Halifax is a four-piece rock band from Thousand Oaks, California. They formed in 2003 and are currently unsigned. Their 2004 EP A Writer's Reference has sold over 60,000 copies to date, after making a cameo appearance on MTV's The Real World: Austin. The band's second full-length album, The Inevitability of a Strange World, was released in May 2006 and charted on the Billboard 200, and debuted #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers In December 2006, they won MTV2's Dew Circuit Breakout competition.

Saosin is an American rock band formed in Orange County, California in 2003 by Beau Burchell, Justin Shekoski, Zach Kennedy, and Anthony Green. The band released their first EP, Translating the Name, in 2003. That year, vocalist Anthony Green left Saosin due to personal reasons, and was replaced by Cove Reber in 2004. With Reber, the group recorded their self titled debut album, released on Capitol Records in 2006.

Sugarcult is an American rock band from Santa Barbara, California formed in 1999. The band currently consists of Tim Pagnotta, Airin Older, Marko DeSantis, and Kenny Livingston.