This was a wild ride. I will admit that I don’t read a lot of non-fiction in this vein, so I don’t know how normal this format is, but Where Are Your Boys Tonight? is an oral history that mixes together dozens of different interviews to create one “narrative” that traces the emo genre from the ‘90s to around 2008. I was pretty young around this time and did not follow celebrities or musicians at all, so it was both nostalgic and very, very interesting to find out what was going down with all these bands while I was listening to Sugar We’re Going Down on youtube 2000 times.

I would be so interested to read more about how this book got made, because it seems like such a massive undertaking and I cannot imagine the work that went into weaving all these interviews together. Overall, I thought this format worked well, and once I got into the rhythm of the book I didn’t have too hard of a time following things. There were some moments where it almost felt like the wrong people were being interviewed. But at the same time, I understand that not everyone is going to have the time (or desire) to be part of a project like this, so given that I think the author did the best they could creating a cohesive story.

I was also pleasantly surprised that many of the people being interviewed for this book talked openly about the racism, misogyny and homophobia that was pervasive in the scene during this time. I honestly wish it had been discussed in more depth, but as it is this book is almost 500 pages and each of those subjects could easily be its own book. I was a bit surprised that both the author and several of the interviewees in the book openly acknowledged Jesse Lacey’s sexual assault allegations, but didn’t mention anything about…anyone else. There might be legal reasoning behind this, but it did strike me as odd.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I was so honored to be chosen to read this book as an ARC. I grew up amid emo culture in the early-mid 2000s and never grew out of it. I can't imagine the amount of work that went into an oral history like this, and am so grateful for the walk down memory lane. This book reminded me of very specific moments in my childhood that i was so happy to remember, and i loved every minute of it. Full of wonderful quotes and insight from a time I'm glad I was a part of. I loved it.

This era was my middle school and high school jam. I appreciate this book for the nostalgia, but the style of the writing/interviews made it VERY difficult to read. The flow wasn't there. Even though I know most of these bands, I still had a hard time keep track of each individual that was referenced. Also, I agree with other reviewers that universally calling this genre 'emo' is in bad taste because that's not even agreed upon by the musicians themselves. It did fall flat, but it got me pulling the records out of storage to enjoy these hits again.
Thanks to #Netgalley for the ARC ebook.

From the title, to the band on the cover, you know Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008 is going to be focused on Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance. And it definitely is the expected from the basement and small clubs to the major labels and stadiums, surprising in both who and how many participants there were as well as some glaring missing participants. We hear the stories of Thursday (Geoff Rickly), Taking Back Sunday(John Nolan, Eddie Reyes, Matt Rubano and Fred Mascherino but not Adam Lazzara), Midtown (all of the members), My Chemical Romance (only Mikey Way?), Fall Out Boy (Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump), Dashboard Confessional, Jimmy Eat World (Jim Adkins and Zach Lind) Paramore (Hayley Williams), Panic at the Disco (2004 to 2006 line up), and many, many others. (By Payne's count on page 12 there were more than 300 hours of interviews with over 150 participants).

Divided into six parts, Chris Payne charts the lives of many bands in one to three year sections. Each section opens with a "cast of characters" listing their names, occupations and affiliations. Payne provides the introduction and occasional explanatory details. As a whole though, Payne's voice is absent, instead we hear directly from the participants and witnesses of the many different bands and organizations active such as: record label employees, tour or booking professionals, adult film stars, journalists, or producers. Through their memories and recollections we see the establishment of different musical scenes and the bands or individuals that were important or foundational, with particular focus on the New Jersey and Long Island scenes.

Payne does not shy away from controversy, the rivalries between bands either friendly or more competitive. Many of the participants discuss mental health struggles, addiction or the general absence of women and the misogyny of a lot of the lyrics. Some chapters do have trigger warnings on their first page, mostly warning of discussions of violence or suicide. Payne also addresses one of the clear elephants in the emo room, how to document the contributions of the band Brand New without glorifying Jesse Lacey, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. Many of the participants, when talking about Brand New don't have much nice to say for anyone other than Brian Lane, the drummer.

It is the Meet Me in the Bathroom for the emo scene. It has a nice overlap with Dan Ozzi's
Sell Out as they both look at the rise and eventual mainstreaming of the punk/post punk/pop punk world and how those scenes adapted and changed in reaction to all the attention.

As someone who lived through it, reading this was a nice look back at the music of my youth and also emphasized how quickly all of this occurred. While the book covers about a decade, some of the bands (such as Panic! At the Disco) had almost overnight success, while others broke up early or 'paid their dues' over the course of years before achieving widespread fame. Payne does take note of the changing role in technology that made some of the success possible.

If you are a fan of the podcasts This Was the Scene or Washed Up Emo or enjoy(ed?) any "emo" bands you'll find something to like here.

I had such a blast reading this book. So many of these bands played a huge part in my youth, but I didn’t know all that much about the behind the scenes stories at the time. Middle school me in 2003 wasn’t spending a lot of time researching bands online. If you have an affinity for emo bands from the 1999-2008 era then you should definitely check this book out. It’s interesting getting to hear all the different stories from the people who were directly involved.

The book provides a fascinating look at how the scene went from DIY bands and shows in small venues to blowing up into the mainstream and being heavily featured on MTV and big chart successes. The interview subjects provide so much information about how the bands influenced one another, different drama from the time, and reflections on hardships. So many of these stories were things I hadn’t heard before. But even when it was something I’d already heard before it was still interesting to read again. Especially since these are interviews done from a modern perspective rather than reading a quote from 2005 in 2023.

Some topics that are brought up that I was hoping to get a bit more time spent on were how mainstream media, older rock bands, and rock critics looked down on emo music which led those bands to not associate with the emo title back in the day, misogyny within the scene, and homophobia aimed towards emo. Those things definitely do get discussed, but I kept wanting to dive deeper. Also, I’m personally not really a fan of the oral history format. But I can look past it and still get sucked into a book when I’m invested in the topic. However sometimes I did find myself getting confused or wishing that the book was written as a more traditional nonfiction book. I really loved the introduction and conclusion that were written in the author’s own words.

But overall I had a great time with Where Are Your Boys Tonight? There were so many bands and songs that I hadn’t listened to in such a long time that I found myself looking up again. It was an amazing trip down memory lane as well as a look into stories and behind the scenes information that I hadn’t heard before. I definitely recommend this book if you’re a fan of this era of emo music.

Where Are Your Boys Tonight? is an ambitious oral history tracking the 2000s emo scene from its basement show origins through its late aughts mainstream explosion to its contemporary afterlives. Its scope and access to a wide swath of interview subjects (including some truly impressive names) is a significant accomplishment. As a reader who has only passing familiarity with some of the scene, I found it a little overwhelming and difficult to keep track of how all the perspectives fit together. However, that is more of a general feature of oral histories for readers who aren't intimately familiar with the subject matter, and not a shortcoming particular to this book. I especially appreciated the coda describing both the resurgence of emo, including post-hiatus reunion tours and second wave fans distinct from original fans motivated by nostalgia, and a broader discussion of how 2000s emo rock / pop punk bands went on to influence emo rap. Longtime fans and newer devotees of the scene will love this book's in-depth chronology and thoughtful insight.

This was my twenties!! This book was so good! It made me wanna listen to songs I hadn't even thought of in years. This was such a good book that was well researched but mainly it took me back to my 20s. Loved it.
I just reviewed Where Are Your Boys Tonight? by Chris Payne. #WhereAreYourBoysTonight #NetGalley
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I absolutely LOVE this book!! As an “elder emo”, 00s emo was where it was at (and still is, if we’re being honest). I loved all of the background info I had forgotten or didn’t know. Such an amazing collection of history and background informartion. If you’re an Elder Emo, I def suggest getting this book when it comes out. It’ll make a great coffee table book, too.

Having grown up deeply involved in the emo scene, it was exciting to dive back into all the familiar stories behind the music scene and hearing it from those who were living it. Anyone who was involved in emo and hardcore between 1999 and 2008 would likely not find anything new in these pages, but would be a great source of connecting the new era of emo fans to the origins of the genre and subculture. I occasionally found myself to be a bit confused as we jumped around between stories in the chapters, and wonder if there was a way to make it a bit more focused or smoother in transition of whose experience we are discussing. Overall, I was delighted by this book and the memories it brought me of that incredibly exciting time for the scene.

10 out of 10. Out of 5? Still 10. This was pretty much the perfect book for me.

This was truly a behind-the-scenes look at everything that went on in the emo/pop-punk scene during my formative years. I love that this is presented in a real oral history format, with pieces of interviews with SO many people interspersed with one another to give multiple perspectives on each event and phase. Sometimes books like this set high expectations and read just like a really long magazine article synthesized to make the author's point, but this felt more like a retrospective documentary. So many of the artists and other involved in the scene really opened up and this was at times funny, at times informative, and at times eye-opening.

Would recommend to anyone who listened to music from this genre and era. If you didn't, you might not get as much out of it - I would recommend at least familiarizing yourself with some of the key players first. I fully intend on purchasing and rereading some day. <3

An excellent history of the genre! I applaud the author for the sheer amount of research that this book must have taken. My only complaint is that the title is a Fall Out Boy reference, but the image is My Chemical Romance.

A fair commodification of the last time period "alternative" music made money. From Lifetime to Panic without the exclamation mark, the book is a comprehensive guide of who is who and what's the deal with the devils of music. Historically it's accurate. There aren't any interesting asides you can't discover yourself on a Wiki wormhole. Having lived through this period, I find that to be the upsetting factor. There's nothing here you didn't already know if you were paying attention.

Still I'd recommend for the nostalgia!

4.5/5⭐️

Where Are Your Boys Tonight? is an incredible recount of emo’s mainstream explosion in the USA between 1999-2008. With an extensive cast of characters including label heads; critics like Sarah Lewitinn, Andy Greenwald, and Hanif Abdurraqib; and an abundance of musicians from emo’s upper echelon like Chris Carrabba, Hayley Williams, Pete Wentz, Mikey Way, Geoff Rickly, Gabe Saporta, and more; this book follows emo’s ascendance as it brought its DIY sensibilities from regional basement shows all across America to MTV.

This is not a third party analysis of the scene, it’s truly an oral history by heavy-hitters looking back on its legacy, reflecting upon addiction, jealousy, fame, misogyny, fashion, and meteoric rise. While I would’ve liked introductions to each chapter, Chris Payne’s assembling of 300 hours of interviews into thematic sections was impressive and immersive–it felt electric seeing all these iconic names commentating one after another. It was fascinating to gain insight and context into certain moments that I bore witness to, and get a wider view of the impact these bands had on each other and on the evolution of the genre.

Recently, I’ve noticed a rise in nonfiction that unpacks pop culture phenomena that my generation has witnessed and shaped, as we grow older and leave being young to the youth. The evident passion and labour behind Where Are Your Boys Tonight? makes it feel monumental, and I hope it opens doors to more books on this–more stories, more reflection on not only the highs, but parts of our past we should continue to confront.

This is a great oral history of the emo scene of the late 2000's. The one big problem I had was that there were so many players and band names to keep track of that I had a hard time. I grew up listening to this music and grew up in an area mentioned in the book, so it was really cool to see the roots of where this music came from. I think this will be a great collectors item for fans of this era of music. My other small gripe is that this music is categorized as emo, which even the musicians seem to not agree on. Overall, this is a great oral history for music fans.

While I will recommend this book to folks looking to dive in on the emo scene's storied history, it absolutely was not for me. I was anticipating the author's voice drawing a thread throughout the story... instead, it's a litany of interview snippets with a large and unwieldy cast of characters. It didn't feel cohesive, it didn't feel narrative, and it just... fell extremely flat for me. I did not complete the book and tapped out after the first chapter exhausted my patience looking for actual analysis on the scene's development.

This book intrigued me because I listened to this music in high school at the peak of its popularity, and it always fascinated me how short of a time this music was really popular. That being said I really enjoyed the last three parts of this book the most, as I knew more of the people involved. I thought the conversations were insightful and it helped me understand just how exciting and chaotic the music scene was at the time thanks to MySpace and the start of music streaming.