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This emo trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and follows the genre from the 1985 Revolution Summer in Washington, DC through the Midwest emo of the 1990s, the Vagrant and Drive-Thru years, the mid-2000s explosion of My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco and Paramore, and on to the emo revival, emo rap and the sold-out When We Were Young festival. Questions ask about bands, albums, labels, chart facts and scene history rather than lyrics. It is written for anyone who owned a studded belt or a Hot Topic loyalty card, and for the pub-quiz regular who just wants to know which Simpsons character Fall Out Boy is named after. Difficulty runs from easy band facts to record-label detail only scene veterans will remember. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
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Q 01Emo emerged in the mid-1980s from the hardcore punk scene of which US city?
Washington, D.C.
The style was first called 'emotional hardcore' or 'emocore', and its pioneers were Rites of Spring and Embrace.
Q 02Which Minor Threat frontman formed Embrace and ran Dischord Records?
Ian MacKaye
The DC scene's 1985 'Revolution Summer' was a deliberate break from hardcore's macho conventions.
Q 03Rites of Spring's Guy Picciotto and Brendan Canty co-founded which post-hardcore band?
Fugazi
Rites of Spring played only about 19 shows and hated the 'emo' tag; Picciotto asked why emotion should be a separate category at all.
Q 04Which 1994 Sub Pop album by Sunny Day Real Estate is often called the founding record of second-wave emo?
Diary
Rolling Stone put it at number one on its 2016 list of the greatest emo albums; the band's rhythm section later joined Foo Fighters.
Q 05Which two members of Sunny Day Real Estate joined Foo Fighters after the band split in 1995?
Nate Mendel and William Goldsmith
Singer Jeremy Enigk's Christian conversion is often cited among the tensions that broke up the Seattle band.
Q 06Which 1996 Weezer album was retroactively embraced as a cornerstone of 1990s emo?
Pinkerton
The regional Midwest sound of the mid-1990s came from bands like Cap'n Jazz, Braid, Mineral and The Promise Ring.
Q 07American Football's 1999 self-titled album has an Urbana, Illinois house on its cover that became what?
A pilgrimage site for fans
Mike Kinsella, formerly of Cap'n Jazz, led the band, which reunited in 2014 after being active only from 1997 to 2000.
Q 08Which label released The Emo Diaries compilation series from 1997 to 2007?
Deep Elm Records
Jade Tree, meanwhile, released Lifetime's 1995 hardcore-emo hybrid Hello Bastards.
Q 09Jimmy Eat World formed in 1993 in which Arizona city?
Mesa
The name came from a crayon drawing by guitarist Tom Linton's little brother of his brother Jim eating the world.
Q 10Why was Jimmy Eat World's 2001 album Bleed American briefly reissued under a different name?
Fear it would be misread after 9/11
Its single 'The Middle' reached number 5 on the Hot 100 and topped the Modern Rock chart.
Q 11Which 1999 Jimmy Eat World album, a commercial flop at the time, became a touchstone for later emo bands?
Clarity
The band was the breakthrough act for a young Fueled by Ramen label with a 1998 EP.
Q 12Which singer, called 'the face of emo' by critic Jim DeRogatis, fronts Dashboard Confessional?
Chris Carrabba
The Boca Raton project began as an acoustic side venture from his band Further Seems Forever.
Q 13Dashboard Confessional's 'Vindicated' played over the closing credits of which 2004 blockbuster?
Spider-Man 2
The band's name comes from a lyric title on its debut, 'The Sharp Hint of New Tears'.
Q 21Which Hollywood legend sings guest vocals on the track 'Mama' on The Black Parade?
Liza Minnelli
The album, produced by Rob Cavallo, went four times platinum in the US and its title track was the band's first UK number one.
Q 22How many copies did The Black Parade sell in its first week in the US?
240,000
It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and is often called the most important album in emo.
Q 23On what date did My Chemical Romance announce their reunion?
Halloween 2019
The band had split on 22 March 2013; the reunion tour finally ran in 2022-23 after pandemic delays.
Q 14Which record label's 2001 national tour, sponsored by Microsoft and Coca-Cola, signalled emo going corporate?
Vagrant Records
Drive-Thru Records, meanwhile, partnered with MCA to get emo-pop into mainstream chains like Hot Topic.
Q 15Which New Jersey band signed a multimillion-dollar Island Def Jam deal after 2001's Full Collapse?
Thursday
The New Jersey and Long Island scenes also produced Brand New, My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday.
Q 16Taking Back Sunday's 2002 debut, which eventually sold 790,000 copies, was called what?
Tell All Your Friends
Emo broke into mainstream media coverage during the summer of that year.
Q 17Hawthorne Heights, whose second album debuted at number 3 in 2006, formed in which Ohio city?
Dayton
Guitarist Casey Calvert died on the tour bus in 2007, and the band sued Victory Records over its contract.
Q 18My Chemical Romance formed in New Jersey in autumn 2001 after Gerard Way witnessed what?
The September 11 attacks
Bassist Mikey Way found the band's name in an Irvine Welsh book while working at Barnes & Noble.
Q 19My Chemical Romance's name comes from a book by which author?
Irvine Welsh
Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance; Gerard Way has publicly rejected the 'emo' label for the band.
Q 20The Black Parade is a concept album about a character known as what?
The Patient
The dying cancer patient's story was recorded at the reputedly haunted Paramour Mansion in Los Angeles.
Q 24Fall Out Boy took their name from a character in which TV show?
The Simpsons
The Wilmette, Illinois band's From Under the Cork Tree sold 2.7 million copies and earned a Best New Artist Grammy nomination.
Q 25Which Fall Out Boy album debuted at number one in 2007, selling 260,000 copies in its first week?
Infinity on High
The band went on hiatus from 2009 to 2013 and returned with the chart-topping Save Rock and Roll.
Q 26Which Fall Out Boy member founded the Decaydance label that signed Panic! at the Disco?
Pete Wentz
He signed the Las Vegas band before they had played a single live show.
Q 27Which Panic! at the Disco video won Video of the Year at the 2006 MTV VMAs?
I Write Sins Not Tragedies
The single from A Fever You Can't Sweat Out was later certified diamond.
Q 28Which city did Panic! at the Disco come from?
Las Vegas
By 2015 the band was effectively Brendon Urie's solo project; he retired the name in 2023.
Q 29Which Panic! at the Disco single reached number 4 on the Hot 100 in 2018, their highest ever?
High Hopes
It came from the album Pray for the Wicked.
Q 30Paramore formed in 2004 in which Tennessee town?
Franklin
Hayley Williams and drummer Zac Farro are the founding members; the Farro brothers quit in 2010 and Zac returned in 2017.