"And hey, I choose my company by the beating of their hearts.."

I am a sucker for lyrics (and anything acoustic. Bonus points if you know what that line is from).  There is love at first sight, love at first listen,  but for me, it has always been love at first lyric.  As shameful as it is to admit, (but hey, I am a product of the AOL/AIM generation) what sparked my interest into the genre I so gleefully listen to most, was the latest away message or profile quote of a buddy lister of mine.  While my beginnings into this genre did not all start because of an instant reply indicating how emotionally bruised one was at that moment, it sure did help me to find more of those soul-baring lyricists.  I of course am talking about what most refer now to as "emo".  (From here on out I will refer to Emo in quotes, so as to prove my point; I do not listen to what is traditionally considered the Emo genre.  I listen to the second cousin once removed "emo" genre.)

Sidenote: I have never liked the term "emo" being used to describe the bands I enjoy.  Mostly, because they are not the original emo bands.  That title belongs to the ones that came before, Sunny Day Real Estate, Rites of Spring, etc., the ones that inspired all the so called "emo bands" that I spent (spend, who am I kidding) so much of my time listening to.   I also despise the fashion sense, mockery, and stigma associated with those who listen and subsequently dress "emo".  As the Format once so wisely said, "Boys in swooping hair cuts are bringing me down taking pictures of themselves," (ironically the lead singer of the Format has-or had every time that I saw him, a swooping hair cut.) "Emo" has had some relative success lately- most notably Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, and all the other copycats out there (Metro Station I'm looking at you).  One could say that Jimmy Eat World (who some would consider a true Emo band) set the stage with their popular hit "The Middle" and later "Sweetness" for all these bands to follow, but let's be honest Jimmy Eat World has nothing on Fall Out Boy in terms of chart-topping success. (This is not to say FOB > JEW, I prefer JEW and feel they are superior in every way possible- except in getting 13 and 14 year old girls to buy their records.)

"Emo" lyrics, for whatever reason, have always hit the hardest with me.  My freshman year of highschool a friend of mine directed me to "Hit or Miss" by New Found Glory and, "maybe it's for the best, maybe it's not for anything!" would change everything for me.  Could 10 truer words ever be spoken?  I was hooked.  Which is why, over 7 years later and with thousands of other "Could (insert # here) truer words ever be spoken?" I felt the same feeling.  I found out today two of my all-time favorite songwriters have joined forces and are putting out an album early next year.  I have nothing but extremely high lyrical expectations for this release (which may be bad because when are expectations ever lived-up to?).  These two songwriters are "emo" darlings in the "scene" and I can only expect absolute chaos when this thing leaks / gets released.  There are very few people I hold as near and dear to my lyric loving heart as these two.  Chris Conley and Max Bemis have sonically, nearly persuaded me to permanently etch their words onto my skin countless times.  (I have resisted .. so far.  I can see no better excuse than to kill two birds with one stone and tattoo a lyric from the forthcoming album.)

So with that, I beg of this soon to be release, that I utter for the 1,001th time "can (insert #) truer words ever be spoken?"