10 Albums That Will Make You Love Emo

As emo entered its third decade of existence, things were starting to get a lot more campy. For as much as some bands may have lit up the charts that fell under the emo label, there seemed to be a lot more mugging for the camera, as bands tried to figure out how much eyeliner they had to put on to seem cool enough for primetime. Rock always had its theatrical side though, so why not play it up that much more?

Coming off the heels of acts like Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco's debut record remains one of the more quirky albums to come out of the '00s emo scene, going in any direction it wants depending on what part of the song you're listening to. The core foundation of these songs are still emo, but there are moments where songwriter Ryan Ross isn't afraid to put some more oddball moments into the mix, like the weird cabaret song But It's Better If You Do or the snide Chuck Palahniuk references that creep up on song titles like Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have...

And are we just going to forget the legitimate theater nerd moments too, with Brendon Urie practically playing court jester in the video for I Write Sins Not Tragedies? Yeah, this was prime time for camp, and it may have been a little bit satisfied with itself from time to time, but when everything lined up like this, there was no other band who could hold a candle to Panic.