> In a message dated 3/5/2004 4:05:23 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> audities-owner@smoe.org writes:
> Not for a lot of folks on this list, no doubt......but edgy, post-punk
from
> when there was no such term, with melodies, Jawbreaker truly rocks.
> It's also worthwhile to note that "DEAR YOU" would become one of the most
> important albums of emo's movement to the mainstream, along with the first
Sunny
> Day Real Estate album, "Diary". While emo had its roots in '80s hardcore
and
> had been around for awhile at this point, this was when it first started
> bubbling up to the forefront, even if it wouldn't be fully recognized for
years.
> It's funny how in both of these cases, and in another crucial
not-exactly-emo
> disc from the same era--Weezer's "PINKERTON"--critical acclaim was slow,
but now
> all three are held up to be near classics, especially amongst the kids who
> grew up on the "commercial" wave of emo, with bands like The Get Up Kids,
Saves
> the Day, and Dashboard Confessional.
>

I think Jawbreaker got killed by the expectations game.  Being from the Bay
Area, and producing three pretty classic punk records that progressively
hinted at the emo that would come on "Dear You", I think they were looked at
by Geffen as another Green Day, who had broken big a year or so earlier.
And their main fan base was thrown off by the changes in songwriting on
"Dear You" as well, which fed much of the "sell out" backlash among what had
been their core fans.  It took me several listens at the time to get into
"Dear You", but it is indeed a great record that grows on a listener over
time.  Jawbreaker also put on an amazing live show; full of energy and
Blake's throaty vocals tearing through each and every song.

Steve