Call it what you want: pop-punk, pop-rock, emo. Whatever it was, I lived and breathed it from approximately 2006-2012. I bought clothes from Glamour Kills and wore them with my Converse and rubber bracelets. I was never much of a “One Tree Hill” fan, but I did envy Peyton for her fling with Pete Wentz. I once crowd-surfed at an All Time Low show and felt like a real badass about it. Though I’ve since moved on from my emo obsession, that angsty music still holds a special place in my heart.

That’s only part of the reason why I’m so pumped for an All-American Rejects-headlined WILD, though. In fact, I genuinely think this throwback WILD will be a lot of fun for everyone, not to mention a welcome change of pace—I mean, how long has it been since you’ve seen a guitar on the Brookings Quadrangle stage? Whether you’re just as excited as I am or still need a bit more convincing, I encourage you to embrace the mid-2000s angst with this WILD pregame playlist:

Fall Out Boy

Fall Out Boy (FOB) is the de facto king of pop-punk, in my opinion. My first concert was a Fall Out Boy show, and I still feel a weird sense of satisfaction knowing that I was also at their last concert before their four-year hiatus (an event that concluded with Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 shaving off Pete Wentz’s signature emo haircut). But enough about me. No pop-punk pregame playlist would be complete without a healthy dose of “From Under the Cork Tree”- and “Infinity on High”-era FOB. I would happily get into some deep cuts here, but it’s hard to beat the classics—if belting out “Am I more than you bargained for yet?” doesn’t put you in a pop-punk-loving mood, I don’t know what will.
Songs: “Sugar, We’re Going Down,” “A Little Less Sixteen Candles, “A Little More ‘Touch Me,’” “Thnks fr the Mmrs”

Panic! At The Disco

Panic! At The Disco (P!ATD) is like Fall Out Boy’s weird little brother who plays the harpsichord and went through a steampunk phase. The band has completely revamped its image and sound with almost every album it’s put out—even dropping its signature exclamation point for a few tumultuous years—but most still associate P!ATD with its baroque-inspired debut album, “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out.” That album was 2006-era teen angst at its finest; I dare you to listen to the lyrics “Let’s get these teen hearts beating. Faster, faster” without feeling some type of way.
Songs: “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” “Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off”

Paramore

Believe it or not, I was actually never that big of a Paramore fan, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t idolize the band’s front woman, Hayley Williams. After starting the band at age 13 (13!!!), Williams quickly rose to fame as a badass female voice in an almost entirely male genre. Take advantage of this chance to de-stress after the end of classes by channeling Williams’ fiery energy and screaming along to “Misery Business” in a dorm room.
Songs: “Misery Business,” “That’s What You Get”

All Time Low and Boys Like Girls

I decided to lump these two bands together because while All Time Low never quite reached the same level of mainstream success as Boys Like Girls, both four-pieces courted a similar teenybopper demo with music that was poppier and more upbeat than most of their emo counterparts. Plus, All Time Low and Boys Like Girls pretty much sum up the year 2008 in my mind, a time when pop-punk seemed to reach its mainstream peak before fizzling out in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Bands like these put a sunny spin on the genre’s notoriously cliched lyrics, full of meaningless metaphors and aspirations to “get out of this town.” I don’t know about you, but I can think of no better way to celebrate the end of the semester than by listening to the band whose “voice was the soundtrack of my summer” back in 8th grade.
Songs: “Dear Maria, Count Me In,” “Poppin’ Champagne,” “The Great Escape,” “Heels Over Head”

The All-American Rejects

To all those I’ve heard complaining that the All-American Rejects (AAR) “only have, like, two songs,” now is my chance to prove you wrong. Take a few minutes to click through the band’s top tracks on Spotify, and you’ll quickly realize how many AAR classics you had forgotten—for instance, do the lyrics “Swing, swing, swing from the tangles of my heart” ring a bell? Even if this list hasn’t convinced you of the beauty of pop-punk, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll be singing a different tune (pun intended) when you’re belting along to “Dirty Little Secret” with thousands of your classmates on Friday.
Songs: “Dirty Little Secret,” “Move Along,” “Swing, Swing,” “Gives You Hell”

Bonus tracks:

“Ocean Avenue”—Yellowcard
“Check Yes Juliet”—We The Kings
“Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)”—Cobra Starship
“Honestly”—Cartel
“Teenagers”—My Chemical Romance
“The Anthem”—Good Charlotte