Now I know I'm not the only one that is tired of paying for subscription after subscription. Everything is a streaming service these days, which is a good thing in one way because everything is convenient. However, who can afford to pay for all these services at once?

One thing that I think gets looked over a lot here at our library is the free access to music! With your library card, you have access to physical CDs as well as streaming services on Hoopla and BoomBox. That's right: free music right at your fingertips.

There is a lot to comb through from country music to some of your favorite soundtracks, but I've been going down a nostalgic road lately. With Fall Out Boy coming to Nashville at the end of this month, I've donned my thick eyeliner I first tried in middle school and have returned to some of the albums that got me through my teenage years. Luckily, the library has many of them ready for me to check out.

Fall Out Boy

It feels natural to start with Fall Out Boy since they are helping me get back to my little emo roots with their upcoming concert. 

Infinity On High will always be my favorite album of theirs because it just has the most cohesive sound, some of the most beautiful lyrics, and Patrick Stump, the lead singer, is really showing off his soulful vocals throughout this one. 

If you haven't listened to this album in a while or ever, check it out. It holds up, and I seriously think Pete Wentz's lyrics are just sublime.

Panic (!) At The Disco

So Panic! At The Disco will always and forever have a special place in my heart because their lyrics expanded my vocabulary back in the day, and their music was just so unique that it opened me up to so many other genres of music.

I've put the exclamation mark in parentheses in the heading because the album I want to highlight is Pretty. Odd. This album is the last one the original members recorded together before going their separate ways. You can really hear how the band was struggling to grow into its own sound while also sticking to its emo roots. This album is also like an off-brand album from The Beatles, and though that sounds not great, I promise it is.

Our collection does not currently include Pretty. Odd. but we do have Live In Chicago which is from the band's headlining tour after the release of Pretty. Odd. Many of the songs from the album are featured on this album, and it's so good to hear the original band members perform together. 

Be still my nostalgic little heart.

My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance clearly completes this emo trinity I've laid out here.

I've decided to highlight The Black Parade over their equally good album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, only because I feel The Black Parade really is a cultural icon at this point. Play a G Note anywhere and those of us who wrote sad lyrics in Sharpie on the toe caps of our Converse in the mid-aughts will stand at attention.

Only recently did I learn that is actually a concept album about a child being diagnosed with cancer, and when you have that knowledge and listen to the lyrics again on this album, it's so beautifully executed.

Let's all rejoice that MCR had a recent reunion, shall we?