Balance and Composure

While emo music might be most associated with sadness and heartbreak, those lovelorn artists couldn’t have written such songs without experiencing some serious romantic highs. Since it’s Valentine’s Day, we wanted to focus on the good parts of love more than the bad — although there’s still some unhappiness and resentment mixed in. (I mean, it is still emo after all.) SPIN’s writers spanned decades, waves and numerous albums looking for the top emo love songs, and now we’ve gathered them all here to save you the work. And yes, we know “emo” is just as broad a term as “love song” — you may also describe some of these acts as pop-punk or post-hardcore or even heart-on-sleeve indie-rock. But all of these bangers branch off the same family tree. From trailblazers like The Get Up Kids...