Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo

Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers and Emo is a book by Andy Greenwald, then a senior contributing writer at Spin magazine, published in November 2003 by St. Martin's Press.

The title Nothing Feels Good is taken from an album by The Promise Ring, a representative band of the mid-1990s emo scene. The book explores the evolution of the emo scene from basement concerts in the 1980s to stadium shows in the early 2000s, and how this culture has affected its target group, teenagers. Greenwald defines emo as "a much mocked, maligned, and misunderstood term for melodic, expressive, and confessional punk rock." In a sense, Greenwald argues, emo defines a generation by putting their feelings to song and bringing their inner thoughts out into the open for all to hear, and be healed by. He follows the evolution of bands like Dashboard Confessional, Jimmy Eat World, and Thursday, as well as the development of popular websites like Makeoutclub and LiveJournal.