you wanna know something, it legitimately offends me when maryland based pop punk band All Time Low is rarely included in the discussion when it comes to the emo band pantheon. you might be asking, “sharon furiona née awgaskarth, what do you mean? what is the emo band pantheon?” we’ve all seen it, the nostalgia bait posts listing the alternative bands you bumped in your youth. they talk about fob and mcr and patd, and if they’re someone of culture they talk about gch and tai and even paramore. but there’s almost always one glaring issue with these lists, one missing piece, and that is all time low. look me in the eye and tell me that you called yourself emo in middle or high school and didn’t have dear maria count me in, weightless, remembering sunday, or therapy on your pink ipod nano. oh, what’s that? you can’t? that’s right, because despite fueled by ramen’s monopoly on the emo economy all time low still thrived while not being a part of the label (and, ironically, suffered when they were, but that is a discussion for another post.) if emo music is a house, all time low is the cornerstone. all time low was your favorite emo band’s favorite emo band, they walked so your favorite band could run, and some of you still have the nerve, the AUDACITY, to leave them off of the table in favor of flash-in-the-pan groups like twenty one pilots or waterparks. are brendon urie, pete wentz, or gerard way maintaining the sideswept bang in their thirties and forties? no the fuck they aren’t. you know who is? all time low frontman and known mad lad alexander william gaskarth, who you all continue to pay dust despite him dying for our sins. having been a band for over a decade, all time low’s legacy remains untarnished by abrupt hiatuses or member changes. a band of friends, of brothers, and if you ask the right people they might even say sometimes lovers, all time low is the feel good lifetime movie of emo bands. the musical equivalent of finding an open mcdonald’s past midnight when you’re drunk with your friends and downright murderously hungry for a big mac. this is a band of emo elder gods and you should, nay, WILL respect them as such or so help me i will strike you down where you stand