2000s Alternative Rock Music and Teenage Angst: What We’re Missing Today

Blink-182, Sum 41, Good Charlotte, The All-American Rejects, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Jimmy Eat World, Brand New, Finch, New Found Glory, All Time Low, My Chemical Romance. These bands, many of which will be unknown to Gen-Z readers, will likely strike a chord of nostalgia in anyone who grew up in the late ’90s or early 2000s, leaving them wondering where on earth the time went. While this is certainly not an exhaustive list, it was these bands that characterized a sound, an era, and a feeling that has been lost to time.

It’s difficult to name the specific genre to which these bands belong — they’re not all exactly the same, after all. However, an internet search would lead you to “alternative rock,” “punk rock,” “pop-punk,” and many more wistful guesses. A more suitable name ought to be “angst-rock,” because that’s exactly what unites these bands — teenage angst, a phenomenon seemingly as constant as time itself.

While they indeed share many technical elements, such as fast-paced, catchy, often gritty riffs, head-bopping drum parts, and high-pitched, boy band-esque vocals, they all collectively acted as nets for the butterflies floating around in the stomachs of teenagers growing up some 20 years ago.

And this genre of music served as an important social function, too. Bands in this genre often featured lyrics and music videos praising and uplifting misfit kids who may have struggled socially in big, bad high school. Depictions of high-school parties or prom nights, often with the band on stage — strange-looking with colorful hair and various facial piercings — were as ubiquitous back then as the angst itself.

One also has the impression that being in a band in high school was much “cooler” and more frequent 20 years ago than it is today, as anyone in a baggy T-shirt with hair falling over their eyes could likely have attested to.

A quick browse on the Spotify Top 50 list returns no songs even resembling this style or feeling. So the question is, if other subgenres of rock and metal have stood the test of time, what happened to this music and its way of life?

There is no one clear answer to this question, and although the meteoric rise of rap and hip-hop, the resurgence of pop, and the demise of rock radio were all significant factors, it’s largely a mystery why one extremely specific genre of music should face such an abrupt death.

The growth of social media can certainly be attributed to shifting social circumstances as the 2010s rolled around, as people found new ways to vent their angst — for example, through the widespread access to content creation at any time on any number of online platforms. Perhaps a genre of music that relied so heavily on a very collective atmosphere was no longer necessary, though it doesn’t make the loss any less sad.

In fact, speaking of sadness, one study from the World Happiness Report found that happiness among teenagers rose from 1991 to 2011, before experiencing a steep decline in 2012. Now, while association can certainly not be equated to causation, this is an interesting fact to ponder. Were the 1990s and 2000s simply a better time to grow up? Was it because of this music? You wouldn’t be blamed for saying so.

Today, we are witnessing some contemporary efforts to rekindle angst-rock — take, for example, artists like Olivia Rodrigo and Machine Gun Kelly, though their musical renditions of this era just don’t feel the same. Is it because they’re out of place? Inauthentic? Both are possible, though in listening to the music, one gets the sense that the songs are trying to capture a sense of angst that they don’t quite understand. You have to be a misfit to understand a misfit, and kids these days just seem a whole lot less interested in jamming in the garage.

Nevertheless, these efforts are important. Indeed, they could be interpreted as a commercial side-effect trying to fill the hole dug in 2012, but on the other hand, they could be seen as a flash of hope. People may still feel the same way they did in 2006, and maybe some artists are finally realizing that nothing cures that feeling like angsty lyrics, headbanging, and a need to scream.

Thus, what this lost golden-era of alternative rock really represents is a paradise lost. Nowadays, when being a misfit is “cool,” people who genuinely don’t fit in are having a much harder time finding their crowd, and this is a sad social phenomenon. The loss of this art isn’t just a gap in music; it’s a gap in society as a whole.

In light of this, what we really need is for teenagers to start making bands again instead of doom scrolling in search of their lost souls. We’re all just waiting around for a savior, twiddling our thumbs. It’s time to become that savior. It’s time for us young people to grow our hair out, pierce our chins, and get back in the garage, because angst-rock, I miss you.