Sometime before the dawn of Facebook and Spotify, but after the death of Napster and peer-to-peer sharing networks, digital music consumption and social media were dominated by a little thing called MySpace. There were “bulletins” instead of statuses, “Tom” was the original Mark Zuckerberg, there was a “Top 8” feature that allowed users to prioritize their friends list, and most selfies were taken and posted from somebody’s Sidekick.

More importantly, there was a wealth of underground music that was only a click away from discovery. In fact, users were able to add a music player to their page, which would automatically cue up when someone visited their profile. This offered bands a means of free and viral marketing as those in the “scene” would pass around and share their favorite bands like a joint at a frat party.

For the most part, the bands who found the greatest success through the social media platform were in the deathcore, metalcore, screamo and emo genres. Despite the differences in the music, they all quickly fell under the all-encompassing labels of “myspace-core” or “scene-core,” which were used to describe most bands who found success among the “scene kids” of MySpace. These bands appealed to the Warped Tour and Mayhem Fest crowds. Their merch was sold in abundance at Hot Topic, and chances are, you liked some of them too, even if you don’t want to admit it.

To this day, most of the MySpace hard hitters are extremely respected musicians. While they might have ditched the emo combovers and excessive guyliner, they’ve still put out quality music and still have rabid fanbases. This list is dedicated to the bands who got their start through MySpace. So check it out and enjoy the throwback!

 

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