I don't know much about emo, and have been pretty underwhelmed by most of what I've heard. But some of the original, DC-based "emocore" bands (although none of them would have ever described themselves as such) were pretty good. Rites of Spring were of course the quintessential example, but their music, if not their lyrics, was fairly straightforward hardcore punk; most of the other bands had a much poppier sound and it's at least arguable that they, more than Rites of Spring, are the ones who paved the way for the radio-friendly adaptation of the genre that followed. But, whatever.
Nowadays when you read about the DC "emocore" scene (sorry, I just can't use that word without scare quotes) it's usually Rites of Spring and Embrace who are identified as the key players but my own memory of the era is that Gray Matter were the #2 band. Their music hasn't aged as well as Rites of Spring's has, but I still like this one a lot.
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