Is this thing on? Welcome to a very special, pretty personal episode of Hollywood Prospectus podcast. In this edition, Andy and I talk about the much-maligned and much-loved genre of music called emo. Ten years ago, Andy wrote a book called Nothing Feels Good about a burgeoning subculture that was starting to make serious inroads into the mainstream. A few years before that, I was working in Boston music venues, where lots of the bands that paved the way for that leap were coming through on DIY tours. Now, all these years later, Andy and I thought it would be cool to talk about that scene and our fairly different experiences with it. To help us paint the picture, Andy talked with some of the real-life characters from his book, like Thursday’s Geoff Rickly, Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins, and Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba. Whether your idea of emo is Rites of Spring, the Promise Ring, or Fall Out Boy, or whether you just think the whole idea of “emo” is weird, we think there’s something in here for you. Trust me, it is weird. To go along with the pod, Andy and I made a Spotify playlist to serve as a soundtrack. So once more, with feeling, break out your thrift store T-shirts, courier bags, and nerd glasses. Things are about to get a little misty in here.

Listen to the podcast here: ESPN.com Podcenter.

Subscribe to Grantland Pop Culture on iTunes, and check out our podcasts page.