In the fall of 1999, emo had its own 50 Cent vs. Kanye West showdown in the form of two hotly-anticipated releases from the Promise Ring and the Get Up Kids. Expectations were high for both bands to outdo their previous records. The Promise Ring’s Very Emergency followed the now-canonical Nothing Feels Good. It is one of the earliest crossover hits, achieving chart placement on college radio. The Get Up Kids’ latest, Something to Write Home About, was their debut for Vagrant Records and is frequently cited as a watershed moment for the label, paving the way for other highly commercial emo acts. They were primed to take things to the next level and capitalize on the previous two years of steadily building buzz after their debut, Four Minute Mile. One group were following up on their most beloved release, and the other was on the verge of releasing theirs.
Many people likely purchased both that day (I did), but when the dust settled, one was seen as a home run, while the other received a more muted response. Something to Write Home About was the clear winner in sales; the record sold around 150,000 copies in its first three years of release and has sold around 230,000 copies overall. The Get Up Kids are currently promoting a reissue and tour for the anniversary of their breakthrough. Very Emergency, on the other hand, didn’t significantly increase the Promise Ring’s audience. They have remained more or less inactive since the release of their final album and infrequently play one-off reunion shows. Recently, lead singer Davey von Bohlen has been active in reunion shows for his other emo institution, Cap’n Jazz, which features members who went on to form emo institutions Joan of Arc and American Football. He also released several solid power pop records in Maritime in the 2000s.
While there aren’t sales figures readily accessible for Very Emergency, it was a little less warmly received by critics, and it could be argued that this was the beginning of the end for them. Where Something to Write Home About featured more robust production and keyboards than its predecessor and served up more of the same heart-on-the-sleeve romantic turmoil that put the Get Up Kids on the map, Very Emergency’s lean ten tracks show off an increased interest in power pop over continuing to mine emo. One could argue that Something to Write Home About was that year’s model of Nothing Feels Good, giving listeners what they were looking for at the time, and judging by the attention the anniversary has received, the story hasn’t changed. However, it would be a shame to overlook Very Emergency’s pleasures and not to celebrate the Promise Ring for refusing to repeat past success at a time when Nothing Still Feels Good would likely have been a bigger hit.
Who could blame them for not just retreading familiar ground? They were coming off a brush with mortality. In 1998, the Promise Ring were driving home from a show during a snowstorm, and their van flipped over. Jason Gniewikow sustained multiple severe injuries during the accident, and the band had to take a six-week break from touring. In addition, von Bohlen suffered head trauma and later was diagnosed with meningioma, which was believed to be related to the van accident injury, requiring brain surgery in 2000 before the Promise Ring could record their final album, Wood/Water.
There are some key ways that Very Emergency doesn’t mess with success. They worked with J. Robbins again, whose production was integral in making Nothing Feels Good a major jump in quality from the band’s beloved, scrappy debut. The video for the lead single “Emergency! Emergency!” is another lo-fi affair with the Promise Ring playing in yet another living room that didn’t gain much traction on MTV. “Happy Hour” revs up like the finest moments from that previous record, and the high-energy bounce of “Skips a Beat (Over You)” probably made its way onto more mixtapes (and now playlists) than just mine. But that is as close as Very Emergency comes to delivering the expected.
The change of mood is apparent from the jump. Where Nothing Feels Good opens with the breakneck “Is This Thing On?”, Very Emergency opens with “Happiness is All the Rage”, a mid-tempo love song that could be read as a rebuke of angsty emo tropes. Von Bohlen’s lyrics offer the opposite of what the genre’s lyrics were known for at the time. He’s in love, not lovelorn, and one of the best lines is, “We could do more outdoor things / If we weren’t so busy getting busy.”
That’s not entirely surprising. Very Emergency’s immediate predecessor is the Boys + Girls EP, which begins with one of their most straightforward songs to that point, “Tell Everyone We’re Dead”, and it is the most memorable song of the three. It’s also more reserved than anything on Nothing Feels Good but remains stacked with von Bohlen’s trademark charming, semi-obscure lyrics.
The remaining nine tracks are a masterclass in indie-leaning power pop. The catchy choruses are still there, but there is a growth in the songwriting that isn’t apparent from the jump, revealing itself through repeat listens. Many critics and fans seemed underwhelmed by Very Emergency at first, but the Promise Ring’s playing is more confident, the songs have more room to breathe, and they haven’t sacrificed a bit of catchiness. This record is only a disappointment if the listener only looks for more of the same. In many ways, Very Emergency is a stronger predictor of the sound of the later band Maritime than the final Promise Ring release, the Britpop-flavored, introspective Wood/Water. You can almost hear Pavement in the whistles in “Jersey Shore”.
The biggest swings on Very Emergency are quieter songs ending each side of the LP, “Things Just Getting Good” and “All of My Everythings”. On the former, von Bohlen is taking stock of the everyday things worth celebrating and alludes to mortality with the line “How September came for Sinatra / Now it’s winter then it is a new year.” Elsewhere in the track, he acknowledges the fleeting success of a popular indie rock band but finds optimism in the time he gets to spend with his bandmates. It’s hard not to read the van accident into this song as a cello adds a touch of melancholy before he calls out the group members via silly but loving statements. It is a powerful moment that only takes on resonance as the listener experiences the passage of time, wistful for those seemingly endless nights with friends.
Closer “All of My Everythings” is a breakup song with several evocative couplets, including “Playing last rites / For my late nights.” Later, von Bohlen sadly sings, “Starting our separate days.” Despite these quietly heartbreaking lines, the song stretches out much longer than any other Promise Ring song to date, and it even seems to have achieved peace of mind despite the sorrow.
While it’s true that Nothing Feels Good is instantly likable and endlessly replayable, attempting to replicate that rush of sugary, breathless energy would likely produce an inferior follow-up, even if it did continue to make inroads on the charts. Very Emergency succeeds by subverting expectations but delivering on the longer-term win of offering up ten nuggets of power pop and a rebuke of the emerging emo tropes that would later corrode to outright misogynist clichés in the hands of lesser bands. The evergreen emo and many of the best newer releases jettison the melodrama for nuanced, reflective lyrics. Like its predecessor, Very Emergency has aged remarkably well because the Promise Ring were always more invested in songs than trends.