Purists Hated the Synths (They Said It Killed Punk Rock): 20 Years Later, This Album Is a Cult Classic From the Future

The alternative scene was booming with creativity in the ’00s, as genres like pop punk and emo took to the mainstream, often with unconventional instrumentation and out-of-the-box songwriting.

Whether we’re talking about Yellowcard’s pop punk-meets-violin sound or Panic! At the Disco’s early love for baroque pop, it seems like there was no rulebook for alt-rock by the turn of the century.

Another one of the most prominent examples of how to integrate unorthodox instruments into catchy rock tunes is Motion City Soundtrack, with the group heavily relying on the Moog synth…