Remember about 15 years ago when all you did was listen to Fallout Boy, Brand New, Panic! At The Disco, Thrice, Hawthorne Heights, Dashboard Confessional and whatever else had guitars and screaming and crying in?

That obviously doesn’t apply to everyone reading this of course, but chances are you almost certainly knew someone like this. Chances are they mooched around with their piercings and shit tattoos, wearing tight t-shirts, lurking around on MySpace and pretending that they cut themselves because they were so sad. They would also inevitably insist that it wasn’t a phase and they would always be an emo and would never ‘grow up’.

Well guess what? It turns out that it was all a phase and all of them grew up and are now regular members of society with families and jobs like policemen, bank managers and firemen. Who would have thought it?

Thanks to Reddit we can now view the before and after pictures of emo kids, along with their life stories. It’s especially crazy when you hear them because I doubt anyone could have ever predicted that they would have stopped  listening to depressing music and turned into regular people, right?

Reddit user okkido: Damn. Too late for this. Then I was studying to become a designer listening to Brand New, Death Cab and Blink. Now I’m a designer listening to Brand New, Death Cab and Blink and having my first kid in a week. 

Reddit user unicornigist: I was super scene/emo as a teenager but I guess being so into customizing my myspace profile got me into coding, now a full time web developer and mom to a 4 year old.

Reddit user Tyfo: “I’m now 27, started my family earlier this year, moving into a house in 9 days, and I’m studying to become a laboratory technologist. Woo-hoo!”

Reddit user Moosemaster21: “Look at me being all sad n sh*t. Took this picture with a mother*ckin’ DSLR camera. Held it away from my face (took tremendous left arm strength let me tell you) then pretended to look all sad and thoughtful. Idaho vacation with my now-fiancée.”

Reddit user Docshultz: Well, I am a normal, fat 28 year old that started his family early. I own my own home, make 50,000 a year in a medical field, and I am really enjoying life.

Reddit user RealTerse: “I became a fireman, if I talked to myself eight years ago and said you would cut your hair and become part of the fire department, I would’ve never believed myself.”

Reddit user validate_me_plz: “I work in the funeral industry as a removal technician.” 

Reddit user cwowtittybang: I still feel emo on the inside and secretly listen to the music, I even have scars on my wrist still (no real problems) but I’ve done a 180 and am a graphic designer. 

Reddit user yumyumhelen: I’m a proper grown up now, working as a trainer for the bank, buying my first property, paying the mortgage. Still feel like a filthy wee emo though.

Reddit user Hysterria: Emo to Heavy Metal blogger. I used to listen to Billy Talent and claim to be a struggling writer because it sounded cool. Now I listen to Led Zeppelin and I am a struggling writer. 

Reddit user BaS3r: “I’m in the US military now as an MP. Specifically US Air Force. This was all I could find. I know I had worse… oh boy. I still keep BMTH, TDWP, Attack! Attack!, Escape the Fate, Job for a Cowboy, etc. on my gym playlist though. It’s my guilty pleasure.”

Reddit user an0r4k: “I became the police. I also now send couple Christmas cards.”

Reddit user: snazzychica2812: I’m a special education teacher for high school freshmen. I teach kids like I was how not to do the sh*t I did. So far, so good.

Images VIA 

My favourite one was definitely the guy who joined the army. That’s just not what emo kids do. I seriously can’t believe they all found themselves and their respective places in society – it all seemed so desperate for them ten years ago.

Unfortunately, not all of them have been so lucky. Some of them still have that stupid fringe and regularly take pictures of themselves wearing diapers – check out these pictures if you don’t believe me.