YMMV / Evanescence

• Broken Base: For many, many reasons their Broken Base is huge:
  • They had this with the leaving of Ben Moody. Many fans love The Open Door and their Self-Titled Album, and think that both are as good as the original while diverging into different sounds. However, there is a large fan base that says Fallen was the best album hands down, and the other two were nowhere near close because Amy Lee isn't as talented as Ben Moody.
    • Also happened in 2022 after Amy announced that Jen Majura would be leaving the band, only for Majura to issue her own statement all but outright saying that she had been fired - some fans argued that the band was Lee's and it was her decision who stayed and who left, while others were furious on Majura's behalf, especially because of how much Lee had talked about what a great fit for the band she was and they were sick of Lee "disposing" of band members once she got tired of them.
  • There is also a section of fans that took great offense to Amy Lee denouncing their Christian Rock undertones stating that "It was Ben's thing, I never viewed the music like that." Many fans who found the Christian tones the driving force were upset that Amy never viewed it that way.
  • There is also a Fallen / Evanescence fans who like their rockier more violent flat out rock/metal sound, which is rather sad/downbeat lyrically and The Open Door fans who like the focus on build and more classical elements, with more abstract lyrics and sarcasm.
  • And then of course, the tiring comparisons of Lee's vocals with other contemporary female rock/metal singers such as Cristina Scabbia and Sharon den Adel (though the latter became Hilarious in Hindsight when Evanescence and Within Temptation announced a joint tour together in 2019). Sharon even contributed along with a who's who of other women in rock to "Use My Voice".
• Covered Up: "Tourniquet" is a cover version of "My Tourniquet," written and first sang by Soul Embraced, former drummer Rocky Gray's other band.
• Epic Riff: During the bridges of "Even in Death," "My Immortal" (the rock version,) "Going Under," "Whisper," "Haunted," and the chorus of "Tourniquet," which is almost sexy. "The Other Side" is also sexy.
• Epileptic Trees: Fans have theorized that their album titles are taken from lyrics in the previous album
  • Fallen has "Fallen angels at my feet" from the song Whisper in Origin
  • The Open Door has "Like open doors" from Bring Me to Life in Fallen
• First Installment Wins: Their limited release, comparatively obscure first album Origin is hailed by some to be their best.
• Gateway Band: While the so called "female-fronted rock/metal" scene was already getting bigger in Europe by its own merits, many younger Millennial fans discovered the niche when Evanescence made it to the mainstream scene on the other side of the Pond, and eventually went on to love the genre as a whole. Of course there was some clash with older fans and even bands (as well as some gatekeeping on whether Evanescence fit the niche at all), but eventually Evanescence were embraced by the community and now several new-generation singers and musicians cite them among their inspirations.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • Greeks Love Evanescence and so do Brazilians and Egyptians.
  • Amy Lee has a fairly large following in the Japanese Lolita scene as well.
• Harsher in Hindsight: "My Immortal"'s video showing Amy Lee, Ben Moody, and the band separately. Moody left after the video was shot (which was not lost on Amy Lee) and the other band members years after.
  • Amy did a guest appearance on Cartoon Network and sang The Cartoon Network Song. This is harsher because she wrote it for her brother Robby, who died in 2018.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Amy wrote Bring Me to Life about her meeting with her now current husband. She also wrote Good Enough about him.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • "Secret Door" and "Good Enough" both warm the heart with the love present in the songs (And the effort).
  • Like You is mostly Tear Jerker material but has its two heart warming moments: "You're Not Alone" and "Nothing Real Love Can't Undo".
• Hollywood Pudgy: Amy Lee certainly isn't fat by everyday person standards, but many people seem to refer to her as fat (For the record, she's 5'3" and around 140 pounds).
• I Am Not Shazam: Evanescence is not the stage name of that woman, despite Amy Lee being the only member appearing in some of the band's album covers.
• Les Yay: Amy and the backup dancers in the music video for "Call Me When You're Sober."
• Memetic Mutation: The chorus of "Bring Me to Life," often juxtaposed with an edited picture of a skeleton rocking chair. As well used for general Wangst particularly for Emo Teens.
• Misaimed Fandom: Many fans are confused about the band's genre. Evanescence is not in the "emo" genre of music, though many fans of the emo subculture like Evanescence.
  • They were also promoted early on as a "christian band" and their records were sold through Christian music channels even though the band did not consider themselves part of the Christian rock genre.
• Misattributed Song: "Bring Me to Life" has nothing to do with Linkin Park. Nor does it have anything to do with Papa Roach.
  • "Broken" is not a duet between Evanescence and Nickelback. While the female singer is clearly Amy Lee, the song was actually by Seether.
• Narm: "Oceans" has its narmy moments.
• Narm Charm: "Bring Me to Life" is said to be the sound of overblown histrionic angst, but it's done with such bombastic, agonized gusto you have to love it. Go for broke, emo girl!
• Never Live It Down:
  • "My Immortal" is seen as a representation of the band for its extremely emo nature and gets the band labeled as emo.
  • The fact that the "My Immortal" album's title is the namesake of an infamous fanfic, the band is now forever associated with it.
  • The use of "Bring Me to Life" during a particularly Narmy scene in Daredevil.
• Nightmare Fuel: Now has its own page.
• Older Than They Think: The band itself. Going from virtually unheard of to chart-topping in the matter of weeks gave the impression that they were just assembled overnight by some major label and put out there to carter to alternative fans, and they were even openly resented by several European colleagues for that. By 2003, Evanescence actually had over half a decade of demos, self-published material and experience in the Little Rock underground circuit, making them about the same age as most of their peers.
• Pop-Culture Isolation: Evanescence is one of the most most popular female led rock bands of the 2000s, but if you're not a rock fan (or even, if you're not a fan of their style of rock) you might consider them an one hit wonder whose only song is "Bring Me To Life" (which is actually a Black Sheep Hit due to its male vocals).
• Refrain from Assuming:
  • "Bring Me to Life" is not "Wake Me Up Inside," ^note  Although, the first demo version (there were at least two) of "Bring Me to Life" actually "is" called "Wake Me Up Inside."
  • "Bleed" is not "I Must Be Dreaming".
  • "Imaginary" is not "Paper Flowers"
  • "Understanding" is not "Wash It All Away."
• Sequel Displacement: For the longest time fans thought that this was the case with Fallen, until Amy set the record straight that Origin is nothing more than a dressed up demo.
• Signature Song: "Bring Me to Life", with "My Immortal" as a major runner-up.
• Sweet Dreams Fuel: Yes, they do have one of these in the wonderfully sparse and loving "Secret Door."
• Tear Jerker: Now has its own page.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The album version of "My Immortal" is disowned by most fans and Amy herself as being cheesy.
• Wangst: "Weight of the World" could fall into this at times. They are known for their habit of rarely expressing any emotion other than over the top, melodramatic angst.

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