The songlist started with six tracks written by Thief, Steal Me a Peach, a project started when bassist Nate Mendel went on tour with his other project Christ on a Crutch, and drummer William Goldsmith invited his friend Jeremy Enigk to jam with him and guitarist and then singer Dan Hoerner. The first songs afterwards had titles regarding their order in composing - "Seven", "8" and "9", though only the first appeared on Diary - and then two different numbers, "47" and "48". The album was released on CD, vinyl and cassette. The vinyl has been released in three limited edition pressings, all of which are out of print. The first was a multi-colored splatter vinyl, released on "Glitterhouse Records" in Germany. The second was a black vinyl pressing on Sub Pop. A repress followed on green vinyl, but the label for this second pressing states "Edition II" under the Sub Pop logo. All three vinyl pressings are missing 3 songs that are present on the CD, possibly due to the time constraints of vinyl, as the album clocks in at 53 minutes. The missing songs are "Round", "48" and "Grendel". The 2009 double LP re-issue contains all 11 songs from the original album, and two bonus tracks. The artwork of the album was almost entirely done by Chris Thompson. However, the "butterfly" drawing on the album's booklet was created by Nate Mendel's father. The album cover features the popular children's toy Little People.
Legacy
The album was different from those released by popular Seattle grunge bands at the time. Its melodic but urgent sound has had a clear mark on future emo groups. It is the seventh best selling album released on Sub Pop, having sold more than 231,000 copies. Rolling Stone writes, "Diary captures the vague inner-turmoil of Enigk's lyrics and propels those turbulent emotions to the heavens." Diary was ranked amongst the best emo albums of all time in the Italian music magazine XL. In 2013, Diary took the first place in LA Weekly's list "Top 20 Emo Albums in History". It also topped the Rolling Stone list "40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time" in 2016. NME listed the album as one of "20 Emo Albums That Have Resolutely Stood The Test Of Time". The album was ranked at number 155 on Spins "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years " list. Ian Cohen from Pitchfork writes, "it's the terse yet tender delivery of the lyrics from Jeremy Enigk that ultimately drew people in." The song "Seven" was featured in the South Park episode "", and it was performed by the band on an episode of The Jon Stewart Show. It is also featured in Guitar Hero 5, and it was also released on the Rock Band Network on July 5, 2010. YouTube comedian Jarrod Alonge covered "Seven" on his album Awkward & Depressed.
Track listing
Personnel
;Sunny Day Real Estate
Jeremy Enigk – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards
