A rant~
So awhile ago I saw many people misusing the word emo...so I wrote this...
Read or don't read, I just needed to rant about this...
The misconceptions about the word ‘emo’ and most significantly the ‘emo’ stereotype.
So, today ‘emo’ is a fashion statement. The whole trend/style is best summed up as guys and girls with long, black hair, piercings, tattoos, that wear skinny jeans and band t-shirts that listen to ‘emo’ music.
But what you don’t know is that when ‘emo’ first originated, it was completely different. One, it wasn’t a ‘lifestyle’ per se. It was actually a subgenre of punk during the mid 80’s and 90’s in the D.C area. There is was known as emotional hardcore or ‘emocore’. ‘Started’ by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace, it was extremely different from today’s ‘emo’ bands.
During the 90’s with bands such as Sunny Day Real Estate and Jawbreaker the ‘emo’ sound blended with indie rock and pop punk to form a different shade of emo.
Even when ‘emo’ broke into the mainstream with bands such as Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional, it was still radically different from what we perceive ‘emo’ as today. However there emerged emo’s subgenre: “screamo”.
Not many of the bands before Dashboard Confessional and Jimmy Eat World had stuck around long enough to actually reach commercial success. So when these bands hit it big, emo was thrust into the mainstream and from there it evolved into the stereotype we see it as now.
Drive-thru Records also had a helping hand in popularizing the ‘emo’ culture when they allowed their band’s album and other products being sold through chain-stores, most notably Hot Topic.
Bands with ‘emo’ characteristics and undertones that had been signed to this label, such as Midtown, Something Corporate, The Starting Line, New Found Glory. Meanwhile, The Get Up Kids, Saves the Day, Alkaline Trio, and Hot Rod Circuit were also reaching commercial success.
Stereotypical Emo Fashion Then: Stereotypical Emo Fashion Now:
Bands that are considered ‘emo’ but aren’t:
My Chemical Romance
Fall Out Boy
Blink-182
Panic! At the Disco
Hawthorne Heights
Taking Back Sunday
Rise Against
30 Seconds to Mars
The Academy Is…
Escape the Fate
Bands that are, in theory, ‘emo’:
Rites of Spring
Embrace
Sunny Day Real Estate
The Promise Ring
Beefeater
Saves the Day
The Starting Line
Dag Nasty
Jawbreaker
However, seeing as music isn’t selective, but rather a broad spectrum of various genres and sub-genres that does not prove that a band who has one single or maybe an album that is considered ‘emo’ is actually ‘emo’. Also, you should consider the fact that ‘emo’ is also closely tied to indie rock, pop punk, punk rock, post hardcore, screamo, alternative rock, etc. So therefore, all of these would be classified as ‘rock’ bands.
IN OTHERS NEWS, WHO'S EXCITED FOR VICES AND VIRTUES??!!!
Read or don't read, I just needed to rant about this...
The misconceptions about the word ‘emo’ and most significantly the ‘emo’ stereotype.
So, today ‘emo’ is a fashion statement. The whole trend/style is best summed up as guys and girls with long, black hair, piercings, tattoos, that wear skinny jeans and band t-shirts that listen to ‘emo’ music.
But what you don’t know is that when ‘emo’ first originated, it was completely different. One, it wasn’t a ‘lifestyle’ per se. It was actually a subgenre of punk during the mid 80’s and 90’s in the D.C area. There is was known as emotional hardcore or ‘emocore’. ‘Started’ by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace, it was extremely different from today’s ‘emo’ bands.
During the 90’s with bands such as Sunny Day Real Estate and Jawbreaker the ‘emo’ sound blended with indie rock and pop punk to form a different shade of emo.
Even when ‘emo’ broke into the mainstream with bands such as Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional, it was still radically different from what we perceive ‘emo’ as today. However there emerged emo’s subgenre: “screamo”.
Not many of the bands before Dashboard Confessional and Jimmy Eat World had stuck around long enough to actually reach commercial success. So when these bands hit it big, emo was thrust into the mainstream and from there it evolved into the stereotype we see it as now.
Drive-thru Records also had a helping hand in popularizing the ‘emo’ culture when they allowed their band’s album and other products being sold through chain-stores, most notably Hot Topic.
Bands with ‘emo’ characteristics and undertones that had been signed to this label, such as Midtown, Something Corporate, The Starting Line, New Found Glory. Meanwhile, The Get Up Kids, Saves the Day, Alkaline Trio, and Hot Rod Circuit were also reaching commercial success.
Stereotypical Emo Fashion Then: Stereotypical Emo Fashion Now:
Bands that are considered ‘emo’ but aren’t:
My Chemical Romance
Fall Out Boy
Blink-182
Panic! At the Disco
Hawthorne Heights
Taking Back Sunday
Rise Against
30 Seconds to Mars
The Academy Is…
Escape the Fate
Bands that are, in theory, ‘emo’:
Rites of Spring
Embrace
Sunny Day Real Estate
The Promise Ring
Beefeater
Saves the Day
The Starting Line
Dag Nasty
Jawbreaker
However, seeing as music isn’t selective, but rather a broad spectrum of various genres and sub-genres that does not prove that a band who has one single or maybe an album that is considered ‘emo’ is actually ‘emo’. Also, you should consider the fact that ‘emo’ is also closely tied to indie rock, pop punk, punk rock, post hardcore, screamo, alternative rock, etc. So therefore, all of these would be classified as ‘rock’ bands.
IN OTHERS NEWS, WHO'S EXCITED FOR VICES AND VIRTUES??!!!