What IS emo?

[kasi]

I'll admit, I'm kind of a prep at school, but we have a couple emos at our school, a funny song making fun of emo kids can be found here :

http://emosong.ytmnd.com/

Lmao, it's hilarious

i posted that "/

[onedrunkpunk]

i posted that "/

I don't care? :-)

[kasi]

I don't care? :-)

aww, i love you too.

[ross]

I don't care? :-)

Omg you idiot *stab*

[kasi]

Omg you idiot *stab*

ehehe

[Metric.]

Omg you idiot *stab*

LOL!

[ross]

ehehe

lmao ehehehe

[RedStratocas]

Well emo actually used to mean something, now its just a style. The majority of emos today are kids who have great lives and have nothing to complain about, but they like to pretend they have tragic problems and pretend to be depressed for attention.

[Charizard.]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo - Everything you could ever want to know abotu Emo's.

It originally started in 1985 and ended in 1994, but has made some weird comeback recently thanks to bands like The Used and My Chemical Romance.

The Third Wave (2000–Present)

At the end of the 1990s, the underground emo scene had almost entirely disappeared. However, the term "emo" was still being bandied about in mainstream media, almost always attached to the few remaining 90s emo acts, including Jimmy Eat World.

However, towards the end of the 1990s, Jimmy Eat World had begun to shift in a more mainstream direction. Where Jimmy Eat World had played emocore-style music early in their career, by the time of the release of their 2001 album Bleed American, the band had almost completely removed its emo influences. As the public had become aware of the word "emo" and knew that Jimmy Eat World was associated with it, the band continued to be referred to as an "emo" band. Newer bands that sounded like Jimmy Eat World (and, in some cases, like the more melodic emo bands of the late 90s) were soon included in the genre.

2003 saw the success of Chris Carrabba and Dashboard Confessional. Carrabba's music featured lyrics founded in deep diary-like outpourings of emotion. Where earlier emo had featured lyrics of a more dark and painful direction, Carrabba's featured a greater focus on love won and lost and the inability to cope. While certainly emotional, the new "emo" had a far greater appeal amongst teenagers experiencing love for the first time, who found solace in Carrabba's words and music.

With Dashboard and Jimmy Eat World's success, major labels began seeking out similar sounding bands. Whereas Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the other Seattle scene bands of the early 1990s were unwillingly lumped into the genre "grunge", the labels wanted to be able to market a new sound under the word "emo". Which sound that was didn't particularly matter.

In turn, the term "emo" shifted to describe a form of music entirely different from its forebearers. And, in an even more expanded way than in the 90s, the term came to encompass an extremely wide variety of bands, many of whom had very little in common. Today, "emo" is often used to describe such wide-ranging bands as Coheed and Cambria, Taking Back Sunday, The Starting Line, Brand New, Something Corporate, The Used, A Static Lullaby, From First To Last, Finch, Silverstein, From Autumn To Ashes, Hawthorne Heights,and My Chemical Romance.

The epicenter of this third wave shifted, as well. Where its major origins were once California and Arizona, the new movement had (and has) changed coasts completely. As members, fans, critics, and disapprovers can attest, the new mecca of emo is the outlying areas bordering New York City and the Tri-State Area, such as New Jersey and Long Island. Many of the current crop of bands (and, subsequently, their early fanbases) originated in this region of the country and progressed outward.

In many cases, "new emo" bands are simply trying to pursue their own version of the "emo" that came before on their own terms. However, the backlash stemming from the success of a few seemingly "less emo" (and more popular in the mainstream) bands, including Dashboard and The Used, has brought an increasingly substantial pool of detractors of the genre.

In a strange twist, screamo, a sub-genre of the new emo, has found greater popularity in recent years through bands such as Thrice and Glassjaw. The term "screamo", however, was used to describe an entirely different genre in the early 1990s, and the bands themselves more resemble the emocore of the early 1990s. (As a reference, see Jim DeRogatis' November 2002 article about Screamo.)

As a result of the continuing shift of "emo" over the years, a serious schism has emerged between those who ascribe to particular eras of "emo". Those who were closely attached to the hardcore origins recoil when another type of music is called "emo". Many involved in the independent nature of both 80s and 90s emo are upset at the perceived hijacking of the word "emo" to sell a new generation of major label music. Regardless, popular culture has embraced the terms of "emo" far beyond their original intentions, out of the control of the independent-minded.
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Backlash

As the chorus of detractors increased, emo came more and more a focus of derision. Like the Goth scene, people who focus on emo music tend to share a dark and emotional psyche that often makes them feel outside the mainstream. They tend to thrive on the emotional ups and downs that are brought out in the music. Detractors often joke for emo fans to "lighten up", and point out what they see as an inherent irony in bonding between self-proclaimed outcasts.

At the same time, fans of other rock genres accuse emo of being too "soft" and sappy. Many genres of rock rely on aggression and anger, which, by comparison, makes some forms of emo seem lightweight.

In the early years of the "third wave", the derision was relatively light-hearted and self-effacing. In September of 2002, web developer Jason Oda put forth Emogame. In the game, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith kidnapped The Get-Up Kids, and players could assume the identities of several popular emo singers (including Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes) to fight him and his minions, along with more or less every subculture in the American landscape. The game referenced numerous emo stereotypes, but also included pop culture references such as R2-D2 from Star Wars. The game was well-received by both fans and critics of emo alike, eventually spawning multiple sequels.

In recent years, the derision has increased dramatically. Male fans of emo are often hit with homosexual slurs, largely a reflection of the "nerd" style of dress popular within the emo scene and the fact that in many cultures, males are expected to be stalwart and strong, not overly emotional; emotions are "weak" and "feminine". That mentality, however, hasn't stopped people from enjoying the style and music of the emo scene.

"Emo" continues to develop and expand in unpredictable ways. As with punk rock, the term "emo" may persist for years to come and evolve into even more styles and sounds. As the old proverb says, "History is written by the victors," and it remains to be seen which version of the genre will be accepted as the popular consciousness of "emo".

[zak-x]

Yeh only me and kassie are emo's and the other 20 emos on the forum.