| Emo. What do you think of when you hear that word? Depressing rock bands and skinny little white kids with greesy bangs writing bad poetry is what comes to many peoples minds.
Well, after I went to the Vans Warped Tour and saw many of what are refered to as "emo" bands, I was surprised to find that many of their lyrics weren't depressing, that the band was positive and idealistic, and that the crowds were very active and fun. So today, I did a little research.
As it goes, the term "Emo" is dead. Most bands have a similar sound these days, sure, but most of them (with quite a few exceptions) are not that depressing or whiney. If you think that most of these bands are emo because they have a few songs about emotions, well thats a large margin to bounce around on since people have been writing music about emotion since we discovered how to make music in the first place.
Emo started as an offspring of punk in the late 80s when punk (at the time had become extremely violent and volitile) was too much for some of its fans. The new genre (also often refered to as post hard core) came to be closely more intimate and personal than what punk was at the time, but still holding similar sound. I found a couple of the early emo bands, and they sounded nothing like what many refere to emo as. In the early 90s emo's popularity in the underground fizzled as Grunge took control of pretty much everything, but the few remaining emo bands took to the indie scene's influence and thus the sound changed once again. Time progressed on and one and the sound slowly changed, but still holding the term "emo". And so by the turn of the millinium, bands like Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessionals debuted into mainstream using the title "Emo" and by 2004 it was a household name and all the tikes in the burbs were whering their systers pants and cuting their bangs longer. This is where the terme "you're being emo" arose. Now you can't determine what is emo and what isnt, this is because emo is dead and gone. It died before we were out of diapers. It's like an imposter wearing a deadman's nametag. If you want to call these bands anything, call them "vaguely emo influenced"(and if its still too tough for you, call it "SCENE"). So stop your crying, put down that razor and pick up a water gun: it's time to start a circle pit. |
