What is Emo?

[IndependentClauses]

This is emo: Wikipedia article on Emo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo_%28music%29) .

Taking Back Sunday, Thursday, Thrice, et al- they're nu-wave emo (and some are even just plain Pop-Punk, like Matchbook Romance and My Chemical Romance), which isn't really emo at all.

Basically, if it's in a major key, it's probably not emo. And if it's on your radio, there's exactly zero chance that it's emo (unless you have an indie/college radio station near you).

And that should solve all of your problems on what is and isn't emo.

[vince.fuckin duhh.]

not even gonna touch this subject.
haha.
too many people take offense to it.

[IndependentClauses]

take this to the top.

[blindmelon]

ok i have always thought of "emo" as a short form of "emotion". so i think any songs with strong emotions is "emo". i think it is easier to classify a song as "emo" rather than an entire band. but thats just me.

[Morbio]

See, this is what many people mistake "emo" for. Yeah, some "emo" people show themselves as depressed, lonely, from a broken home, or various other delemias.

[JW]

I think its important that we clarfiy something ITT... there is a difference between emo people, and emo music.

Generally, emo people whine about a lot of stuff, but not all of them are bad :p

Emo music on the other hand, a decent chunk of it can be good if you actually give it a chance.. sure some of it may be over-used guitar riffs, but if you just dig a little deeper you can hit somethng great

[ThePirate]

I agree with the Monk over here.
A lot of emo music is good. As for most the "emo" or "scene" kids, they just piss me off. I have yet to meet an "emo" or "scene" kid that isn't a total dick. Help me on my quest to find a nice "emo" or "scene" kid that is interesting enough to talk to.

[IndependentClauses]

I agree with the Monk over here.
A lot of emo music is good. As for most the "emo" or "scene" kids, they just piss me off. I have yet to meet an "emo" or "scene" kid that isn't a total dick. Help me on my quest to find a nice "emo" or "scene" kid that is interesting enough to talk to.

...you could talk to me?

The problem with emo kids is that they have been conditioned to overshare and overanalyze their emotions. If they're sad, they say they're depressed and they go to great lengths to show it. If they're angry, they say they're furious and they go to great lengths to show it. If they're jealous, everyone knows. If they're greedy, everyone knows. It's narcissism, pretty much- and it's downright epidemic.

emo music, on the other hand, has the capability to not suck. It's just that everyone who is a scene kid doesn't actually listen to good emo. They listen to Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance, Matchbook Romance, Thursday (which their early stuff was good), Brand New (who is very good), and many more who make the EMOTION the forerunner instead of the music.

that's where the disconnect between scene emo and real emo appears:

Do you have emotions driven by music (fake) or music driven by emotion (real)?

That's also the disconnect between scene/emo kids and music fans who like emo.

bump

[MotoXRider31]

Do you have emotions driven by music (fake) or music driven by emotion (real)?
That is a really good point. I, too, listen to a lot of emo music and I definitely am not what most people would see as scene or emo. I just enjoy the music.

[Atlantis]

Example of an emo:


XxSlavetoAnguishxX: omg my gf just left me
acidburnedsoul: that sux man
XxSlavetoAnguishxX: i blame myself only i'm such an ass *cries*
acidburnedsoul: dude come over to my house and we can cut ourselves together
XxSlavetoAnguishxX: okay *cries*
acidburnedsoul: omg dashboard confessional has a new cd, i preordered it already
XxSlavetoAnguishxX: dude they're my favorite band to self-mutilate to
acidburnedsoul: i prefer to cut myself while watching Napoleon Dynamite on my bigscreen
XxSlavetoAnguishxX: dude that movie is so deep. i cry every time i see it
acidburnedsoul: me too. i hate myself
XxSlavetoAnguishxX: yeah we're such tortured souls, nobody understands how hard life is for us
acidburnedsoul: yeah we got it tough dude. pass the tissues while i slit my wrists :'(

[IndependentClauses]

*sigh*

[redbassist66]

Emo = Emotional Hardcore a brand of music that grew out of northern New Jersey and New York City in the late 90's. Bands such as Glassjaw and Thursday are the most recognized in the genre. Basicly if they were signed to Victory or Eyeball in the 90's they are/ were true emo. "Full Collapse" by Thursday is recognized as one of the last emo albums Bands such as Taking Back Sunday, Matchbook Romance, The Early November and From Autumn to Ashes are nu-wave emo, these are bands that have taken a form of music and turned it into a lifestyle with the help of corperations such as Gap Co. owned "Hott Topic"
*exhails*

[redbassist66]

this is important so i'm making it a sticky

[IndependentClauses]

good idea.

[lonesomexloveus]

this site is god....like.

http://www.fourfa.com/

[sunshine131]

...you could talk to me?

The problem with emo kids is that they have been conditioned to overshare and overanalyze their emotions. If they're sad, they say they're depressed and they go to great lengths to show it. If they're angry, they say they're furious and they go to great lengths to show it. If they're jealous, everyone knows. If they're greedy, everyone knows. It's narcissism, pretty much- and it's downright epidemic.



Fortunately (hopefully) this goes away when you grow up...lol. In a sense, they're no better than the goth kids that romanticize death and go to great lengths to seem so dysfunctional.

[IndependentClauses]

Yeah, I agree. Good comparison.

It's all an attention-getting tool by teenagers. I think that somewhere along the line someone said that teenagers weren't getting enough attention and they had to make themselves absolutely obvious for people to give them attention.

I'd like to kick that person(s) in the shin. Not like we could get attention for doing well in school or anything....or helping your community....or something....

[santa]

Emo = Emotive Hardcore, a music genre that developed from punk with emotional lyrics in the early eighties with bands like Rites Of Spring and Moss Icon. I'm not a fan of old-skool emo music myself, but Rites Of Spring are credited for the birth of emotive hardcore. So if someone comes in here saying "OMG LOLZ LOLZ FOB IS SOO EMO1!!1!!" I'll kill you, negrofaggot.

[xziggyx]

Im gonna say this once and only once
Emo is short for emotional hardcore. Some may see this as redundant, to quote Guy Picciotto of Rites of Spring and FUgazi "what, like the bad brains weren't emotional?" nevertheless, it refers to a more cathartic form of hardcore. thus, for a band to be "emo" it is a prerequisite that they are also hardcore. Crap acoustic bands such as dashboard confessional or bright eyes do no qualify. Neither to crap posthardcore bands such as alexisonfire etc.

Here is a vaguely chronological lists of actual emo/screamo bands. its not complete, of course, so don't complain.

Rites of Spring
Moss Icon
the Hated
Heroin
Antioch Arrow
Clikitat Ikatowi
Swing Kids
Mohinder
Angel Hair
Native Nod
Indian Summer
Ordination of Aaron
Still Life
Saetia
Joshua Fit for Battle
Pg. 99
Neil Perry
the Now
Welcome the Plague Year
Orchid
Reversal of Man
Unions of Uranus
Universal Order of Armageddon
One Eyed God Prophecy
City of Catepillar
Portraits of Past

[Triple N]

Yeah i think i'm going to file this thread under the "i'd rather be dead than read this conversation again" banner. Seriously if it's good it's good, who care's what label someone throws on it. Eh I think this topic has given me herpes, it's that painful.

[lifestylebreak]

These are great emo bands you should check out immediately.