Nu-Wave Emo is dying

[IndependentClauses]

Nu-Wave emo (Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, My Chemical Romance, etc) is taking a major hit recently- I can't think of any major hits by a band that would be considered 'emo' since Straylight Run's last single (Coheed and Cambria are not even "nu-wave" emo). It seems that dance, punk, and 80's revivalism have eclipsed nu-wave emo in popularity......

which leads me to my question. Will emo kids still exist en masse, as a liberated majority of people, or will emo kids start to fade? Will they, like emo bands, just stop forming? Will there be an 80's cultural revival? Will danceniks start appearing? eh?

[Orion_lts]

Will there be an 80's cultural revival?

Let's hope not.

[ThePirate]

Let's bring back swing :)

[IndependentClauses]

Let's bring back swing :)

again?

3rd wave?

GO DADDY-O!

[LifeIsSweet]

Well, in mho... they all sound so similar to me -- that is the overall sound does. I just can't get into it no matter how hard I try. It just seems so lacking creativity... sorry guys. It's not like I hate it or anything -- I just don't get it.

[lonesomexloveus]

it makes me die inside just a little when tbs, brand new, and mcr are mentioned in the same sentence as the word emo.

[antihero0009]

umm...what genre are they then?

[IndependentClauses]

it makes me die inside just a little when tbs, brand new, and mcr are mentioned in the same sentence as the word emo.

I said Nu-wave.

I didn't say 'true emo', which is what I would call bands like The Shivering, I Would Set Myself on Fire For You, On the Might of Princes, and others.

And MCR, Brand New, and TBS are pop-punk. Maybe they're not Blink-182 pop-punk, but they play punk with pop melodies.

thus, pop-punk.

[Kripes]

thus, pop-punk.

Exactly. Instead of Nu-Wave Emo I'd rather call it Poser Emo.

[IndependentClauses]

Poser emo sounds condescending.....it's kinda tough to use in a review of a band without them flaming our e-mail account after the review goes up.

We like the term nu-wave emo, lol.

[Kripes]

I wouldn't call anything poser emo in a review because it's not real, just like Nu-Wave emo. It's pop-punk, or some other type of form. My Chemical Romance is pop-punk, that's it.

[redbassist66]

I wouldn't call anything poser emo in a review because it's not real, just like Nu-Wave emo. It's pop-punk, or some other type of form. My Chemical Romance is pop-punk, that's it.

but using the word emo makes the kids understand what the music is. if you say pop-punk they think Simple Plan if you say emo they Fall Out Boy and TBS. two different points of view, thats it.

[IndependentClauses]

two different points of view, thats it.

I agree with Scott.

[JW]

I agree with Scott.
Yeah I've never thought of it that way before and it's really true.

good stuff, eh

[lonesomexloveus]

I said Nu-wave.

I didn't say 'true emo', which is what I would call bands like The Shivering, I Would Set Myself on Fire For You, On the Might of Princes, and others.

And MCR, Brand New, and TBS are pop-punk. Maybe they're not Blink-182 pop-punk, but they play punk with pop melodies.

thus, pop-punk.
it still makes me sad : (
the harsh reality of the stupidity of the general populus in regards to music as a whole.

[IndependentClauses]

Iiiiiiiiiiiiit's rant time!

This rant is the 'people are so dumb to good music' rant. It has two parts: a. yes, they are dumb and b. maybe we're not as smart as we think we are.

A. Yes, the general populace would be regarded as musically illiterate. This is because they listen to the radio to hear new music. Most listen while they're in their cars, and since we spend so much time in cars, we spend a lot of time listening to the radio. It's not all people listen to, but it's a signifigant amount of listening time.
This is a problem, because radio sucks. I'm lucky enough to have two brilliant radio stations here that play good music (one plays strictly indie, the other plays Joy Division, The Cure, nineties stuff, obscure stuff, non-single tracks occasionally- as well as the trendy stuff), but many places are not so lucky. Those unfortunate towns have boring, formulaic radio stations that play only what is released- 'modern' rock, 'alt'-rock, lame-metal, and general crap. You know, shinedown, 3 days Grace, Nickelback, etc, etc. I don't listen to enough radio to know the crap that's there these days. The people who listen to these stations like these bands because they don't know any better. They don't know that there's a purevolume.com, they don't know that there is prettier music than the pretty music on the radio, harder music than the hard stuff on the radio, and more artistic stuff than the 'artistic' stuff on the radio. They just don't know. And since many of the people use their car radio as their only means of discovering new music (as opposed to obtaining, which a LOT of people now use the computer to obtain new music), they never get enlightened to the good music. They never have reason to search for other music- they like what's on the radio cause they've been conditioned to like it. They think it's the only thing. A lot of people would like better music if they had access to it. Yes, XM and Satellite radio help, but come on, the only people buying XM are people who care enough about music to know about the good stuff. I don't get mad at people for being dumb any more- it's a byproduct of our screwed up radio system, which in turn is a result of our broken record label system. It's not the listener's fault- it's the system's fault.

b. Maybe we're not as smart as we think....

Okay, we who are 'enlightened' to good music go and bash people who aren't music-smart- but this is our area of 'expertise', per se. Somebody who knows everything about TV could probably bash your choices in shows as juvenile and deconstructive to the good shows. Someone who knows a lot about sports might find your loyalties dumb in the face of facts. Someone who knows a lot about the internet might laugh at the fact that you go to certain sites, and wish you would go to other, better sites that you don't know about. But you'll never go to those sites, cause you don't know they exist. And you have no reason to search them out, because you like the sites you're going to now. Even if you're not going to 'the best' site, you like it, cause it's what you know. So even though we put on airs as knowing bunches about music, there's someone out there who is equally knowledgeable about another subject.

That's why I dislike people who think they know everything about music and try to force their musical tastes on everyone. No one knows everything, and just knowing a bunch of stuff about music doesn't mean that person is better than anyone else. It just means you know more about one subject.

Know-it-alls are community breakers.

Now I'm not saying at ALL that you're one of those know it alls- you'd probably fall more in the a part of the rant than the b part of the rant, but the two parts go together. It's a package deal.

Don't misinterpret me- it's nothing against you. Just against the way things are.

[antihero0009]

Iiiiiiiiiiiiit's rant time!

This rant is the 'people are so dumb to good music' rant. It has two parts: a. yes, they are dumb and b. maybe we're not as smart as we think we are.

A. Yes, the general populace would be regarded as musically illiterate. This is because they listen to the radio to hear new music. Most listen while they're in their cars, and since we spend so much time in cars, we spend a lot of time listening to the radio. It's not all people listen to, but it's a signifigant amount of listening time.
This is a problem, because radio sucks. I'm lucky enough to have two brilliant radio stations here that play good music (one plays strictly indie, the other plays Joy Division, The Cure, nineties stuff, obscure stuff, non-single tracks occasionally- as well as the trendy stuff), but many places are not so lucky. Those unfortunate towns have boring, formulaic radio stations that play only what is released- 'modern' rock, 'alt'-rock, lame-metal, and general crap. You know, shinedown, 3 days Grace, Nickelback, etc, etc. I don't listen to enough radio to know the crap that's there these days. The people who listen to these stations like these bands because they don't know any better. They don't know that there's a purevolume.com, they don't know that there is prettier music than the pretty music on the radio, harder music than the hard stuff on the radio, and more artistic stuff than the 'artistic' stuff on the radio. They just don't know. And since many of the people use their car radio as their only means of discovering new music (as opposed to obtaining, which a LOT of people now use the computer to obtain new music), they never get enlightened to the good music. They never have reason to search for other music- they like what's on the radio cause they've been conditioned to like it. They think it's the only thing. A lot of people would like better music if they had access to it. Yes, XM and Satellite radio help, but come on, the only people buying XM are people who care enough about music to know about the good stuff. I don't get mad at people for being dumb any more- it's a byproduct of our screwed up radio system, which in turn is a result of our broken record label system. It's not the listener's fault- it's the system's fault.

b. Maybe we're not as smart as we think....

Okay, we who are 'enlightened' to good music go and bash people who aren't music-smart- but this is our area of 'expertise', per se. Somebody who knows everything about TV could probably bash your choices in shows as juvenile and deconstructive to the good shows. Someone who knows a lot about sports might find your loyalties dumb in the face of facts. Someone who knows a lot about the internet might laugh at the fact that you go to certain sites, and wish you would go to other, better sites that you don't know about. But you'll never go to those sites, cause you don't know they exist. And you have no reason to search them out, because you like the sites you're going to now. Even if you're not going to 'the best' site, you like it, cause it's what you know. So even though we put on airs as knowing bunches about music, there's someone out there who is equally knowledgeable about another subject.

That's why I dislike people who think they know everything about music and try to force their musical tastes on everyone. No one knows everything, and just knowing a bunch of stuff about music doesn't mean that person is better than anyone else. It just means you know more about one subject.

Know-it-alls are community breakers.

Now I'm not saying at ALL that you're one of those know it alls- you'd probably fall more in the a part of the rant than the b part of the rant, but the two parts go together. It's a package deal.

Don't misinterpret me- it's nothing against you. Just against the way things are.
dear god

[JW]

Wow, excellent read IC

I'd like to think that what actually happens is case B, but either way, fucking awesome write up

[lonesomexloveus]

Iiiiiiiiiiiiit's rant time!


Okay, we who are 'enlightened' to good music go and bash people who aren't music-smart- but this is our area of 'expertise', per se. Somebody who knows everything about TV could probably bash your choices in shows as juvenile and deconstructive to the good shows. Someone who knows a lot about sports might find your loyalties dumb in the face of facts. Someone who knows a lot about the internet might laugh at the fact that you go to certain sites, and wish you would go to other, better sites that you don't know about. But you'll never go to those sites, cause you don't know they exist. And you have no reason to search them out, because you like the sites you're going to now. Even if you're not going to 'the best' site, you like it, cause it's what you know. So even though we put on airs as knowing bunches about music, there's someone out there who is equally knowledgeable about another subject.

That's why I dislike people who think they know everything about music and try to force their musical tastes on everyone. No one knows everything, and just knowing a bunch of stuff about music doesn't mean that person is better than anyone else. It just means you know more about one subject.

Know-it-alls are community breakers.

Now I'm not saying at ALL that you're one of those know it alls- you'd probably fall more in the a part of the rant than the b part of the rant, but the two parts go together. It's a package deal.

Don't misinterpret me- it's nothing against you. Just against the way things are.

i partially agree with you.
however, i didnt have someone show me the music i listen to, or at least the majority of it, or the bands that got me into other bands i am now listening to as a result.

music is the same as everything else; if youre not satisfied with what you listen to, i.e. you are smart enough to recognize that 90% of whats on the radio is bad, you take it upon yourself to seek out new, and subsequently better music to listen to. just like someone not computer saavy, or llama raising saavy, or who is in a bad relationship, or anything under the sun will seek out ways to become more informed. i'm the first one to admit that sometimes i listen to crappy music, or that someone might find my music crappy, and that i dont know nearly everything about music.

i guess the bottom line is, you can settle for the bad crap, or look for something better. no excuses.

[JW]

i partially agree with you.
however, i didnt have someone show me the music i listen to, or at least the majority of it, or the bands that got me into other bands i am now listening to as a result.

music is the same as everything else; if youre not satisfied with what you listen to, i.e. you are smart enough to recognize that 90% of whats on the radio is bad, you take it upon yourself to seek out new, and subsequently better music to listen to. just like someone not computer saavy, or llama raising saavy, or who is in a bad relationship, or anything under the sun will seek out ways to become more informed. i'm the first one to admit that sometimes i listen to crappy music, or that someone might find my music crappy, and that i dont know nearly everything about music.

i guess the bottom line is, you can settle for the bad crap, or look for something better. no excuses.
But since the idea of bad crap is partial anyways, the entire idea is moot, isn't it? Or maybe I'm looking at it from the wrong perspective.. slap me if I am, I'm tired :/

[lonesomexloveus]

But since the idea of bad crap is partial anyways, the entire idea is moot, isn't it? Or maybe I'm looking at it from the wrong perspective.. slap me if I am, I'm tired :/

the whole argument in general is moot if we're basing it on a subjective view rather than an objective one lol.

[JW]

the whole argument in general is moot if we're basing it on a subjective view rather than an objective one lol.
Alright I get it, we're argueing about crappy popular bands vs. good not popular bands, correct?

[lonesomexloveus]

Alright I get it, we're argueing about crappy popular bands vs. good not popular bands, correct?
i just blankly stared at that for a really long time before i hit reply haha.

more or less kind of.
i think it's more of me arguing with myself over going to bed.
and its spilling out into sloppy half rhetoric onto my keyboard.

[JW]

i just blankly stared at that for a really long time before i hit reply haha.

more or less kind of.
i think it's more of me arguing with myself over going to bed.
and its spilling out into sloppy half rhetoric onto my keyboard.
I need to implement a system that reminds users not to try to argue about something after a certain time at night, otherwise we all lose :(

[IndependentClauses]

lol!! I've always heard that nothing profitable happens after midnight. I'm inclined to agree.

A

[Kripes]

I'm lucky enough to have two brilliant radio stations here that play good music (one plays strictly indie, the other plays Joy Division, The Cure, nineties stuff, obscure stuff, non-single tracks occasionally- as well as the trendy stuff),

I thought we lived in the same town! What the heck?

[IndependentClauses]

I'm talking the Edge (104.5), which plays joy division, the cure, candlebox, live, chasing furies, bush, nirvana, collective soul, etc.

and 91.3 RSU radio, which plays exclusively indie stuff. It's hard to pick up if you don't have a good antenna. But they play stuff by thievery corporation, cloud cult, ice nine, bright eyes, ben folds, early modest mouse, matisyahu, all sorts of stuff.

[sunshine131]

Iiiiiiiiiiiiit's rant time!

This rant is the 'people are so dumb to good music' rant. It has two parts: a. yes, they are dumb and b. maybe we're not as smart as we think we are.

A. Yes, the general populace would be regarded as musically illiterate. This is because they listen to the radio to hear new music. Most listen while they're in their cars, and since we spend so much time in cars, we spend a lot of time listening to the radio. It's not all people listen to, but it's a signifigant amount of listening time.
This is a problem, because radio sucks. I'm lucky enough to have two brilliant radio stations here that play good music (one plays strictly indie, the other plays Joy Division, The Cure, nineties stuff, obscure stuff, non-single tracks occasionally- as well as the trendy stuff), but many places are not so lucky. Those unfortunate towns have boring, formulaic radio stations that play only what is released- 'modern' rock, 'alt'-rock, lame-metal, and general crap. You know, shinedown, 3 days Grace, Nickelback, etc, etc. I don't listen to enough radio to know the crap that's there these days. The people who listen to these stations like these bands because they don't know any better. They don't know that there's a purevolume.com, they don't know that there is prettier music than the pretty music on the radio, harder music than the hard stuff on the radio, and more artistic stuff than the 'artistic' stuff on the radio. They just don't know. And since many of the people use their car radio as their only means of discovering new music (as opposed to obtaining, which a LOT of people now use the computer to obtain new music), they never get enlightened to the good music. They never have reason to search for other music- they like what's on the radio cause they've been conditioned to like it. They think it's the only thing. A lot of people would like better music if they had access to it. Yes, XM and Satellite radio help, but come on, the only people buying XM are people who care enough about music to know about the good stuff. I don't get mad at people for being dumb any more- it's a byproduct of our screwed up radio system, which in turn is a result of our broken record label system. It's not the listener's fault- it's the system's fault.

b. Maybe we're not as smart as we think....

Okay, we who are 'enlightened' to good music go and bash people who aren't music-smart- but this is our area of 'expertise', per se. Somebody who knows everything about TV could probably bash your choices in shows as juvenile and deconstructive to the good shows. Someone who knows a lot about sports might find your loyalties dumb in the face of facts. Someone who knows a lot about the internet might laugh at the fact that you go to certain sites, and wish you would go to other, better sites that you don't know about. But you'll never go to those sites, cause you don't know they exist. And you have no reason to search them out, because you like the sites you're going to now. Even if you're not going to 'the best' site, you like it, cause it's what you know. So even though we put on airs as knowing bunches about music, there's someone out there who is equally knowledgeable about another subject.

That's why I dislike people who think they know everything about music and try to force their musical tastes on everyone. No one knows everything, and just knowing a bunch of stuff about music doesn't mean that person is better than anyone else. It just means you know more about one subject.

Know-it-alls are community breakers.

Now I'm not saying at ALL that you're one of those know it alls- you'd probably fall more in the a part of the rant than the b part of the rant, but the two parts go together. It's a package deal.

Don't misinterpret me- it's nothing against you. Just against the way things are.


I agree with what you wrote, and I'm gonna follow it up with two bits of commentary...

1) If you like it, who cares what you call it? Yes, we need to label our music (from a reviewer's standpoint, it helps a LOT to define the genre that the music falls under when doing a write-up). I'm old enough now to have experienced the whole history of emo and to have seen the very interesting blends of music that have come out of the genre, but to me, emo will always be Braid, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Promise Ring, Cap'n Jazz, Jets to Brazil...but to someone 10 years younger than me, who wasn't around for the heyday of these bands, I'm sure the term takes on a whole new meaning. That's the beauty of music. What it means is up to the interpretation to the listener. Now, yes, there is a definite cut and dry definition of emo, but if someone wants to play loose and fast with the definition, to an extent, by all means, do so. (However, if it gets to the point where they're calling Dr. Dre "emo", I might have to go punch a monkey.)

2) I wrote an article about this for IC awhile back, so I'll paraphrase this a bit - people who really dig their heels into the "know-it-all" ness and get offended when their favorite genre or band becomes mainstream and suddenly decide to hate it/them are just plain elitist music snobs and no better than the trendy people who only like what radio and MTV tell them to. For example - I love Fall Out Boy. I loved them before they were big, and yeah, it annoys the crap out of me that I can't go see them live anymore because the shows are always sold out and the shows are full of hyper 14 year old kids who stand around screaming "OMGZ the singer his so hawt!" but I refuse to stop liking them because they "got big". Same with Jimmy Eat World. I could go on and on. But I won't.

Hope this makes sense.

[IndependentClauses]

I agree completely.

I love Jimmy Eat World, and some of my friends won't touch it with a ten foot pole because of "The Middle", which isn't really one of their best songs, nor their catchiest (although it IS pretty darn catchy).

[Kripes]

I'm talking the Edge (104.5), which plays joy division, the cure, candlebox, live, chasing furies, bush, nirvana, collective soul, etc.

and 91.3 RSU radio, which plays exclusively indie stuff. It's hard to pick up if you don't have a good antenna. But they play stuff by thievery corporation, cloud cult, ice nine, bright eyes, ben folds, early modest mouse, matisyahu, all sorts of stuff.

Okay, I know the Edge, I listen to them sometimes, but I've never heard of RSU radio, I'll see if I tune into it.

Edit: This is weird, I went to 91.3 and it's KMOD, which is also 97.5.

[redbassist66]

(However, if it gets to the point where they're calling Dr. Dre "emo", I might have to go punch a monkey.)

now what the hell did the monkey do to you? lol

2) I wrote an article about this for IC awhile back, so I'll paraphrase this a bit - people who really dig their heels into the "know-it-all" ness and get offended when their favorite genre or band becomes mainstream and suddenly decide to hate it/them are just plain elitist music snobs and no better than the trendy people who only like what radio and MTV tell them to. For example - I love Fall Out Boy. I loved them before they were big, and yeah, it annoys the crap out of me that I can't go see them live anymore because the shows are always sold out and the shows are full of hyper 14 year old kids who stand around screaming "OMGZ the singer his so hawt!" but I refuse to stop liking them because they "got big". Same with Jimmy Eat World. I could go on and on. But I won't.


very good point.

in a way we (as in the people who care about music enough to be on LTS) come very close to being music snobs. we know music very well, are very opinionated about it and very vocal about it. but i think the single thing that distingishes us from snobs is our willingness to go out and introduce other people to new music. i know a lot of people who would wear a shirt by an obscure band and tell people off when he or she were asked who the band was. I would call these people music snobs. but when someone asks you about a band and you pull your MP3 player of choice out and let them listen to a few songs, that makes you a diciple of the music. and i believe that is what we should strive for as a community.

[lonesomexloveus]

I agree completely.

I love Jimmy Eat World, and some of my friends won't touch it with a ten foot pole because of "The Middle", which isn't really one of their best songs, nor their catchiest (although it IS pretty darn catchy).
i dont get it how people can love a band until they're on the radio, then hate them. to me, THAT act is selling out, not when the band gets on the radio.

if theyre still making the same kind of music, i dont see why someone shouldnt just be glad that theyre getting the success they deserve.