EMO REALITY
the Washington DC music scene of the mid-1980s. Hardcore music is the
prevalent genre of any real import: Bad Brains, Teen Idles, Minor Threat et all
are tearing up venues with hedonistic abandon, and a small minority is getting
sick of it. Sick of the drugs, the drink, the vapidity of hardcore music in its
increasing popularity. Things had to
change. With this realization on the part of the likes of Rites of Spring and
Embrace, the genre which would later be mockingly referred to as 'emocore' was
born in DC in the late'80s. The music was
softer, slower and more technical, with lyrics on the personal rather than
political scale. Distorted guitars strumming octave chords and strained vocals
were the order in this new genre soon to evolve into the genre of 'emo'.
The sound of classic emo was more brutal than its predecessor emocore:
there was a lot of play on quiet-loud, soft-harsh dynamic shifts in the music;
songs became movements rather than mere songs. Once again, octave chords were
used to drive the music along with a certain sense of desperation and urgency.
Vocals ranged from a whisper to a howl to mere talking, all in keeping with the
mood of songs and emotion of the
vocalist. Performances were often honest and earnest, with vocalists often
breaking down into tears from this emotional outpouring that was their music.
The lyrics tended to be abstract, difficult to decipher and, invariably,
difficult to hear; all of which added to the mystique of the genre's music.
The mid-1990s brought with them a new generation of bands influenced by the
work of Fugazi, such as Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral and Texas is the Reason.
In the fledgling era of the World Wide Web, internet discussion on these bands
and other bands belonging to their scene led to their being tagged 'emo', even
if Fugazi had had nothing to do with the First Wave of emo. The '90s period saw
the first 'emo' mainstream record release in the form of Jimmy Eat World's
Static Prevails. This genre of what is called 'post-emo indie' continued to rise
in success up until the early 2000's, where it then met its end of
mainstreampopularity.
However, all of this is very much in the past: the modern definition of the
term 'emo' has very little to do with the original '80s hardcore definition, or
even the '90s indie definition. Jimmy Eat World 's shift from post-emo indie
influences to a more poppy feel to their music led to the term still being
applied to them, inexorably changing its meaning. 2003 saw the success of
singer-songwriters such as Chris Carrabba (of Dashboard Confessional), who himself was seen to be at the
forefront of a new movement of artists with (supposedly) overtly emotional
music. MTV had to come up with a tag to market this movement at adolescents in a
catchy manner, so the tag 'emo ' was chosen. This misnomer was expanded to many
other bands with very little, if anything at all, in common: it is, therefore,
pretty much impossible to define emo in the current musical climate, other than
the assumption that it 's anything being marketed to teenagers. The term
'screamo' (which will be discussed later) was used to describe bands with a
heavier sound, producing a similar cathartic-esque music. Current examples of
'emo'/'screamo' include:
The MTV generation of the term turned into more than just a genre of music: a
subculture of sorts was born from it. Fashion and behavioural trends have been born from this:
tight jeans, tight t-shirts, hair with bangs over eyes, studded belts, skate shoes and horn-rimmed glasses are all the order of
the day to this subgenre of people. There 's a certain observed predilection to
pseudo-depressive and histrionic behaviour with the 'emos': probably no more
than a side effect of puberty in the eyes
of a cynic.
Emo purists see the MTV generation to be a scourge upon the genre, making the
definition between new and old emo clear: they use the term 'screamo' (or
'skramz' as a humorous way to differentiate between screamo and MTV screamo) to
describe the (mostly European) bands sticking to the original emo formula.
Internet terrorism has even been undertaken by these groups to make well-known
faux screamo bands change any details which make them out to be screamo: they've
made a lexical error into a political cause. Bands considered to be true screamo
include Stella Dawes, Daitro, I Would Set Myself On Fire for You, Circle Takes
the Square, Hot Cross, Saetia, Envy and
Neil Perry.
THIS IS EMO 4 REAL
prevalent genre of any real import: Bad Brains, Teen Idles, Minor Threat et all
are tearing up venues with hedonistic abandon, and a small minority is getting
sick of it. Sick of the drugs, the drink, the vapidity of hardcore music in its
increasing popularity. Things had to
change. With this realization on the part of the likes of Rites of Spring and
Embrace, the genre which would later be mockingly referred to as 'emocore' was
born in DC in the late'80s. The music was
softer, slower and more technical, with lyrics on the personal rather than
political scale. Distorted guitars strumming octave chords and strained vocals
were the order in this new genre soon to evolve into the genre of 'emo'.
The sound of classic emo was more brutal than its predecessor emocore:
there was a lot of play on quiet-loud, soft-harsh dynamic shifts in the music;
songs became movements rather than mere songs. Once again, octave chords were
used to drive the music along with a certain sense of desperation and urgency.
Vocals ranged from a whisper to a howl to mere talking, all in keeping with the
mood of songs and emotion of the
vocalist. Performances were often honest and earnest, with vocalists often
breaking down into tears from this emotional outpouring that was their music.
The lyrics tended to be abstract, difficult to decipher and, invariably,
difficult to hear; all of which added to the mystique of the genre's music.
The mid-1990s brought with them a new generation of bands influenced by the
work of Fugazi, such as Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral and Texas is the Reason.
In the fledgling era of the World Wide Web, internet discussion on these bands
and other bands belonging to their scene led to their being tagged 'emo', even
if Fugazi had had nothing to do with the First Wave of emo. The '90s period saw
the first 'emo' mainstream record release in the form of Jimmy Eat World's
Static Prevails. This genre of what is called 'post-emo indie' continued to rise
in success up until the early 2000's, where it then met its end of
mainstreampopularity.
However, all of this is very much in the past: the modern definition of the
term 'emo' has very little to do with the original '80s hardcore definition, or
even the '90s indie definition. Jimmy Eat World 's shift from post-emo indie
influences to a more poppy feel to their music led to the term still being
applied to them, inexorably changing its meaning. 2003 saw the success of
singer-songwriters such as Chris Carrabba (of Dashboard Confessional), who himself was seen to be at the
forefront of a new movement of artists with (supposedly) overtly emotional
music. MTV had to come up with a tag to market this movement at adolescents in a
catchy manner, so the tag 'emo ' was chosen. This misnomer was expanded to many
other bands with very little, if anything at all, in common: it is, therefore,
pretty much impossible to define emo in the current musical climate, other than
the assumption that it 's anything being marketed to teenagers. The term
'screamo' (which will be discussed later) was used to describe bands with a
heavier sound, producing a similar cathartic-esque music. Current examples of
'emo'/'screamo' include:
- My Chemical Romance
- Fall Out Boy
- Dashboard Confessional
- Cursive
- Avenged Sevenfold
- Bring me The Horizon
- Panic(!) at the Disco
- From First to Last
- Senses Fail
- Taking Back Sunday
- Bright Eyes
- Coheed and Cambria
- Thursday
- and more�
The MTV generation of the term turned into more than just a genre of music: a
subculture of sorts was born from it. Fashion and behavioural trends have been born from this:
tight jeans, tight t-shirts, hair with bangs over eyes, studded belts, skate shoes and horn-rimmed glasses are all the order of
the day to this subgenre of people. There 's a certain observed predilection to
pseudo-depressive and histrionic behaviour with the 'emos': probably no more
than a side effect of puberty in the eyes
of a cynic.
Emo purists see the MTV generation to be a scourge upon the genre, making the
definition between new and old emo clear: they use the term 'screamo' (or
'skramz' as a humorous way to differentiate between screamo and MTV screamo) to
describe the (mostly European) bands sticking to the original emo formula.
Internet terrorism has even been undertaken by these groups to make well-known
faux screamo bands change any details which make them out to be screamo: they've
made a lexical error into a political cause. Bands considered to be true screamo
include Stella Dawes, Daitro, I Would Set Myself On Fire for You, Circle Takes
the Square, Hot Cross, Saetia, Envy and
Neil Perry.
THIS IS EMO 4 REAL