What is Emo?

[Simmiah]

I think this is emo. A guy I knew from college was emo & he was featured in the pics from this club.

www.clubbang.net (click on pictures)

 

[posterchild]

Hey guys, watch this clip, its hilarious
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noAQOndpCOs

best definition on what emo is...

an obvious satire but i love this girl, she does such a good job!

 

[wings]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4SS4bnuWTk&mode=related&search=

actually why does everyone think that "emo kids" cut?

 

[loubylou]

i disagree, i think a lot of people get stuck in a genre and than are to afraid to change the way they are because of what there peers find to be acceptable. sub-cultures act as a community so as soon as you try to remove yourself from the "culture" you have to venture out on your own. i believe for a lot of young adults that can be frightening.

I agree. Whilst its nice to think that teens can push aside the trappings of peer pressure and embrace the their own culture, unfortunately life isn't as ideal as that.

I'm 18 now, so I'm past having to subscribe to a subculture, but during my early teens I found it hard to survive in a society where people are so quick to put you in a box and stamp you with a label. Often it's easier just to attach yourself to a certain identity, as a form of protection. I had no desire to 'become' something I wasn't, so I was labelled 'normal,' which is fine by me, but for teens desperate to be noticed, this would be their worst nightmare. Hence the 'shocking' appearance of emos, which isn't actually that controversial when you consider the thousands of others jumping on the band wagon. Its a form of defence mechanism. I should know, plenty of my mates have turned to emo in response to the pressures of tennagedom.

 

[wings]

^i think it´s still hard to be yourself (i´m 18 too)

 

[loubylou]

It can be, but I guess because I was never part of a subculture I have both the perspective and maturity to realise being one person in a million is far more gratifying than being a million people...if you understand what I mean.

This subject intruiges (sp?) me though. As I have mentioned in other topics, I'm currently towards the end of my recovery from anorexia, and often wonder if I developed it as a mechanism to cope with teenage pressures? Maybe being an anorexic became my identity, not indifferent to the emo identity I'm criticising? Or maybe I just shouldn't have studied Psychology for A Level?! Far too much analysis for one day!!!

 

[wings]

yeah much too far. but many people say that anorexia and other stuff (cutting, ect) is a kind of coping...

and i try to be myslef all the time. maybe that´s why i am never a part of a certain croup... i´m in between of a lot of croups lol.

 

[Alexandra8715]

Yeah that's true too. I think that when you see people all dressed emo and haning out together its like theyre all trying to belong somewhere to feel safer and less alone. It's like human nature is revealing itself that way.

 

[Lacroix]

"Emo" is not short for "Emotional." "Emo" does not mean Taking Back Sunday and Dashboard Confessional, despite what MTV has lead you to believe in the last few years. "Emo" is not sidebangs, tight pants, and male vocalists who sing like little girls about their failed relationships. "Emo" is not the use of diluted, meaningless metaphors and similes such as "My arms are like pinecones," and most definitely is not the rampant use of words such as "autumn," "heart," "knife," "bleeding," "leaves," and "razorblade."

I just thought I'd clear that up after all of these "definitions" in which I have encountered an unbelievable amount of people who try to pass off their blatantly false pretenses as fact, and are slowly infecting others with their high-horse, holier-than-thou bullsh*t. Because honestly, with your ridiculous definitions, Beethoven, George Gershwin, and Britney Spears are/was "emo bands."

Now, onto the real definition.

In the early 90s there was a movement in the hardcore genre that came to be known as "Emotive Hardcore," spearheaded by Rites Of Spring. Harder-core-than-thou kids, who swore by Dischord Records a la Minor Threat, actually coined the term "Emo" as something of a put-down for the kids who really liked Rites Of Spring, Indian Summer and this new wave of "Emotive" Hardcore bands. That's right, "Emo" was once not something kids called themselves. The field exploded outwards from there - Level-Plane Records has always been the most famous Emo label. Acts like Yaphet Kotto, I Hate Myself, Saetia, Hot Cross, A Day In Black And White, Funeral Diner, I Would Set Myself On Fire For You, You And I, and hosts of others came in the next decade. Most emo bands have since broken up, but there's still the occasional hold-out (again, the majority of Level-Plane Records' roster has been a procession of emo acts). Like most DIY hardcore/punk of the time, a majority found its way onto vinyl and not much else. Some people consider bands like Fugazi, and later Sunny Day Real Estate, a progression of emo, but personally, I don't quite follow that philosophy.

Often, more recently, this gets intertwined with post-hardcore, and understandably so - that's nothing to make an issue of, since well sh*t, at least it's close.

Since the late 90s, though, bands have been emerging in the vein of Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional, and the thousands of their clones. As far as I can tell, some lazy journalist somewhere, writing an article about them, decided "Well, f*ck, no one knows what emo is anyways, so I'll call these bands "emo" - sounds more appealing than bubblegum pop rock..." and the spiral continued downwards into the current amalgomation of bands MTV has told everyone is "emo."

Somehow, people decided that "emo" meant "emotional," which is obviously bullsh*t, as 99% of bands make music to illicit emotion, which would make "emotional" a completely all-encompassing genre from classical to opera to pop to rap.


Hope that helps.
Taking Back Sunday, Senses Fail, and My Chemical Romance falls under the "horrible pop rock" genre, not the emo genre.

Rites of Spring is emo.

I would like to say that I agree with some of the above.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

 

[Mk's Beauty Shop]

All the " emo" kids i have encountered in my area and I'm not saying this about anyone else just my little city are all people that feel sorry for themselves, cut their wrists and do other self destructive behaviour.. I actually dont associate emo with any type of music but that might just be because I dont know alot of that sort of music but I just associate emo with a frame of mind. As for emo clothes EVERYONE is wearing the same thing but these days and I dont mind it I like black.. hehe BUT the funny thing is they are wearing these clothes to be original and to separate themselves from pop culture or whatever but they all look identical!
This is only where I live though so i think every town, city country would have a different concept of emo... for eg i think Japanese emo would be completely different then australian emo

 

[loubylou]

Yeah...whilst the article made an interested read, in today's context most people consider 'emos' as a fairly laughable subculture, typified by a 'woe is me' type of air. As stereotypical/judgemental is it may be, the youtube spoof is probably the best depiction of emos today.

 

[expedition]

god damn, i read that emo kit thing and apparently i'm a lot more emo than i thought i was, but in my defense

My hair is naturally black.
My jeans are apc new standards, slim but not skin-tight.
I have converse shoes because they're cheap and good for walking in rainy weather.
My parents bought my corolla in 98 and I had no say over it.
Ok, ok, I picked out the black-rim glasses, just 'cause river cuomo had them.
I was known to listen to SDRE in the mid to late 90's.

I always knew one day I would be cool

You sound super yummy!!!!