Emo Rant (not what you think)

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I know rants are usually Khell's thing, but this is something I've wanted to discuss/rant about for a while.

What the hell is up with all these people saying "Oh, that band sucks, they're emo"? Paramore is emo? Green Day is emo? What does emo even mean? Does it mean they cut themselves? Then I don't think any band is emo. Does it mean that they wear eyeliner and black? So being emo is a fashion trend? Does it mean their songs are depressing? Then why don't we say the song "One" by Metallica is emo? And why do we say that Jimmy Eat World is emo, despite their biggest hit being an upbeat song, "The Middle"? Who decides what is emo, and why is emo so bad? From the sound of it, anyone who listens to MCR or Linkin Park has absolutely no taste in music, not even rectified if they also listen to Metallica and Led Zeppelin?

tl;dr, Who decides what emo is, and why is it unforgivably awful?

 

[-Javelin-]

Ranting about this sort of thing is sooooo emo...

 

[curlycrouton]

Here, is an abundance of knowledge on the term "emo".

I like this one:

"Like a Goth, only much less dark and much more Harry Potter."

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

All right, so, after looking at that, none of the bands are emo, according to their definition.

 

[malsector]

"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 bullshit. 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 shit, 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, fuck, 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 bullshit, 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.

Shamelessly stolen from urban dictionary.

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

Here, is an abundance of knowledge on the term "emo".

I like this one:

"Like a Goth, only much less dark and much more Harry Potter."

I like this quote:
Taking Back Sunday, Senses Fail, and My Chemical Romance falls under the "horrible pop rock" genre, not the emo genre.

 

[Esthin]

Malsector is 100% right. Kudos to you my good man.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

No bands are emo. Its just a part of Alternative Rock and Paramore, Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Led Zepplin, and Metallica all rock. Linkin Park is so so. Emo is just a word some one came up with to call punk kids(like myself)

 

[Abedeus]

Except that Goth are badass, emoes are just crybabies and losers.

/slash /slash

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Thank you, malsector. It's just something that irritates me. The second I say I like Evanescence, or Green Day, or Paramore, I get labeled as someone who sits in my room and cuts myself while weeping the lyrics to "Crawling".

 

[zirnitra]

I don't really like the whole emo subculture but the calling bands emo thing has gone far to far. the other day Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 was being called emo on youtube.

 

[Lunar Shadow]

No bands are emo. Its just a part of Alternative Rock and Paramore, Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Led Zepplin, and Metallica all rock. Linkin Park is so so. Emo is just a word some one came up with to call punk kids(like myself)

Actually it's used to describe the amalgam of goths and punks, what I (not-so-) affectionatly call pussy punks

EDIT: Emo, emotive hardecore, is alot like punk. If not dead, just underground.

 

[malsector]

Sorry I did not write my early post. I did however have these points of view, while trying to clarify my thoughts i stumbled across this post.

Sorry for any miscommunication.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Except that Goth are badass, emoes are just crybabies and losers.

/slash /slash

um... I don't know what goths you know, most of the ones I've met are deluded arrogant assholes who think they're vampires or something.

Okay, not entirely true, but I've never met a "badass" goth in my life, they're either nice, normalish people who like to wear black and dye their hair or they're the above.

 

[malsector]

Haha but crawling is emo... (joking I like that song)

 

[Cheesus333]

I don't really like the whole emo subculture but the calling bands emo thing has gone far to far. the other day Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 was being called emo on youtube.

THE WORLD IS BROKEN. GET MY DUCT TAPE.

 

[vede]

Malsector is wrong.

Why? Because the word has changed its meaning from when it was originally coined. It happens. It happened.

Emo is no longer used to describe what malsector said it was used to describe. If you do use it like that, people will be confused. Emo's definition has changed quite drastically, and is now used to describe people who stereotypically dress in tight black pants, have dyed black hair over their eyes (which usually have black eye-liner on them), paint their nails black, and tend to talk about things being black. Also, they tend to be against modern society and its norms ('people just do stuff because other people do it, people seem like robots'), and because people realize that they're just being dipshits, call them dipshits. They also tend to write poems or songs about how 'no one understands them' (everyone keeps calling them dipshits for some reason!) or how their typical suburban well-off life sucks really, really bad.

That's what it means now. If a huge majority thinks a word means one thing, they're right, because words are used as communication, and their meaning is dependent on the people using them. And, well, if you asked almost anyone what 'emo' is, that's what they'll say. (Or at least, something like it.)

Emo bands tend to have lyrics with melodramatic themes and often play songs with simple rhythms and lyrics about how strong their feelings are toward nameless people.

 

[malsector]

Thankyou for a good counter point !

 

[irrelevantnugget]

Emo music is the music emo's listen to, it simply defies the more conventional definitions of other genres.

It's also pretty bad, in general.

 

[GunnerGraye]

Ranting about this sort of thing is sooooo emo...

Agreed.