EMO?

[El Nino]

Can somebody please explain or articulate this whole "emo" thing. What is it, and what does it signify?

[Legend]

Can somebody please explain or articulate this whole "emo" thing. What is it, and what does it signify?

emo is short for emotional and it describes kids who seem somewhat depressed and is usually why they wear black clothing dye their hair black and never seem to be happy,thats why you hear all the cut jokes because they seem like they are going to commit sucide.

[lupinIII]

It's also a newish wave of punk music (started I believe around the early to mid-nineties), where bands would slow down there rhythms and play heavier music which was, you guessed it, more emotional and more focused on feelings, girlfiends etc.

Compare and contrast, Taking Back Sunday, Saves the Day=Emo

Bad Religion, Descendents=Punk

Emo=Slower rhythms, downtuned guitars, vocal melodies are less obvious, and more wailed or screamed.

Punk=Faster, more treble heavy sound on guitars, solos, greater emphasis on vocal melody, more instance of harmony, more poppy.

Of course the best music from Descendents is based on getting the girl but they play at hyperspeed so I couldn't in my right mind call them emo.

[BrendaQG]

What is that substantive difference between that and what was called "goth" back in the 90's? (some of them were called "faggots" too so there was a sexual overtone to it.)

[El Nino]

Cool, thanks guys. Now I don't feel so old hahaha

Anybody ever heard of the rock group Cryptozoic ?

[odelay24]

Emo started in the 80's with Grey Matter and Fugazi.

But what we call emo today is a different thing.

Basically what we call emo today is like a mixture of 'goth pop' and 'punk'. It sort of evolved from the popularity of the pop punk genre with bands like mxpx and later on Good Charlotte.
The whole "whinyness" of there singing was amped up to ten and so people started calling it emo (even though by definition all music is emotional).

If you ever hear the term "scene kid" now, it means kids who listen to emo band sand have long black fringes and lots of eyeliner. They also listen to hardcore music.
My Chemical Romance and Panic at the Disco are considered the best examples of emo, but tend to be less popular with actual 'scene kids' or 'emo's'.

[kukm4]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv6r0pB-KkA

[Felicia Katt]

its not this guy? LOL

meow

FK

[TJT]

Yup,used to date Judy Tenuta.

[alpha2117]

Emo probably traces its roots back to Joy Division more than anyone else. They had those droning sounds, powerful and dark lyrics and stated using synths when it just wasn't done in punk proper.

[TJT]

You could go back to the Stranglers and Siouxie and The Banshees for that matter. The latter and the early Gang of Four/Cure/PIL etc.. would be my bet. The Banshees had the look and sound down in early '78.

All the early categorization seemed to eminate from the UK in those days? I remember reading a New Musical Express review of a Blondie show circa '78 and the writer was more concerned with the band members being dressed in what would be contrasting styles than the music itself? In the States it was all Punk.

Of course,Punk originated here and the British morphed it to their own constraints after they got hold of it,much like Mods and Rockers in the early 60's? Those Brits need their cliques.

[gimmeurblood]

the goth kids from the 90s mutated in to the raver kids in the late 90'2 early new 2000's and they became the emo kids its like the scene de jour for the kids

[MonsieurValentine]

Emo started in the 80's with Grey Matter and Fugazi.

But what we call emo today is a different thing.

Basically what we call emo today is like a mixture of 'goth pop' and 'punk'. It sort of evolved from the popularity of the pop punk genre with bands like mxpx and later on Good Charlotte.
The whole "whinyness" of there singing was amped up to ten and so people started calling it emo (even though by definition all music is emotional).

If you ever hear the term "scene kid" now, it means kids who listen to emo band sand have long black fringes and lots of eyeliner. They also listen to hardcore music.
My Chemical Romance and Panic at the Disco are considered the best examples of emo, but tend to be less popular with actual 'scene kids' or 'emo's'.

yeah, the "new" emo actually started with guys like sunny day real estate.

[johnie]

you will see have of these emo kids on this board looking for a good harmon therapy cocktail sooner or later....

[wendy48088]

* Deleted *

[zerrrr]

Emo probably traces its roots back to Joy Division more than anyone else. They had those droning sounds, powerful and dark lyrics and stated using synths when it just wasn't done in punk proper.

Ah, Joy Division. Great stuff there.

[chefmike]

My girlfriend is a vampire.

[odelay24]

Emo started in the 80's with Grey Matter and Fugazi.

But what we call emo today is a different thing.

Basically what we call emo today is like a mixture of 'goth pop' and 'punk'. It sort of evolved from the popularity of the pop punk genre with bands like mxpx and later on Good Charlotte.
The whole "whinyness" of there singing was amped up to ten and so people started calling it emo (even though by definition all music is emotional).

If you ever hear the term "scene kid" now, it means kids who listen to emo band sand have long black fringes and lots of eyeliner. They also listen to hardcore music.
My Chemical Romance and Panic at the Disco are considered the best examples of emo, but tend to be less popular with actual 'scene kids' or 'emo's'.

yeah, the "new" emo actually started with guys like sunny day real estate.


Yeh dude, I could go into full detail, but fuck that. I'd end up on my soapbox, lol.

[PhilHurup]

Can somebody please explain or articulate this whole "emo" thing. What is it, and what does it signify?


Someone seriously screwed up in the head. Also an Attention whore.

Also, if you're going to cut yourself, do it right. Go deeper and lengthwise down the arm, not across.

[tg4me]

EMO = broken-hearted/pissed guys screaming...screaming every single word. There's a few great songs and alot of copy-cat examples on every Alternative station.

[odelay24]

Can somebody please explain or articulate this whole "emo" thing. What is it, and what does it signify?


Someone seriously screwed up in the head. Also an Attention whore.

Also, if you're going to cut yourself, do it right. Go deeper and lengthwise down the arm, not across.

Emo's don't cut themselves. I don't know where people keep getting this from!

Cutters are cutters.

Emo's are just kids who are totally in love with their girlfriends. Or who are totally shattered when that girlfriend breaks up with them. Which usually results in them sitting around listening to Dashboard Confessional and crying; or writing songs of their own.

[stillies77]

im into Emo music but im not a scenester...i wear my dashboard shirt with pride though...i love most emo bands...yes i am emo but without the cutting and the clothes haha.

[MacShreach]

You could go back to the Stranglers and Siouxie and The Banshees for that matter. The latter and the early Gang of Four/Cure/PIL etc.. would be my bet. The Banshees had the look and sound down in early '78.

All the early categorization seemed to eminate from the UK in those days? I remember reading a New Musical Express review of a Blondie show circa '78 and the writer was more concerned with the band members being dressed in what would be contrasting styles than the music itself? In the States it was all Punk.

Of course,Punk originated here and the British morphed it to their own constraints after they got hold of it,much like Mods and Rockers in the early 60's? Those Brits need their cliques.

I can't see the relation to Siouxsie, other than the big droning chords....But that's hardly unique....The Stranglers were a pub-rock band, nothing wrong with that, but the relationship.....only as part of a general "sound." Walking on the beaches, looking at the peaches....Doesn't sound very emo to me.


Siouxsie lyrics were always very surreal and self-consciously art-rock; not many people would write a song about the end of Pompeii, like Cities in Dust. Or

And don't forget,
When your roomies forget,
To say their prayers,
Crack 'em on the heads
And throw them down the stairs.

Don't sound much like the bleeding-heart Emo thing to me.


PIL was total iconoclasm in the punk tradition, whereas the Cure borrowed the punk look--as defined by Siouxsie-- but married this to a more mellow sound, so they may have something to do with it.

I do think there's a lot of the Manchester scene circa early 80's in Emo, eg Joy Division and The Smiths (SATB and the Stranglers were London, as was most early punk, with a few Liverpool bands.) Manchester borrowed mercilessly from the existing punk scene so there is a crossover, but punk was totally in-your-face, very, very self confident, iconoclastic and even revolutionary, with a huge political dimension, witness "God Save the Queen" or "White Riot." Whereas the Manchester take was typically whiney, depressed, lacking self-assurance (indeed making that a virtue) with the exception of course of the excellent Human League, who were--and are--just a great little pop band with a twist. Manchester was really too self-obsessed to be political, and it's that self-obsession that makes it the natural parent of Emo.

Punk in the States and Punk in the UK shared the same name but they weren't alike. Bands like the Ramones, Patti Smith, Talking Heads and Blondie were considered by many here "New Wave" rather than Punk-- lots of people who wouldn't have a Damned or Slits or Pistols record in the house were big fans of some of the New York bands.

The big difference was the political element, which was so essential to UK punk, with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned et alia leading the charge. Punk in New York was about getting back to a raw, visceral form of rock and roll; punk in the UK was about smashing the system. Didn't matter if it was the record-company system or the political system built on favour and privilege, it all had to be got rid of. It's absolutely true that the media and the record companies tried to conflate the two but that was just marketing. I'm not saying US punk wasn't politicised, but it wasn't the central message that it was here. Remember that "God Save the Queen" was released in 1977, Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee year, when the British establishment was in full Imperial arse-lick mode and a lot of young people eg me, were saying "What the fuck has this to do with life in Britain today? It's a fucking shit-hole and it's time we did somethiing about it."

That's why so many punks were such big reggae fans-- UK reggae was about smashing the same system.

As regards the fashion, you're right. By 78 the NME had appointed itself as cultural guardian of the nation's youth and its writers were systematically demolishing everything they didn't think fit with their ideals. Blondie was just a really easy target and they took every opportunity to slate them--which I'm sure Debbi and the boys did not care one whit about, they were coining it here.

The NME had also codified the uniforms that were to be worn by the legions of its loyal punk followers, and Blondie's hip fashion was just not to be suffered, another reason for kicking the band in the teeth.

The NME lost the plot entirely in the late 70's to early 80's. Early punk said that it was okay not to be great musicians, the message and the sound was more important, because in the beginning UK punk was a polemical music, something it has long since lost. However the NME had, in its usual absolutist manner, turned this into a gospel that ANY musical ability at all was to be condemned.

By 1980 this had turned on them since the surviving punk bands had all learned to play quite well by then thanks, and the New Mod movement, which the NME had promoted as the next step, had fallen flat on its arse, where it remained. In fact the music scene, in part thanks to the efforts of the NME, who had made the clothes of the bands and the fans so central an issue, had totally splintered and there was no "new music" or at least not one that was acceptable to the NME.


The NME belonged to another era, when musical tastes were decided in London (as far as the UK is concerned) and promoted by the London-based musical press. Although it continues in print and has a web presence, the days when it was a seminal influence on British culture are long gone, partly we would have to admit, as a result of the success of the iconoclasm of the 70's that the NME itself did so much to promote--It's very difficult now to identify what "British Culture" actually is, or even if such a beast really exists at all...

[odelay24]

Lol, I couldn't talk about the history of punk for forever and a day.

One thing I will say: Fuck the Stranglers, fucking bandwagon jumpers! The only good thing they ever did was that video for Golden Brown. lol.

But yeah, emo as we know it today started in the 90's with bands like Sunny Day Real Eastate et al. And was continued by a number of bands, most importantly Jimmy Eat world.
They were popular in the late 90's emo scene. But began to change there sound to something which was very much unlike emo and enjoyed mainstream success. However, new comers to the band were still using the label emo. And so this new sound became synonymous with the word emo.

That's why most 'emo' songs now sound more like "Salt Sweat Sugar" than they do Fugazi.

So in other words, emo was a slowed down, heavily emotionally charged (though not angsty) version of L.A. hardcore.
It evolved a little and garnered a nation wide scene.
One of these bands changed there sound and got popular.
The mainstream thought this was what emo was.
The name stuck.

[sparky357153]

That emo kid video was funny !!! I see a lot of that at the shows but were not all like that ! The ones that are , are really cool and fun to talk to.

[stillies77]

i like emo but i hate Screamo.

[whatsupwithat]

It's typical society bs. A new generation trying to be different by giving the same old shiat that's been around forever a name that they can claim ownership of.

[MacShreach]

It's typical society bs. A new generation trying to be different by giving the same old shiat that's been around forever a name that they can claim ownership of.

It's just what kids do, it's their time for it.

[MacShreach]

Lol, I couldn't talk about the history of punk for forever and a day.

I can think of at least three people I know who have built whole careers doing that , and they're not alone....


One thing I will say: Fuck the Stranglers, fucking bandwagon jumpers! The only good thing they ever did was that video for Golden Brown. lol.

Yup. There were dozens of pretty similar bands doing the pub circuit in London at the time they appeared--people only remember a handful now, and not necessarily the best ones at that.

[jiggly]

EMO = broken-hearted/pissed guys screaming...screaming every single word. There's a few great songs and alot of copy-cat examples on every Alternative station.

not nesecarilly... they call that shit screamo.... :x


http://st.blog.cz/j/joely-moley.blog.cz/obrazky/689918.jpg




Emo's don't cut themselves. I don't know where people keep getting this from!

Cutters are cutters.

Emo's are just kids who are totally in love with their girlfriends. Or who are totally shattered when that girlfriend breaks up with them. Which usually results in them sitting around listening to Dashboard Confessional and crying; or writing songs of their own.

emo kids cut themselves to be cool, or get attention, cutters do it as a release.

[Iggy]

MacShreach,
"the Manchester take was typically whiney, depressed, lacking self-assurance (indeed making that a virtue) with the exception of course of the excellent Human League"
The Human League were actually from Sheffield me old mate, but you are correct, they shone like a beacon in the late 70's/early 80's when punk had spent itself as a genuine force.
I saw them support the Banshees in about 1980, probably the best gig I've ever been to.

"Listen to the voice of Buddha"

[DC]

Emo fucking sucks, New York Hardcore is what punk is all about.

[lupinIII]

Eh, NYHC is OK, I like SOIA and AF and some Madball but the rest seems a bit too derivative. I like post-punk-ish At the Drive In or riot grrl bands like Sleater-Kinney

[whatislove]

This post is spot on. Points to MacS.



You could go back to the Stranglers and Siouxie and The Banshees for that matter. The latter and the early Gang of Four/Cure/PIL etc.. would be my bet. The Banshees had the look and sound down in early '78.

All the early categorization seemed to eminate from the UK in those days? I remember reading a New Musical Express review of a Blondie show circa '78 and the writer was more concerned with the band members being dressed in what would be contrasting styles than the music itself? In the States it was all Punk.

Of course,Punk originated here and the British morphed it to their own constraints after they got hold of it,much like Mods and Rockers in the early 60's? Those Brits need their cliques.

I can't see the relation to Siouxsie, other than the big droning chords....But that's hardly unique....The Stranglers were a pub-rock band, nothing wrong with that, but the relationship.....only as part of a general "sound." Walking on the beaches, looking at the peaches....Doesn't sound very emo to me.


Siouxsie lyrics were always very surreal and self-consciously art-rock; not many people would write a song about the end of Pompeii, like Cities in Dust. Or

And don't forget,
When your roomies forget,
To say their prayers,
Crack 'em on the heads
And throw them down the stairs.

Don't sound much like the bleeding-heart Emo thing to me.


PIL was total iconoclasm in the punk tradition, whereas the Cure borrowed the punk look--as defined by Siouxsie-- but married this to a more mellow sound, so they may have something to do with it.

I do think there's a lot of the Manchester scene circa early 80's in Emo, eg Joy Division and The Smiths (SATB and the Stranglers were London, as was most early punk, with a few Liverpool bands.) Manchester borrowed mercilessly from the existing punk scene so there is a crossover, but punk was totally in-your-face, very, very self confident, iconoclastic and even revolutionary, with a huge political dimension, witness "God Save the Queen" or "White Riot." Whereas the Manchester take was typically whiney, depressed, lacking self-assurance (indeed making that a virtue) with the exception of course of the excellent Human League, who were--and are--just a great little pop band with a twist. Manchester was really too self-obsessed to be political, and it's that self-obsession that makes it the natural parent of Emo.

Punk in the States and Punk in the UK shared the same name but they weren't alike. Bands like the Ramones, Patti Smith, Talking Heads and Blondie were considered by many here "New Wave" rather than Punk-- lots of people who wouldn't have a Damned or Slits or Pistols record in the house were big fans of some of the New York bands.

The big difference was the political element, which was so essential to UK punk, with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned et alia leading the charge. Punk in New York was about getting back to a raw, visceral form of rock and roll; punk in the UK was about smashing the system. Didn't matter if it was the record-company system or the political system built on favour and privilege, it all had to be got rid of. It's absolutely true that the media and the record companies tried to conflate the two but that was just marketing. I'm not saying US punk wasn't politicised, but it wasn't the central message that it was here. Remember that "God Save the Queen" was released in 1977, Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee year, when the British establishment was in full Imperial arse-lick mode and a lot of young people eg me, were saying "What the fuck has this to do with life in Britain today? It's a fucking shit-hole and it's time we did somethiing about it."

That's why so many punks were such big reggae fans-- UK reggae was about smashing the same system.

As regards the fashion, you're right. By 78 the NME had appointed itself as cultural guardian of the nation's youth and its writers were systematically demolishing everything they didn't think fit with their ideals. Blondie was just a really easy target and they took every opportunity to slate them--which I'm sure Debbi and the boys did not care one whit about, they were coining it here.

The NME had also codified the uniforms that were to be worn by the legions of its loyal punk followers, and Blondie's hip fashion was just not to be suffered, another reason for kicking the band in the teeth.

The NME lost the plot entirely in the late 70's to early 80's. Early punk said that it was okay not to be great musicians, the message and the sound was more important, because in the beginning UK punk was a polemical music, something it has long since lost. However the NME had, in its usual absolutist manner, turned this into a gospel that ANY musical ability at all was to be condemned.

By 1980 this had turned on them since the surviving punk bands had all learned to play quite well by then thanks, and the New Mod movement, which the NME had promoted as the next step, had fallen flat on its arse, where it remained. In fact the music scene, in part thanks to the efforts of the NME, who had made the clothes of the bands and the fans so central an issue, had totally splintered and there was no "new music" or at least not one that was acceptable to the NME.


The NME belonged to another era, when musical tastes were decided in London (as far as the UK is concerned) and promoted by the London-based musical press. Although it continues in print and has a web presence, the days when it was a seminal influence on British culture are long gone, partly we would have to admit, as a result of the success of the iconoclasm of the 70's that the NME itself did so much to promote--It's very difficult now to identify what "British Culture" actually is, or even if such a beast really exists at all...