i mean i know it was a thing circa 05-07. But, it seems like such a quick thing that happened. Then went away! i knew it would die off quicker than hair metal when i was in high school anyways.

Looking back what was the appeal? emo music is... well... i tried finding ''good'' emo music and it all sounds like whiny shit And apperently people are trying to make it come back a little.

My question is... was Emo really a huge thing as people portrayed? in high school i knew it was huge. But i don't thin most people who were over 18 new or cared about.

Yeah I guess it was a thing. Probably still is. The stuff I heard refered to as emo in those years had very little in common with the bands of my generation that I first heard referred to as emo or emo-core likes Rites of Spring and Jawbreaker. Basically they were punk bands with lyrics about emotional distress, and they were really super intense, like beet-red faces with spit coming out their mouths as they exorcised their demons every night. It was "emo" as in "emotional", as opposed to sarcastic or disaffected like a lot of punk bands at the time. It really sounded like someone having a fucking nervous breakdown. It wasn't my favorite thing but there were some good bands doing it, another flavor option among many.

That stuff that was big six years ago had similar "why am I so unhappy" kind of themes but a lot more whiny and complainy, and more mainstream concerns, and the music was a lot more normal aounding. I guess kids will always need songs that make them feel like it's OK to be confused and lonely and unpopular. But it's not the greatest topic for rock and roll songs all the time, halfway through the album you might start saying "damn, dude, get over yourself and your milktoast problems."

They remind me of the Talking Heads song No Compassion... "what are you, in love with your problems?.... why don't you talk to your analyst, isnt that what they're paid for?"

If you want to hear some good emo music, download the Rites Of Spring album, there's only one, on Dischord Records from 1985.

when bands were labelled as emo there was such a wide range of bands but i guess it started off as Weezer , Jimmy Eat World and bands like that.

i really like this

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/wa...cRt7kkzcxM[/youtube]

[Edited 1/13/14 15:07pm]

I identify it with that whole angstly self-pittying sound epitomized by bands like Sunny Day Real Estate. I went through an emo-phase in high school..

*

[Edited 1/14/14 10:44am]

It had to be because later there was Screamo and I am here to tell you THAT was a real thing.

RodeoSchro said:

It had to be because later there was Screamo and I am here to tell you THAT was a real thing.

I know... i was there sadly

On the South Park episode where the goth kids are trying to explain the difference between goth and emo one of them makes an interesting point.

Goths - and I would say this applied to most punks in my day - feel that the WORLD IS FUCKED UP and they needed to take righteous action against it.

Emos feel like THEY ARE PERSONALLY FUCKED UP and someone should really take righteous action against THEM.

It's an important distinction I think.

There are good punk records about feeling bad, alienated, depressed but it's not the dominant emotion. Most of them are about defiance, "I'm right and you're wrong you fascist pig." I have to say, I think that's a much more positive attitude for a teenager to have! Of course the world is fucked up when you're 16 years old! You've got a whole lifetime ahead of you where you can take a more balanced look at things, presuming you survive being a teenager. Knowing that the world is fucked up - and hearing it from other people - is important for some kids' survival.

Emo's more of a mindset than anything else. The style of music associated with it constantly changes. In the 80's it was bands like Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine. In the 90's Marilyn Manson pretty much dominated the public perception on it. And then the 2000's came and the music turned to shit

aardvark15 said:

aardvark15 said:

Emo's more of a mindset than anything else. The style of music associated with it constantly changes. In the 80's it was bands like Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine. In the 90's Marilyn Manson pretty much dominated the public perception on it. And then the 2000's came and the music turned to shit

My Bloody Valentine emo?

are you serious?

aardvark15 said:

Emo's more of a mindset than anything else. The style of music associated with it constantly changes. In the 80's it was bands like Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine. In the 90's Marilyn Manson pretty much dominated the public perception on it. And then the 2000's came and the music turned to shit

I think those are more of a gothic sound. And MBV are more shoegaze and dream pop.

Emo wasn't a term i heard till the early 00's

I think at it's root "emo" is supposed to just imply a more melodic, punk-type music with songs that have more emotional and self reflective themes.

As with most sub-genres though, as it's popularity spread the title in time centered more around an image and a stereotype, rather than the music at all... A lot of people who would complain the most about hating emo, probably could not name a single band that falls in the category musically. The "hate" is more geared toward shallow, whiny, Hot topic kids with no real identity.

Mathiwn3 said:

aardvark15 said:

Emo's more of a mindset than anything else. The style of music associated with it constantly changes. In the 80's it was bands like Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine. In the 90's Marilyn Manson pretty much dominated the public perception on it. And then the 2000's came and the music turned to shit

That's the first time I have heard any of those bands referred to as "emo". Marilyn Manson is an especially strange choice. He's no wimpy complainer nor does his music sound like pop-punk.

This is contemporary emo music:

when I was in high school it was this:

So basically the evolution of emocore goes from sad lyric indy punk music to a more self consciously "I'm depressed" dressing in black, growing hair out, moping around for no reason type of thing...

aardvark15 said:

Mathiwn3 said:

My Bloody Valentine emo?

are you serious?

I was trying to think another really popular act and although MBV were very different from the whole thing, musically they were the only major band I could think of who came close to the sound.

Well I'd say the main characteristic in emo music was the... well, emotional lyrics

MBV managed to make noisy music that was actually quite beautiful. It was more 'different' than the 'different' music at the time

Emo mainstream band... I don't recall there's any that did a HUGE success for many years. Influences on emo, I think Nirvana, right? I remember reading that a whole lot of emo bands started out by trying to emulate their sound, only with overtly emotional lyrics

I always perceived Joy Division and Marilyn Manson as having a really dreamy and dark sound. I don't feel that at all in emo.

[Edited 1/22/14 21:48pm]

Rococo said:

Emo was first used or rather atributted to this band rites of spring http://en.m.wikipedia.org..._of_Spring

Picciotto himself doesn't recognize the attribution of having "created" emo. When asked about it in an interview his response was, "I've never recognized "emo" as a genre of music. I always thought it was the most retarded term ever. I know there is this generic commonplace that every band that gets labeled with that term hates it. They feel scandalized by it. But honestly, I just thought that all the bands I played in were punk rock bands. The reason I think it's so stupid is that - what, like the Bad Brains weren't emotional? What - they were robots or something? It just doesn't make any sense to me."^[8]

Most of the bands using that term today, or having it applied to them against their will, sound very different from Rites Of Spring.

I wish they had made it to Trenton, 1985 was the year I could very possibly have seen them. Didn't really hear them until years later though, after Fugazi had gotten big.

ah my apologies..lol lets blame bauhaus for emo.

No you were right to mention them as the first the term was used for. Just pointing out that the kind of "emo thing" Guns is talking about is so different musically as to be not recognizable. Also that EVEN THE BAND IT WAS COINED FOR hated the term.

[Edited 1/23/14 18:33pm]