emo

OK, first of all... Emo is not Dashboard Confessional or "Death Cab" or Fall Out Boy. Advertisers have for some reason decided to use the term "emo" to describe these bubble-gum punk bands for a reason beyond me. O, if only Wenis had caught on instead.... Anyways Emo has its roots in the vibrant punk scene of 1980s Washington DC. I'll try to sum this all up as best I can (Im no expert). After the breakup of the hardcore band Minor Threat, the now-legends of the DC scene (Ian MacKaye, Guy Piccioto, etc) decided that the type of music they had been playing had lost its originality and basically worn itself out... So in come the bands Rites of Spring and Embrace. They took the classic DC hardcore sound and added lyrics that conveyed deeper emotions. I'm sure it would sound like noise to most people who hear it for the first time, but I love it. In an interview at the time, Ian MacKaye (Now in Embrace) mentioned that fans had started to use the word "emo" to describe themselves as a group (Alas for cliques and exclusion). Then the term stuck, and was added to similar bands such as Moss Icon, Antioch, and then later Saetia, Current, Indian Summer, and the list goes on. By the early 90s, bands began to take the influences of this "emo" sound and combine it with more melodic pop-punk influences, and now we have Texas Is The Reason, pg. 99, CaPn Jazz, and later the promise ring and jimmy eats world (sort of). The term emo still stuck, even though some people tried to distinguish between the "driving, or melodic emo" of the current time, and the "emocore" of the 80s, most people didnt care. Bands like Jimmy Eat World began to get mainstream recognition in the late 90s, and although they changed their sound substansially, and sounded almost nothing like the Emo of over 10 years ago, the term "emo" was still in use (goddamit, its persistent). Teen People even called emo "the cutest new trend in music" in an article in 1998. Now, this is a HUGE difference from the "Emo" of the early years, which was underground, rough, and raw. But what can you do? And then in the past few years bands have capitalized on Jimmy Eat World type bands new poppy sound, and MTV and all the other "hip" advertisers decided to call them all emo... So here we are with the current "emo trend, which Im sure all of you already know more than enough about.