Emo: The Definitive History of

Emo (pronounced /ˈiːmoʊ/) is a genre of music that originated from hardcore punk [1] early on, and adopted pop-punk influences later on in the 2000s when it became mainstream.
It has since come to describe several variations of music with common roots and associated fashion and stereotypes.
In the mid-1980s, the term emo described a subgenre of hardcore punk which stemmed from the Washington, D.C. music scene. In later years, the term emocore, short for "emotional hardcore", was also used to describe the emotional performances of bands in the Washington, D.C. scene and some of the offshoot regional scenes such as Rites of Spring, Embrace, One Last Wish, Beefeater, Gray Matter, Fire Party, and later, Moss Icon
Starting in the mid-1990s, the term emo began to refer to the indie scene that followed the influences of Fugazi, which itself was an offshoot of the first wave of emo. Bands including Sunny Day Real Estate and Texas Is the Reason had a more indie rock style of emo, more melodic and less chaotic. The so-called "indie emo" scene survived until the late 1990s, as many of the bands either disbanded or shifted to mainstream styles. As the remaining indie emo bands entered the mainstream, newer bands began to emulate the mainstream style.

First wave (1985-1994)
In 1985 in Washington, D.C., Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, veterans of the DC hardcore music scene, took their music in a more personal direction with a far greater sense of experimentation, bringing forth MacKaye's Embrace and Picciotto's Rites of Spring. The style of music developed by Embrace and Rites of Spring soon became its own sound. As a result of the renewed spirit of experimentation and musical innovation that developed the new scene, the summer of 1985 soon came to be known in the scene as "Revolution Summer".[2]
Where the term emo actually originated is uncertain, but members of Rites of Spring mentioned in a 1985 interview in Flipside Magazine that some of their fans had started using the term to describe their music.
Within a short time, the D.C. emo sound began to influence other bands such as Moss Icon, Nation of Ulysses, Dag Nasty, Soulside, Shudder to Think, Fire Party, Marginal Man, and Gray Matter, many of which were released on MacKaye's Dischord Records.
Further information: Washington, D.C. hardcore
As the D.C. scene expanded, other scenes began to develop. In San Diego in the early 1990s, Gravity Records released a number of records in the hardcore emo style. Also in California, Ebullition Records released records by bands such as Still Life and Portraits of Past, all having various social and political themes in common.[citation needed]
At the same time, in the New York/New Jersey area, bands such as Native Nod, Merel, 1.6 Band, Policy of 3, Rye Coalition, Iconoclast and Quicksand[3] were feeling the same impulse. Many of these bands were involved with the ABC No Rio club scene in New York, itself a response to the violence and stagnation in the scene and with the bands that played at CBGBs, the only other small venue for hardcore in New York at the time.
Following the disbanding of Embrace in 1986, MacKaye established the influential group Fugazi, and was soon joined by Picciotto. While Fugazi itself is not typically categorized as emo, the band's music is cited as an influence by popular second-wave bands such as Sunny Day Real Estate,[4] Braid,[5] and Jimmy Eat World.[6]

Second wave (1994–2000)
As Fugazi and the Dischord Records scene became more and more popular in the indie underground of the early 1990s, new bands began to spring up.
Diary was released by Sunny Day Real Estate in 1994. The band performed on TV shows, including The Jon Stewart Show.
Inspired by Fugazi and Sunny Day Real Estate, Jimmy Eat World released the album Static Prevails in 1996 on Capitol Records.
A Cornerstone of the late-Nineties emo movement was Weezer's 1996 album Pinkerton, which was to be considered one of the defining emo records of the 90s and was said to have introduced emo to a larger and more mainstream audience.[7][8]
In 1997, Deep Elm Records released the first installment in a series of compilations called Emo Diaries, featuring tracks from Jimmy Eat World, Samiam, and Jejune.
In the years that followed, Sunny Day Real Estate opted to shift to a more prog-rock direction, Jejune aimed for happy pop-rock, and The Get Up Kids and The Promise Ring released lite-rock albums.

Mainstream emo (2000–present)
Where Jimmy Eat World had played emocore-style music early in their career, by the time of the release of their 2001 album Bleed American, the band had downplayed its emo influences, releasing more pop-oriented singles such as "The Middle" and "Sweetness". Newer bands that sounded like Jimmy Eat World (and, in some cases, like the more melodic emo bands of the late 90s) were soon included in the genre.[9]
2003 saw the success of Chris Carrabba, the former singer of emo band Further Seems Forever, and his project Dashboard Confessional. Carraba found himself part of the emerging "popular" emo scene. Carrabba's music featured lyrics founded in deep diary-like outpourings of emotion. While certainly emotional, the new "emo" had a far greater appeal amongst adolescents than its earlier incarnations.[10]
At the same time, use of the term "emo" expanded beyond the musical genre, which added to the confusion surrounding the term. The word "emo" became associated with open displays of strong emotion. Common fashion styles and attitudes that were becoming idiomatic of fans of similar "emo" bands also began to be referred to as "emo." As a result, bands that were loosely associated with "emo" trends or simply demonstrated emotion began to be referred to as emo.[11]
As a result of the continuing shift of "emo" over the years, a serious schism has emerged between those who relate to particular eras of "emo." Many involved in the independent nature of both 80s and 90s emo are upset at the perceived hijacking of the word emo to sell a new generation of major label music.
In a strange twist, screamo, a sub-genre of the new emo, has found greater popularity in recent years through bands such as Glassjaw[12], the term screamo. Complicating matters is that several small scenes devoted to original screamo still exist in the underground. However, the new use of "screamo" demonstrates how the shift in terms connected to "emo" has made the varying genres difficult to categorize.[citation needed]
The difficulty in defining "emo" as a genre may have started at the very beginning. In a 2003 interview by Mark Prindle, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi and Rites of Spring was asked how he felt about "being the creator of the emo genre." He responded:
I don't recognize that attribution. 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.

Fashion and stereotype

Today Emo is more commonly tied to fashion than to music,[13] and the term "emo" is sometimes stereotyped with tight jeans on males and females alike, long fringe (bangs) brushed to one side of the face or over one or both eyes, dyed black, straight hair, tight t-shirts (sometimes short sleeved) which often bear the names of emo bands (or other designer shirts), studded belts, belt buckles, canvas sneakers or skate shoes or other black shoes (often old and beaten up) and thick, black horn-rimmed glasses.[14][15][16] This fashion has at times been characterized as a fad.[17]

Criticism
Fans of Emo have been derided for being posers who are overly sentimental; they have have also been accused of "robbing" the fashion styles of other music genres, such as the older Punk and Goth subcultures.
The Mexican Music Network Telehit reported that, as of 2008, there have been 136,000 Videos uploaded on Youtube with the term "EMO" and that the majority of these videos make fun of Emo kids.
In 2008, Time Magazine reported that "anti-emo" groups attacked teenagers in Mexico City, Querétaro, and Tijuana.[23][24] One of Mexico's foremost critics of emo was Kristoff, a music presenter on the popular TV channel Telehit.
Gerard Way, the lead singer of My Chemical Romance stated in an interview that "emo is a pile of shit", and that his band was never emo.[25] Panic at the Disco also stated in an interview with NME: "emo is bullshit."[26] These two bands however tend to be classified as emo.
Fans of emo are criticised for purported displays of emotion common in the scene. Complaints pointed to the histrionic manner in which the emotions were expressed.[27]
In October 2003, a Punk Planet contributor leveled the charge that the current era of emo was sexist. Hopper argued that where bands such as Jawbox, Jawbreaker and Sunny Day Real Estate had characterized women in such a way that they were not "exclusively defined by their absence or lensed through romantic-specter",[28] contemporary bands approached relationship issues by "damning the girl on the other side ... its woman-induced misery has gone from being descriptive to being prescriptive." Regarding the position of women listening to emo, the contributor went on to note that the music had become "just another forum where women were locked in a stasis of outside observation, observing ourselves through the eyes of others."
Critics of modern emo have argued that there is a tendency toward increasingly generic and homogenized style.[29]
Emo music has been blamed for the suicide by hanging of Hannah Bond by both the coroner at the inquest into her death and her mother, Heather Bond, after it was claimed that emo music glamorized suicide and her apparent obsession with My Chemical Romance was said to be linked to her suicide. The inquest heard that she was part of an internet "emo" cult [30] and her Bebo page contained an image of an 'emo girl' with bloody wrists.[31] It was also revealed that she had discussed "the glamour of hanging" online[30] and had explained to her parents that her self harming was an "emo initiation ceremony"[31]. Heather Bond criticised emo fashion, saying: "There are 'emo' websites that show pink teddies hanging themselves." After the verdict was reported in NME, fans of emo music contacted the magazine to defend against accusations that it promotes self harm and suicide.[32]
In Russia, a law has been presented at the Duma to regulate emo websites and forbid emo style at schools at government buildings, for fears of emo being a "dangerous teen trend" promoting anti-social behaviour, depression, social withdrawal and even suicide. [33][34]

See also
List of emo artists
Post hardcore
Screamo

References
^ http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=77:4525
^ Embrace, Official Biography, Southern Records.
^ AllMusic.com: Manic Compression
^ "Shine On: Jeremy Enigk's Sunny days may be over, but his music is as bright as ever", by Dave Herrera, Denver Westword, July 27, 2006
^ "Braid singer speaks on roots of emo" by Emily Zemler, The Eagle Online, June 21, 2004
^ "Jimmy Eat World Message Board – FAQ: The Band"
^ Edwards, Gavin. "Weezer: Pinkerton" RollingStone.com. December 9, 2004.
^ Weezer are the most important band of the last 10 years
^ DeRogatis, Jim."Emo (The Genre That Dare Not Speak Its Name)".
^ DeRogatis, Jim. "True Confessional?". October 3, 2003.
^ Popkin, Helen A.S. "What exactly is 'emo,' anyway?" MSNBC.com. March 26, 2006
^ "Screamo", by Jim DeRogatis, Guitar World Magazine, November 2002
^ Emo Culture - Why The Long Fringe?. 3news. Event occurs at 1:17-1:22.
^ Knot Magazine – "In Defense of Emo"
^ Incendiary Magazine – "EMO: What Is It?"
^ "Label it. .. emo". gURL. iVillage Inc. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
^ Poretta, JP (2007-03-03). "Cheer up Emo Kid, It's a Brand New Day". The Fairfield Mirror. Retrieved on 2007-03-08.
^ La Gorce, Tammy (2007-08-14). "Finding Emo". The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
^ Bunning, Shane (2006-06-08). "The attack of the clones: an emo-lution in the fashion industry". Newspace, University of Queensland, School of Journalism and Communication.. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
^ Stiernberg, Bonnie (2007-03-13). "What is emo?". The Daily illini. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
^ Sands, Sarah (August 16, 2006). "EMO cult warning for parents". The Daily Mail. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
^ Walsh, Jeremy (2007-10-18). "Bayside takes Manhattan". Queens Time Ledger. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
^ "Mexico's Emo-Bashing Problem." Time.
^ Anti-EMO Attacks in Tijuana
^ Brett Sowerby (2007-09-20). "My Chemical Romance talks to The 'Campus". "The Maine Campus" via Collegepublisher.com. Retrieved on 2008-08-10.
^ "Panic! At The Disco declare emo "Bullshit!" The band reject "weak" stereotype". NME (2006-10-18). Retrieved on 2008-08-10.
^ Peotto, Tom. "The relentless force of 'emo'". e.Peak. February 27, 2006.
^ Hopper, Jessica (2003), "Emo: Where The Girls Aren't", Punk Planet, Issue 56.
^ Jacobs, Justin. "Emo Not Fatally Wounded". Pitt News. April 19, 2006.
^ a b Clench, James (2008-05-08). "Suicide of Hannah, the secret 'emo'". The Sun.
^ a b "Emo music attacked over teen suicide". NME (2008-05-08).
^ "Emo fans defend their music against suicide claims". NME (2008-05-08).
^ "Emo to be made illegal in Russia? New laws planned to stop 'dangerous teen trends'". NME (2008-07-23). Retrieved on 2008-09-29.
^ Sean Michaels (2008-07-21). "Russia wages war on emo kids", The Guardian. Retrieved on 2008-09-29.