By Rose Noir
“She’s like so emo”. Why does writing sad poetry and bleeding from time to time necessarily make you emo? Apparently wearing all black makes you a person with suicide on your mind. Do people even know what the term means? I mean what’s with these ‘Are you Emo’ quizzes? Are vague cutting jokes really that funny? Why do people define people with a genre of music?
The word emo (abbreviation for Emotive Hardcore) comes from the 1980’s hardcore punk music scene in Washington, D.C. It was a genre for a type of music that was hard rock mixed with raw emotions mostly including love.
It began with Ian McKaye and Guy Picciotto. Ian McKaye was a member of The Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Rites of Spring, and Embrace. Guy Picciotto was a member of Rites of Spring as well. Their music pulled away from normal Hardcore and Indie rock music into a stage of more extreme experimentation. Members of Rites of Spring actually first used the word emo to describe their music in an interview with Flipside Magazine (1985). Emo, in the music sense, is no longer popular today and is not mainstream, meaning it cannot be heard on the radio. Other emo bands include Moss Icon, Indian Summer, I Hate Myself, Belle Epoque, Antioch Arrow, Amanda Woodward, Twelve Hour Turn, The Sea,The Sea, Yage, and Aussitôt Mort.
At the beginning of the 2000’s, however, society changed the definition of the word to a word that labeled people who dressed accordingly to the artists behind the music−dark colors, tight clothes, studded belts, and somber expressions.
Now, anyone who cuts themselves, writes sad things, thinks of suicide, wears all black, wears eyeliner despite gender, or basically seems to be in a state of depression is, in a derogatory way, emo.
So, why is it ok for someone to call another person emo but not ok for people to say things like “retard” or “gay”. Shouldn’t the same courtesy be extended to the heroes of this music? Would society like it if a person who is mainly focused on God was called “country”. Or a person who has been in jail be called “rap”. It doesn’t seem fair for society to judge a person by a type of music.
I honestly usually don’t use the term “Emo” for people or for the Today’s music that is generally described as that. I don’t like the so-called “Emo” music today, I see it as a music genre that is put on by pop bands with limited musical talents beyond the basics. I do enjoy 90s emo (Fugazi, Sunny Day Real Estate) and thats when I use the term.
I appreciate the fact that you don’t call people “emo”.
I’m a big fan of hardcore punk (especially Dischord!) and ’90s emo. The bands you listed seem a bit scattered (time period, related genre, influences) and some of the information is incorrect (Ian MacKaye formed Embrace only after being a member of The Teen Idles, Minor Threat, and Rites of Spring), but besides that, I think you did a decent job tracing the origin of the word.
Then again, approaching this issue from an alternate standpoint, one might argue the extent to which the accuracy of the modern use of the word ‘emo’ can be disputed- it does seem like ‘emo’ has evolved into a cultural label rather than a musical genre. Either way, it’s definitely an interesting topic to think about it.
Also, just be cautious about using generalizations to support an argument, such as in your conclusion.
Thank you. I will be sure to correct that. I also didn’t realize that bands were scattered, their just what I think are good bands in the genre.
This. I doubt Ian MacKaye would call himself a part of the emo ‘movement’.
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I like to think that today, there are two types of emo: the type you hear in the radio that everyone calls emo but really isn’t, and actual “adult emo”, which is true to the original genre.
I mostly try to ignore what everyone calls emo and isn’t emo. I just think it’s stupid that some people just say emo and think they’re referring to someone.