‘Emo’ is a term now broadly used to describe almost any form of guitar-driven alternative rock that expresses emotions beyond traditional punk's limited emotional palette of alienation and rage. It not only defines a musical genre, but represents a way of life, much like the term ‘Punk’. The term ‘Emo’ originated in the mid-1980’s punk scene of Washington D.C to classify such bands of the post-punk era as Rites Of Spring, Fugazi, Moss Icon and Antioch Arrow. The term addressed both the way these bands connected with their audiences, as well as their tendency to deal more with topics of personal and relationship politics than with the standard themes of rock music.
The roots of emo can be traced back to two bands of the post-punk era – Mission Of Burma and Husker Du. Mission Of Burma’s 1983 release VS did much to expand rock beyond its original constraints while still retaining its emotional punch. Husker Du’s 1984 release Zen Arcade is considered to have defined the blueprint of emo – simple, raw guitar-orientated music with intense vocals and deeply introspective songwriting.
As this new style gained popularity, bands such as Moss Icon, Policy Of Three, Navio Forge and Indian Summer began to fuse traditional hardcore punk with emo stylings and techniques. The result of this fusion was a form of emo far more intense than its predecessor, resulting in a powerful emotional release that often left emo bands and their audiences crying or screaming at the end of performances.
However, several hardcore punk fans were often uncomfortable with such powerful emotional releases during performances, resulting in a split between what were considered true hardcore fanatics and those who affiliated themselves with emo. During this period, the term ‘emo’ was used in a derogatory manner by true hardcore fanatics and lost all reference to a musical style now considered socially unacceptable.
With the mass-market acceptance of alternative music during the early 1990’s, emo no longer differentiated from what was now considered the norm. Like other alternative genres that were now considered mainstream, emo developed even further from its origins. This development into what was labeled ‘chaotic emo’ was frontlined by such bands as Rites Of Spring and Antioch Arrow. These bands mixed chaotic rock music with abrasive, emotional screaming vocals, resulting in emo taking rock to the next level of emotional intensity and power.
Several subgenres of emo developed throughout the early 1990’s in response to its mainstream success, including emo violence, screamo and hardcore emo (‘emocore’). Emo Violence uses often very chaotic screamed vocals (usually relatively high pitched and less modified than typical hardcore or death metal vocals) and is also often recorded in low fidelity which gives it a foggier sound.
Emo Violence is often mistook for an extreme form of metal known as grindcore, due to the utilization of very chaotic off timed guitars, however the drums are much lighter, with less speed (no use of drumming machines) and significantly less usage of the bass drum, however double/triple pedals are still within the limits of emo violence. Also, emo violence is much more emotionally influenced than grindcore with occasional melodic sections sometimes including talking or even singing.
A very closely related, yet different style to emo violence is screamo, however these two subgenres often intertwine and borrow ideas and concepts from each other. Screamo has been the victim of extensive mainstream bastardization by such bands as Underoath, Hawthorne Heights and to a lesser extent, Taking Back Sunday.
Screamo bands play a thrashy brand of emo; often featuring harmonizing guitar riffing and anguished vocal screams. Because of its sheer speed and brutality, screamo bands often border on grindcore. Many screamo bands often play a slower melodic breakdown in songs. Lyrically, screamo topics are often introspective, although it is not uncommon to see a screamo band with political lyrics. An average screamo song uses imagery and metaphors to speak of lost love or failed friendships.
Hardcore emo primarily existed in the early 1990’s, however nowadays this subgenre of emo is rarely presented in its pure and intended form. The San Diego based record company Gravity Records fathered this particular subgenre, as well as others described above. Hardcore emo is often referred to as emocore, however bands that consider themselves emocore today differentiate significantly from the true hardcore emo sound that existed throughout the early 1990’s.
Later in the 1990’s, bands such as Sunny Day Real Estate, Elliott, Christie Front Drive, Get Up Kids, Cap'n Jazz, The Promise Ring and Mineral explored a more moderately paced form of emo that mixed the early emo sound of Rites of Spring with the post-hardcore innovation of Fugazi and Quicksand. The musical genre that best describes Sunny Day Real Estate, The Get-Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World, as well as Elliot and Christie Front Drive is ‘Post Emo’.
Although the chaotic emo subgenres were considered dead by the mid 1990’s, a ‘screamo revival’ is said to have taken place, with French Canadian bands Union Of Uranus and One Eyed God Prophecy ensuring that the chaotic emo subgenres never died. These two bands heavily influenced several bands of the late 1990’s/early 2000’s, including From First To Last, AFI, Funeral For A Friend, Alexisonfire, No Use For A Name and Thrice.
Nowadays, the term emo is incorrectly used to define the style of several alternative bands including Senses Fail, Hawthorne Heights, My Chemical Romance and The Used. Like many terms defining genres of popular/alternative music, the bands that are labeled emo are in constant dispute, since each band in existence undeniably has its own unique style and technique. However, several characteristics of alternative music today are undoubtedly emo, including introspective songwriting, powerful guitar riffs and emotionally driven vocals.
The conflicts between punk/hardcore and emo fans still exist today, with emo music often being considered homosexual by today’s younger generations due to its emotional content. Also, the term ‘emo’ has not lost its sting, with several people continuing to use the term in a derogatory manner to describe those who are more in-tune with their feelings than most.
