Wrong, 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.
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.
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.
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.
(Extracts from my musical investigation into the origins of emo)
