Those who were old enough to know better in the nineties may find the current dilution of rock in emo music appalling. Grunge is all but dead, and alternative has followed suit. Seven-string guitars have had their field days, and heavy bands like Korn are in danger of becoming sellouts (if they aren’t already such). So what’s with this new wave of music called emo rock? It seems that bands that are typically referred to as emo (by know-it-all music journalists) shrink at the term like it’s a disease. Music veterans scoff at it, no one wants to be identified with it, yet the genre exists, defying definition nonetheless.
The coinage started (as is popularly believed) on an Embrace/Rites of Spring concert in 1985, when a heckler threw an insult to Embrace front man Ian MacKaye for dismantling his social hardcore group Minor Threat in favor of more ‘sentimental’ music; the said insult was made along the lines of “You’re emocore!” or something to that effect. The coinage stuck, and it hasn’t outlived its notoriety every since, no matter what pundits may say.
The current incarnation of emo has a duality; emocore is dense and unconventional (or not radio-friendly), staying faithful to the original definition. Then there’s indie emo, an MTV derivative which fuses pop-sounding riffs with smart-sounding names like Sunny Day Real Estate, Taking Back Sunday, and Jimmy Eat World. Indie emo is very accessible and ear-friendly, and naturally will receive more airplay since it is easy to like, even if most of the lyrics are overtly sentimental and appalling. Emo now belongs to anyone who want to embrace it under the guise of hating it, as well as to those who want to fuse a little bit of goth, a little bit of punk, and a little bit of everything else to make emo their own.
During the days of Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden, you have to assume a certain mindset in order to fit into the alternative vibe. With emo, postmodernism has gone the deep end, and anyone who wants to give his two cents worth on anything can form a three-chord band and come out with a pitchy album which flies off the shelves nonetheless. Labeling a band as emo is so difficult since you don’t know how to deal with the stigma which comes with it if you’re listening to it, and it’s as easy as coming up with a template on what an emo band should be, filling in the names of the band’s members and their personas as you go along. Query in the word ‘emo’ on eBay, and you’ll end up with a confusing mix of musical cultures, more goth than anything else. To say that emo is a mongrel genre is not too far from the truth; few people would protest anyway, since most will deny having anything to do with it while at the same time living the emo lifestyle – a scenario which isn’t any different from the Spice Girls phenomenon of yesteryears. This generation of teenagers is being pulled into a trend which disguises itself as against-the-flow, and they move along, totally unaware of it.
I think you’re on to something here. Emo music is, in fact, very easy to love. I love all kinds of music but emo is easily one of my favorites. I also just started playing guitar and the easy chords make it a sinch to learn new songs that I like.
On the other hand though I hate the whole Emo Culture. I mean the hair and the makeup and the girl pants and the cutting. I don’t get why anyone would ever think it was cool to wear girl pants or cut themselves.
I am in the group that enjoys listening to the music but still loves to make fun of Emo people at the same time.
Carlos Mencia recently made a music video that makes fun of emos and its incredibly hilarious…you should definately watch it. I have supplied a link here.
Comment by Joshua Ozuna — July 1, 2008 @ 12:19 am