(no subject)
Stupid People.
heres the definition of emo:
Emo is short for emotional. But isn't all music emotional? Well, yes, or at least it should be. Originally, emo was short for "emocore", a strain of hardcore punk that was notable for its obsession with feelings (as opposed to politics, anger, and smashing stuff up). Then it started to be applied to bands that weren't punk, to fashion trends, to sad-eyed kids in the back of class. It's always been mildly derisive, a term used by haters and critics to dismiss something that's overly weepy, self-indulgent, or unironic. Every generation that loves emo bands simultaneously rejects the term while claiming ownership of it-- meaning even though they won't admit that they love emo, they certainly will say how much they hate everything that's been called emo since them. But still, no one knows what it is.
The truth is, the thread that connects the D.C. hardcore bands of the '80s with the lovelorn, clean-cut pop-rockers of the '00s doesn't lie in the music at all; it's in the fans. Emo isn't a genre--it's far too messy and contentious for that. What the term does signify is a particular realtionship between a fan and a band. It's the desire to turn a monologue into a dialogue, to be a part of the art that affects you and to connect to it on every possible level--sentiments particularly relevent in an increasingly corporate, suburban, and diffuse culture such as ours. Emo is a specific sort of teenage longing, a romantic and ultimately self-centered need to understand the bigness of the world in relation to you. It takes its cues from the world-changing slap of community-oriented punk, the heart-swollen pomp of power ballads, and the gee-whiz nostalgia of guitar pop. Emo is as specific as adolescence and lasts about as long.
In short, everyone has their own emo. It's too contentious, too stylistically and generationally diverse to be a genre, too far reaching to be a sub-culture. Emo is an essential element of being a teenager. It is the sound of self making. Emo--or whatever you call it--doesn't happen on the stage and it doesn't happen in the diary. It happens somewhere between the two. It is the act of reaching out to make yourself bigger by making yourself part of something bigger.
uh...DUH.
heres the definition of emo:
Emo is short for emotional. But isn't all music emotional? Well, yes, or at least it should be. Originally, emo was short for "emocore", a strain of hardcore punk that was notable for its obsession with feelings (as opposed to politics, anger, and smashing stuff up). Then it started to be applied to bands that weren't punk, to fashion trends, to sad-eyed kids in the back of class. It's always been mildly derisive, a term used by haters and critics to dismiss something that's overly weepy, self-indulgent, or unironic. Every generation that loves emo bands simultaneously rejects the term while claiming ownership of it-- meaning even though they won't admit that they love emo, they certainly will say how much they hate everything that's been called emo since them. But still, no one knows what it is.
The truth is, the thread that connects the D.C. hardcore bands of the '80s with the lovelorn, clean-cut pop-rockers of the '00s doesn't lie in the music at all; it's in the fans. Emo isn't a genre--it's far too messy and contentious for that. What the term does signify is a particular realtionship between a fan and a band. It's the desire to turn a monologue into a dialogue, to be a part of the art that affects you and to connect to it on every possible level--sentiments particularly relevent in an increasingly corporate, suburban, and diffuse culture such as ours. Emo is a specific sort of teenage longing, a romantic and ultimately self-centered need to understand the bigness of the world in relation to you. It takes its cues from the world-changing slap of community-oriented punk, the heart-swollen pomp of power ballads, and the gee-whiz nostalgia of guitar pop. Emo is as specific as adolescence and lasts about as long.
In short, everyone has their own emo. It's too contentious, too stylistically and generationally diverse to be a genre, too far reaching to be a sub-culture. Emo is an essential element of being a teenager. It is the sound of self making. Emo--or whatever you call it--doesn't happen on the stage and it doesn't happen in the diary. It happens somewhere between the two. It is the act of reaching out to make yourself bigger by making yourself part of something bigger.
uh...DUH.