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I have created this thread out of sheer annoyance to the subscribers of a ridiculous fad that is now coined "EMO". This is not about hating on a certain style of music, as I dont beleive "EMO" actually exists, no matter how hard the the fashion consious whiners will argue that point. Emo or Emotion has been a major part of music way before Black rimmed glasses and tight warmup suits. Lets explore further.
I think this rant sums it up perfectly:
In discovering why Emo sucks, one must first seek a definition, in order that he or she might rip it to f**king shreds and subsequently laugh his or her ass off at said definition's inherent pretentiousness.
The website for generic knowledge seeking assholes, altmusic.about.com, defines Emo, (short/slang for "emotional") as "Hardcore Punk music with sensitive and emotional lyrics". Ah, now I get it! Emo is the new milennium's answer to the 80s power ballad and "sensitive metal". (refer to my "Every Rose Has it's Thorn" Theory)
Now, for the actual definition...
Emo (ee-mow) n. slang (emotional), 1. genre name concocted by the record industry as yet another way to segregate musical styles 2. a term used by the record industry as a markting tool to target jaded teens and twenty-somethings that used to listen to grunge-rock when it was "in" 3. a style of music that brings kids in tight summer camp t-shirts and black framed glasses to tears 4. Emo (Phillips): co-star of such great cinematic benchmarks as UHF (Wierd Al Yankovic)
Now, more to the point: I'll begin by stating that this article in and of itself is bullshit. It has to be. Since Emo is bullshit. I even debated not writing this piece because, by writing it, I'm acknowledging Emo as a legitimate thing, which it's not. It's a scam. We used to just call it rock, punk, or metal. Then it was 'alternative', then it was 'grunge' oh, and don't forget 'nu metal'. It's the same shit in a different port-a-jon (in the future, this phrase will be abbreviated, SS/DPAJ).
The record industry wants (and always has wanted) teenagers and twenty-somethings to think that identifying with a certain genre somehow makes you cooler than the rest of us. I assure you, Ironic T-shirt Wearers of America, that it doesn't. Horn-rims, Chuck Taylors, and a messenger bag doesn't make you any cooler now than flannel shirts did in 1992 or skinny ties and pegged pants did in 1982. f**k, it doesn't even make you different.
Do me a favor. Go to ebay.com and type 'emo' into the search field. I guarantee you'll come up with about 3500 auctions, 90% of which will be non-music related clothing items. When I did it, I even found a f**king 1977 Vespa scooter. A SCOOTER! How much credibility does this lend to Emo being a legitimate musical genre? Rhetorical question. It doesn't.
Emo may have started as some underground term to describe what happens when punks get together and have a good cry, but now all it serves as is a name for a lifestyle. A stupid lifestyle. If I had a nickel for every 16-24 year old kid I've seen walking around in a dirty cardigan sweater, starting at the ground as if to say "I'm real sad and THAT'S cool," I'd have a shitload of nickels. Seriously. A shitload.
These are the same people you'll see sitting in your neighborhood Starbuck's, (as every neighborhood now has one) debating for hours on end whether the new Alkaline Trio album has more substance than early Hey Mercedes material. Of course, if the debate gets too intense, they'll probably just turn back to their laptops and continue writing haikus about how much life sucks as a bike messenger and how things just aren't the same since they lost that Tolstoy novel from the library and got fined. Either that, or they'll start crying into thier soy-chai-double- mocha-latte-chinos (with extra sprinkles).
Now, don't get me wrong. Alot of bands I listen to (unfortunately) get firmly poked with the red-hot "Emo" branding iron that the record industry and the general listening public are constantly keeping warm on the coals. However I whole-heartedly disagree with this tag.
The rationale behind sticking bands in the Emo genre is that "sadness, love and even anger are common lyrical themes" Really? Wow. How concise. There are shitloads upon shitloads of songs about being sad (the blues), angry (old metal) and in love (Julio Iglesias). Calling all songs about those subjects 'Emo' is like calling all things that are green 'grass'. True, grass is green (contrary to what Kentucky residents would have you believe), but so are weed, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and broccoli.
In any event, Emo proliferates in today's music market. It's a sad state of affairs, since most bands in this genre are genuinely pretty good. Emo, like the candle that was grunge rock, will eventualy die. An I'll be there to piss on the ashes.
_________________ Be careful how you treat others, for you may develop a bad rash.
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2002 2:13 am
Dinsy
NRJP
Joined: Sep 6, 2002
Posts: 4687
Location: WGTN.nz/MELB.aus
what you just wrote works with EMO and GARAGE ROCK....
Re: The Anti-Emo thread!!!
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2002 2:25 am
Quiksilver
Team Hcor.net
Joined: Sep 9, 2002
Posts: 2270
Location: losing races at a mountain near you
hahaha that is soo awesome dude, Im showing this to about 30 people
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2002 5:32 am
M.W.
NRJP
Joined: Sep 6, 2002
Posts: 7162
Location: Not on Ridemonkey.
Mah, some of the music that's called EMO is good. But as usual, genres are a shitty way of classifying art.
_________________ www.imfour.org <- ARS YOU!?
Peter says:
it was a really fun session/jam/gathering
Peter says:
even though I was the only one in bright clothes
Peter says: vinyl is the best thing since underpants
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2002 12:05 pm
Quiksilver
Team Hcor.net
Joined: Sep 9, 2002
Posts: 2270
Location: losing races at a mountain near you
M.W. wrote:
Mah, some of the music that's called EMO is good. But as usual, genres are a shitty way of classifying art.
yeah, that is somewhat true also....
_________________ I see the snorkel in your face
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2002 8:16 pm
LEO
All-City
Joined: Oct 30, 2002
Posts: 1728
How many emo kids does it take to change a light bulb? Zero, because they'd just sit in the dark and cry.
M.W. wrote:
Mah, some of the music that's called EMO is good. But as usual, genres are a shitty way of classifying art.
Yes....great commentary....though I would have to admit....it would have been a great business plan to but up all the leftover members only jackets from the 70's and resell them today. Talk about missing the boat.....we could have made some $$$$
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2002 1:51 am
Hcor
Site Admin
Joined: Sep 8, 2002
Posts: 3663
Location: New Jersey
Sellout conformists...thats fine, just admit it.
Nice uniforms though.
This is so frightening...
PLAYLIST
thrice
refused
thursday
onelinedrawing
coheed and cambria
desaparecidos
HEARTS
making out.
the guestlist.
scene points.
HATES
boys who break their edge.
paying for shows.
avril lavigne.
DIRTY SECRETS
owns every midtown cd.
took down her blink182 posters last week.
cried at her first dashboard show.
Last edited by Hcor on Thu Dec 19, 2002 9:57 am; edited 1 time in total _________________ Be careful how you treat others, for you may develop a bad rash.
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2002 1:56 am
Hcor
Site Admin
Joined: Sep 8, 2002
Posts: 3663
Location: New Jersey
Cant forget the boyz...
PLAYLIST
recover
in pieces
the hope conspiracy
planes mistaken for stars
from autumn to ashes
engine down
HEARTS
falafel.
belt buckles.
colored vinyl.
HATES
girls in the pit.
his ex girlfriend.
mall metal.
DIRTY SECRETS
used to play trombone in a ska band.
enjoyed the new get up kids album.
once wore dog collars and eyemakeup.
That Dashboard Confessional guy was on The M-2 when I was leaving for work this morning playing solo acoustic in front of an audience of the above described. Everyone sang for him. I was so moved by their sadness.
I for one, have never been down with EMO. Yes I do like some emo bands, and have a shitload of emo friends.. but its still not for me.
Now... I do not believe EMO to be a new term created by the industry. I have been listening to Hardcore/Punk for over 10years. Im not that back in day, Im post youth crew era, but Ive been around for a decent amount of time to see alot of bands come and go. Emo has definetly been around since back then.In the early 90s I used to rock to bands like Clockwise, Inside,Silent Majority and a bunch others. These were considered EMO bands then. For a while, especially on LI, emo got huge. EMO bands put on their own shows and separated themselves from hardcore. I think they were just not down with the direction HC was taking. It was going towards more tough-guy bulldoze type shit at the time. They wanted it to be more like Sunny Dat real estate or Fugazi. Thats fine. Over time, people started to catch on and emo started to get big. If you think about it, for the "untrained" ear, its alot easier to listen to emo then it is to listen to shit like old AF or shit like PTW. I think what happened was EMO in itself just blew up. It was bound to. You had tough guys showing emotion. What else could make a young, ignorant, naive teenaged girl more wet in the crotch?
A for the clothing style....that also has been around, and hasnt changed for ages. f**k! I rock sauconys and a studded belt. I had plugs the size of C batteries. But Im not emo. I definetly will admitt that my style, especially back then, fit the hardcore profile...but when you make something your life, its bound to happen to matter how much you want to admitt that you are an individual.
I dunno.. maybe b/c I have been around to see emo grow into its own thing and mature I dont hold such hate towards it. I definetly had alot of fun at the few emo shows I went. the girls were always a plus.
On a side note, why stop at emo? Look at what hardcore used to be. Regan Youth, Warzone, Bad Brains, AF, Cro-Mags, Minor Threat... etc.
Now look at what it is. Poision the Well, Martyr AD, DrowningMan, etc.
Would you even consider this HC when compared to its fore-fathers? I dont. Its definetly more metal than HC. Their lyrics and band names are more metal, yet it is still considered apart of the HC genre. Why? It has to do with the scene.
The "scene" has always been the focus of all aspects of hardcore/punk music. w/o the scene it would be nothing. The scene as a community is what has made emo, metalcore, punk, ska what it is today. It started as one big melting pot, and as people in the scene found which style they liked better it started to expand and segregate. That is where we are today.
On a last note, dont get me started with scensters. They exist is every scene and should be punted out the front f**king door. I hate them, always have...always will. Death to Scensters!
_________________ peace love and harmony.
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2002 6:29 pm
atom
Team Hcor.net
Joined: Sep 7, 2002
Posts: 3830
Location: Strong Island, NY
LOL. and I will be the first to admitt I fit the EMO guy profile pretty f**king closely...HAHAHA
differences:
my playlist would include underground hip-hop, slayer and a shitload of death metal.
hearts:
id swap falafel for a grilled stuffed fajita from T-bell.
hates:
I do hate girls in the pit. as a matter of fact, i hate the pit.
i do hate mall metalers... they f**king suck, so does hot topic
i do hate my X-g/f she has made me loose my game.
secrets:
none of those for me. although i do like the get up kids.
aol screename:
xnewxyorkx - had this since i was 15 (7 years old)
bookmarks:
only site i like on there is burningangel.net. other than that my bookmarks are the trials motocross game, a ping pong game, and a shitload of porno sites.
dress:
i wear saucs... f**k rebok. i have gap jeans but not like those, and i am not limited to them. studded belt? check. no pin. sleeves are in the works. i dont find my Ts lame. had the plugs, probably still would if i didnt have to grow up. no mop top for me... shaved head.
now the sad thing is that they are profiling a 16-18 yr old kid... i am 24. how sad is that. i refuse to grow up.
_________________ peace love and harmony.
Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2002 1:55 pm
Hcor
Site Admin
Joined: Sep 8, 2002
Posts: 3663
Location: New Jersey
Thanks for the reply bro....its all pretty damn funny when you think about it. I personally just refuse to recongnize the term EMO as a seperate musical entity, we all know that the music has been around forever. If the word EMO is to be used in any context I will go so far as to say that all it is a Fashion fad. Sure, back in the old school days of hardcore where I came up, we had a similiar look etc, basicly poor ass urban . The difference was what was behind it. There was a certain committment and loyalty that came with being hardcore/punk. That is all gone...now its a bunch of spoiled pretentious idiots trying to dress the part better than the next guy/gal.
I think the girls look cute and the guys look gay. I Just wish they would admit that their real interest is in the mirror and not in any form of music. Music is an excuse for them to look the same as the ones who think they are different. There is no heart and soul anymore....just lots of ink and black clothing.
_________________ Be careful how you treat others, for you may develop a bad rash.
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