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Emo (short for emotional), is a subgenre of punk rock music. The term was originally coined for people who were eclectic and listened to basically everything but punk rock. In the late 1980's the term took on a whole different meaning, and was applied to bands in the Washington D.C. punk scene who played a more raucous or more emotional form of punk than the norm. There are many legends concerning the origin of the term "emo", but one of the most prevalent is that at an early D.C. show, a fan shouted "You're emo" at a band. The genre was pioneered by bands such as Faith, Rights of Spring, and Embrace. Its roots are in punk rock. It is a complex music with deeply introspective lyrics and intense vocals. The next stage in the genre's evolution came in 1982 through 1992 with bands such as Indian Summer, Moss Icon, Policy of Three, Still Life and Navio Forge. The quiet/loud dynamic often heard in the music of recent emo bands like Saetia and Thursday was pioneered by early 80's bands. Just as emo added a new found intensity to the original emocore style, the style of hardcore emo brought the intensity to a climax. The hardcore scene had its beginnings in 1991-1992. After building to a climax in terms of chaos and intensity with hardcore emo, emo began to slow down, Bands like Mineral came forth playing a slower but still frail and emotional style of emo, mixing the early emocore sound with the post-hardcore invasion of Fugazi. Today, emo is getting very commercialized with bands like The Get Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World, and The Promise Ring. The media labels many indie-rock non-punk bands as emo. |
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