The Evolution of Music Part - XIX
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The Evolution of Music Part - XIX
Emo is a style of rock music typically characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive and often confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C. where it was known as ‘emotional hardcore’ or ‘emocore’ and was pioneered by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace. As the style was echoed by contemporary American punk rock bands, its sound and meaning shifted and changed, blending with pop punk and indie rock and was encapsulated in the early 1990s by groups such as Jawbreaker and Sunny Day Real Estate. By the mid 1990s numerous emo acts emerged from the Midwestern and Central United States, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the style.
Emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s with the platinum-selling success of Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional and the emergence of the subgenre ‘screamo’.
History
The exact origins of the term ‘emo’ are uncertain, but date back to at least 1985. According to Andy Greenwald, author of Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo, “The origins of the term ‘emo’ are shrouded in mystery but it first came into common practice in 1985. If Minor Threat was hardcore, then Rites of Spring, with its altered focus was emotional hardcore or emocore.”
The ‘emocore’ label quickly spread around the Washington, D.C. punk scene and became attached to many of the bands associated with Dischord Records label.
The Washington, D.C. emo scene lasted only a few years. By 1986 most of the major bands of the movement had broken up. Even so, the ideas and aesthetics originating from the scene spread quickly across the country. According to Greenwald, the Washington, D.C. scene laid the groundwork for all subsequent incarnations of emo.
Reinvention: Early 1990s
As the ideals of the Washington, D.C. emo movement spread across the United States, many bands in numerous local scenes began to emulate the sound as a way to marry the intensity of hardcore with the complex emotions associated with growing older. The style combined the fatalism, theatricality, and outsiderness with the uncompromising and dramatic worldview of hardcore. In the early 1990s, several new bands reinvented the emo style and carried its core characteristic, the intimacy between bands and fans, into the new decade. Chief among these were Jawbreaker and Sunny Day Real Estate, both of whom fostered cult followings, recontextualized the word ‘emo’, and brought it a step closer to the mainstream.
In the wake of the 1991 success of Nirvana’s Nevermind, underground music and subcultures in the United States became big business. New distribution networks emerged, touring routes were codified and regional and independent acts were able to access the national stage. Teenagers across the country declared themselves fans of independent music, and being punk became mainstream. In this new musical climate, the aesthetics of emo expanded into the mainstream and altered the way the music was perceived.
Jawbreaker has been referred to as “the Rosetta Stone of contemporary emo”. Emerging from the San Francisco punk rock scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s, their songwriting combined the heft of hardcore with pop punk sensibilities and the tortured artistry of mid-1980s emocore. Singer/guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach focused his lyrics on topics that were personal, immediate and lived, often lifting them directly from his journal. Jawbreaker’s 1994 album 24 Hour Revenge Therapy became the touchstone of mid-1990s emo. The band signed to major label Geffen Records and toured with Nirvana and Green Day, but their 1995 album ‘Dear You’ sold poorly and they broke up soon after with Schwarzenbach later forming Jets to Brazil.
Emo broke into the mainstream media in the summer of 2002 with a number of notable events: Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American album went platinum on the strength of “The Middle” which reached #1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart. Dashboard Confessional reached #22 on the same chart with ‘Screaming Infidelities’ from their Vagrant Records debut ‘The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most’, which was #5 on Independent Albums, and became the first non-platinum-selling artist to record an episode of MTV Unplugged. New Found Glory’s album ‘Sticks and Stones’ debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200. Saves the Day toured with Green Day, Blink-182, and Weezer, playing large arenas such as Madison Square Garden, and by the end of the year had performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, appeared on the cover of Alternative Press, and had music videos in heavy rotation on MTV2. The word “emo” became a catchall term for any music outside of mainstream pop
Fashion and stereotype
Today emo is commonly tied to both music and fashion as well as the emo subculture. Usually among teens, the term “emo” is stereotyped with wearing slim-fit jeans, sometimes in bright colors, and tight t-shirts which often bear the names of emo bands. Studded belts and black wristbands are common accessories in emo fashion. Some males also wear thick, black horn-rimmed glasses. Emo fashion is also recognized for its hairstyles.
Emo has been associated with a stereotype that includes being particularly emotional, sensitive, shy, introverted, or angst-ridden. It has also been associated with depression, self-injury, and suicide.