What the hell does emo mean?

[d8g3jdh]

Ok, EMO, we've all seen this word used jillions of times, I've heard definitions ranging from crying in the dark to emotion, and I don't know what to believe. What does it mean?

I'm looking at you, toasted.

[The Golden Boy]

The first real "emo" band I knew of was Hoover. I played a show with them in like 92 or so. I was thrilled to death to be playing with a Dischord band. They were busy crying while they were playing. It was then that that I knew, whatever "emo" was, I wanted nothing to do with it.

[Woodchuck]

It means "I'm a guy who has pawned his nuts", or "I'm a man who wishes he had a vagina".

[Matt Till]

It's slang for "trendy"

[Mark Latimour]

Basically it describes music fans like Matt Till. He's the prototype emo-kid.

[Peter McFerrin]

It used to mean heavily dynamic, artsy/literary post-hardcore punk rock, with a strong emphasis on emotional catharsis. It was lyrically self-absorbed, but one gets the impression that lyrics were sorta secondary for Rites of Spring (the commonly cited originators of the style).

Most contemporary "emo" bands, by comparison, are weak and/or predictable on the dynamics, and considerably less literate. However, the self-absorption is still there. It's easier to achieve catharsis by screaming like a little girl or crying like a chump than through competent musicianship.

I think it should be pointed out that one of the bands that supposedly exemplified the "nü-metal" style that today's "emo" bands have made commercially unviable, the Deftones, are much closer in spirit and practice to Rites of Spring than are "emo" acts like the Used or My Chemical Romance. Irony's a bitch.

[flatwoundfender]

Originally Posted by Woodchuck

It means "I'm a guy who has pawned his nuts", or "I'm a man who wishes he had a vagina".

+2^32

"I'm so emotional, look at me cry, why don't girls like me"

I'm pretty sure this comes from the combination of disco and punk rock.

[agreatheight]

+1 to Pete.

Emo = emotion. Emo was first and foremost about dynamics and angst.

Also important to note is that early emo was a very low-fi, indie only kind of thing. Today's over-produced emo sounds funny to me - too much polish.

For a good example of earlier emo, try Sunny Day Real Estate - their 1994 album Diary is a great piece of emo, very dyanmic and raw - it's the template for a lot of modern emo bands. IMO, good stuff. You may hate it, lol.

[jiant.]

I think mewithoutYou's A-B Life is a good example of a true emo album, but I could be very wrong depending on who you ask.

[Aaron Saunders]

http://www.zippyvideos.com/355114368...hed_emo_video/

This is emo.

[Against Will]

This has been done one billion times.

www.fourfa.com

[Matt Till]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

Basically it describes music fans like Matt Till. He's the prototype emo-kid.

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Wow, I guess you're right.

[scorpionldr]

well used by the death metal and hardcore kids, the term "emo" is thrown around just as easy as "sounds like ****". u'll never hear an emo kid owning up to any of this tho. in their eyes it will be "hardcore" or "punk" to cry into a microphone and crawl into a cupboard after practices.

[fr0me0]

bunch of pity seeking idiots that are going to realise they wasted the best years of their ife crying

[Disco_Gee]

Originally Posted by flatwoundfender

+2^32

"I'm so emotional, look at me cry, why don't girls like me"

I'm pretty sure this comes from the combination of disco and punk rock.

No you don't! Don't bring disco into this!

[SundanceChile]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo_%28music%29

even though they had Will Lee listed as a guitarist in the CBS band(which i fixed tyvm ), it's still pretty damn accurate.

[AxtoOx]

Originally Posted by Disco_Gee

No you don't! Don't bring disco into this!

No wonder, you didn't have to live through the Disco Era. I thought we put a stake in the heart of that years ago. I'm still emotionally scarred. DEATH BEFORE DISCO!


just kidding, have fun where you can find it.

[Eric Cameron]

Originally Posted by AxtoOx

No wonder, you didn't have to live through the Disco Era. I thought we put a stake in the heart of that years ago. I'm still emotionally scarred. DEATH BEFORE DISCO!

And dammit, it's ALL JOHN TRAVOLTA'S FAULT!!!

Emo is what a bunch of 14 year old white rich kids who live in nice houses in nice neighborhoods use as an outlet for the angst that they feel because their dad was too busy slamming his secretary and trying to gouge his rich clients to come to the kids birthday party, and because their mom was too drunk, or too stupid, or too caught up in a relly bad version of Desperate Housewives but with less acting ability, less actractiveness, and more public sex, to really care about that kid when the girl that they asked out at their private school turned them down for someone in a public school with a leather jacket and a moped.

Or something like that. I hate emo.

Rock on
Eric

[flatwoundfender]

Funk - Disco
Punk - Emo

[bassteban]

Originally Posted by flatwoundfender

Funk - Disco
Punk - Emo

Disco=sold out, watered-down funk
Emo=sold out punk(at this point, a complete & total redundancy)