What's that "emo" thing?

[Pink Usagi Chan]

I really hate this word. I don't think depression is something to be made fun of. Depression's always been misunderstood in one way or another, and this just adds on to the list. People with real depression don't choose to be depressed. Depression is a medical illness. I'm not going to go and get all personal on a message board, but to put it this way: Depression feels like you've been immersed in a cloudy tub of water and you can't breathe, you're drowning and don't know what to do. Some people who are depressed don't even know it. Sometimes people commit suicide because they just don't know what to do, and they feel like there just isn't any other option.

So those dumb kids who walk around calling themselves "emo", dressing up in whatever is called emo fashion and saying how much the world sucks and how they're "soooo depressed" need to shut up shut up, shut up. They're just as bad as the ones who call others ''emo''. Depression isn't a fashion statement. It isn't a lifestyle. It isn't fun.

 

[misa.j]

I've been hunging around guys too much.

I thought it was "ammo" misspelled...

 

[The-Beautiful-Roses]

The word emo stands for emotion. People use the word as an excuse to pick on people they don't know, hate, or just dislike over the way the person dresses. I hope that helped.

 

[leonmarino]

Emo? 窶堋｢窶堙?ﾂ？ Like in ﾂ湘??堋ｫﾋ?ｰﾂ（窶堙｢窶堋ｫ窶堋｢窶堙?ﾂ）ﾂ？ Tasty stuff..

 

[yukio_michael]

Emo started as a sort of catch-all phrase for some of the work that was coming out of the DC area hardcore scene. It was actually a contraction of the term, "emotional hardcore", and though at the time there was no "official" movement, bands who would later be said to have been influential in the emo scene were bands such as Fugazi, One Last Wish, & Rites of Spring.

Fugazi being the latest itteration of a group of artists in the DC area, Ian MacKaye, ex-member of the influential DC hardcore band, Minor Threat, as well as ex-One Last Wish & Rites of Spring member, Guy Picciotto.

To a large extent the band Sunny Day Real Estate (from whom bass player, Nate Mendel, and drummer, William Goldsmithsome, later joined ex-Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl's band Foo Fighters), ---well, to a large extent the Sunny Day Real Estate sound is said to be the quintessential sound of the emo music prototype.

The scene has had various newer bands which might fit the label, even though the label "emo" itself has probably been superseded by the simple term "indie"... as the label tends to now have negative connotations.

Newer bands would be ones such as Taking back Sunday, Hawthorne Heights, Every Time I Die, Coheed & Cambria, Cursive, The Postal Service & its progenitor, Death Cab for Cutie, Dashboard Confessional, Bright Eyes, Sorry about Dresden, and practically anything on the Saddle Creek label, which is coincidentally operated by Bright Eyes child-prodigy, Conner Oberst.

All of this is probably in that Emo wiki, I don't know... but I felt like flexing my music muscles.

edit: Oddly enough, this scene is completely separate from what some people labeled as "sadcore", which itself is only a loose organization of a group of bands sharing a predaliction for down-tempo rather depressing melodies largely sounding like, or influenced by San Francisco bands, The Red House Painters (as well as solo artist Mark Kozelek, and his band Sun Kil Moon), and Mark Eitzel's band American Music Club.

Other bands in this genre are Codeine, Low, Idaho, & Sparklehorse, among many others...

I think the difference between these two types of bands is that indie bands tend to have a bit more of a high-school melodrama aspect to them, and the quote unquote sadcore bands tend to strictly focus on work that is simply down-tempo*.

*ed: Not to be confused w/ the sort of English hip-hop light music style, downbeat.

Emo? 窶堋｢窶堙?ﾂ？ Like in ﾂ湘??堋ｫﾋ?ｰﾂ（窶堙｢窶堋ｫ窶堋｢窶堙?ﾂ）ﾂ？ Tasty stuff..

And not to be confused with 窶敵窶堋ｦﾂ ﾂ（窶堙?窶堋ｦﾂ）ﾂ moe....

 

[Lady Blue]

I know how bad depression can be, that's why it rather amusing how this 13 year olders claim themselves to be into it. Listening to them speaking you can hear how fake their words are.
After being called "emo" for some ignorant I dared to call friend some time ago, I begun to check out the scene in my own city... We're invaded and I didn't even know. Maybe cos I dont go out as much as I want to and because I don't hang out with fifteeners. Here in my country, we use a word to define certain kind of people. They also look all the same, girls look like barbies and guys... all the same. And the way they speak is like they have a cherry into their mouths, and that's why wa call them cherry-people. They're, after a delicate observation, the same bs. But instead of pink is black, instead of blond is black and instead of fancy is sad...
This kids don't know where they're standing! I went to a local rock show this friday... I heard 27 songs from 8 different bands and they all sounded the same. How lame! And the audience... well.. they were there, is all I can say.

THEy're not depressed, they just want to draw a cuttig-line on their wrists that says "cut here" and act like they have lived for a thounsand years bored to death. Nice way to get away from junior hell.. I mean, high...

 

[Kinsao]

@ Yukio Michael : finally someone who knows what they're talking about...

 

[Lady Blue]

Kinsao!!! I've missed u!! I've been into Kozi lately... is weird.. but I'm kinda liking him.

Yeah.. He knows so many things he's annoyant some times. But I really apreciate his contributions. Please don't get upset, Yukio-san.

 

[-Rudel-]

I find that there are many EMOs on myspace too

 

[The-Beautiful-Roses]

If you call anyone an Emo where I live, they take it as an insult.

 

[*chelly~panda*]

someone called me emo and i almost punched him! argh i hate f***** sterotypes. its so pointless. its just another fad like scrunchies but less ugly ^^
did you know that you can be an emo poser!! oooooooh...
haha

 

[Lady Blue]

If you call anyone an Emo where I live, they take it as an insult.

Believe me, I felt it was kind of an insult...

 

[Taushia]

emo - sad teen (usually a boy) that wears too much eyeliner and is either classified as 'gay' or 'emo' though it usually doesnt matter. People judge you no matter what.

 

[Nicholas0016]

Goth hates emo. emo is their emotional sub culture. They are very very very emotional and dramatic.

 

[yukio_michael]

He knows so many things he's annoyant some times. But I really apreciate his contributions. Please don't get upset, Yukio-san.

It's all part & parcel of being an opinionated "know-it-all"
on the internet. No offense taken.

I'm just not meek about sharing my opinion... cest la vie.
shouganai~

 

[Satorian]

Goth hates emo. emo is their emotional sub culture. They are very very very emotional and dramatic.

Wow, if you had at least made the effort to read this thread you wouldn't have posted something as uninformed and wrong as this.

 

[maes]

lots of people have called me emo, but as far as I know i'm not emo so what?:?

 

[Nicholas0016]

Wow, if you had at least made the effort to read this thread you wouldn't have posted something as uninformed and wrong as this.

Umm, why read the thread when I am posting to the thread question? Maybe you are offtopic.

 

[MajideSaiaku]

The wiki article is correct.
As a 21 year old British lad fimilar with the heavy metal scene, me and my friends often call folk emo kids or emo noob for pretending like the world is over.
Its just basicaly the new word for teen agnst in my understanding, though it can be more precisely to describe the teenagers that like and live the more emotional soppy wussy side of alternative music.
Its more of an inside description, since I never seen pop music listeners or those outside the genre using it.
A kind of thing for older generation alternative music listeners to use for the younger novices.
Oh, also, emo music itself is obviously aimed at teenagers and highly capitalistic and not "Real" in a way, so those of us who listen more to bands who arent so controlled by a label look down upon it, wether were right or wrong.

lots of people have called me emo, but as far as I know i'm not emo so what?

Its a put-down used against teenagers that someone feels is being too emotional.
Franjly I wouldnt worry, if I knew a teenage girl that didnt have fits or depression swings I would think she was an alien, dont let it bother you, just think of a smart comeback and use it.

 

[MajideSaiaku]

I know how bad depression can be, that's why it rather amusing how this 13 year olders claim themselves to be into it. Listening to them speaking you can hear how fake their words are.

.

I've suffered depression and anxiety problems that would make normal teen angst look like sheer joy.

It took me years to defeat my own demons, I had to figght for my happyness.

When your hit with anxiety problems and depression, or worse, both at the same time, its like happyness is like enlightenment, an unatural state and you have to fight for every inch to get it back, to get back to normal.

Thats part of why I cant stand insincere emo kids "Oh know my girlfriend left me, what a creul world, I should top myself".

If those iditos knew what its really like to suffer depression they wouldnt even wish it on others, let alone themselves.


Saying all that I eventually managed to find ways to cope, I didnt get bottles of pills neither like some, and I managed to find a emotional mental place where i was content, and even happy with life.

These days I just dont let my emotions control me much at all, so thats another thing that bugs me about emo's, they claim to be unable to carry on and stuff and how futile life is because their girlfriend dumps them or their favorate waste of a space band splits.
If I can survive the worst that my mind can throw at me, survive REAL depression, then these little kids can get over the massive non-event of a band splitting up.

Basically I agree with you, the biggest gripe with emo is how utterly insincere it is.

Its making light of a real crippling problem for many people and turning it into a sub culture for these little kids to define themselves by.

Thats why I have little time for overall grumps either.

 

[Satorian]

Umm, why read the thread when I am posting to the thread question? Maybe you are offtopic.

I am in so far on topic as I claim that your explanation/description of emo is just plain wrong.


www.fourfa.com has a pretty good history and account of the development of emo music and the emo scene.

 

[Tabz]

I dont know about in other places, but in my school, Emo is not only a style of music, but also a lifestyle that involves boys wearing extremely tight girls pants, lots of eyeliner, and girls who cut themselves for attention. None of the so called "Emos" in my school are actually depressed. They just do it because it looks cool. Theres even "Scene" which is happy emo. I guess thats what you could call the kids at my school.
Someone called me emo, and I almost stabbed them in the face.:auch:

 

[Lady Blue]

I wouldn't blame you. You don't cut yourself because you're a fashionist. Cutting is not fashion, is a serious matter. they cut the upper skin just enough to make them bleed a little and then show it off all around. Cutting is a big deal, because the scars it leaves go beyond the skin as far as the people who care about you are. Is horrible, cos there's a point when you just can't stop anymore, and the cutting goes everytime deeper and deeper. I don't find the right words in english to describe what a cutter feels like to cut himself or the reasons that take him/her to do it, but is definatly not cool. Is funny how after years of this insane and unhealthy practice, I now have this uncontrollable fear of sharp things.. Is my worst nightmare, that something/someone cuts off a part of my body...

 

[Haiko]

I read that article in Wikipedia not so long ago. Now everyone uses the word "emo" for everything. I'm kind of tired of reading it D: And everyone hates them, but they don't even know why.

 

[Lady Blue]

Because they're annoyant!!! You crash into them at the mall by accidente and they look at you first like you're a bag of sht and they walk away with their emo friends almost cyring cos you could've broke an arm or something... they exagerate the most irrelevant simply things and their obsession with death is nothing but the biggest fear they cannot face it is going to happen!