here's the essay i promised. she said it was poorly written and rushed, but here you go anyway... Emo Emo is a relatively new genre of music. It began in 1984, when the term ‘emocore’ was used to describe the band Rites of Spring. Rites had the sound of hardcore music, similar to Minor Threat. However, what made them different was their lyrics. Guy Picciotto didn’t sing about being straight edge or the corrupt government, instead his lyrics were about his own personal emotions and experiences. He set the standard for future emo bands to come, relying heavily on bitterness, “I was the champion of forgive forget/ but I haven’t found a way to forgive you yet”, nostalgia, “Caught in time too far away from where our hearts really wanted to be/ reaching out to find a way to get back to where we’d been”, and desperation, “It’s so hard/ ‘cause the night can fill my eyes”. Picciotto’s lyrics were also poetic at times, quoting T.S. Eliot and referencing Van Gogh. Today’s emo bands have followed Picciotto’s footsteps, and abide by the three rules of emo: bitterness, nostalgia, and desperation. There are different types of emo bands, from the quiet unobtrusive simple guy-and-a-guitar Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional, to the screaming choleric five-piece band Taking Back Sunday. What do they both have in common? Plenty. Both bands have introverted lyrics where everything is about the singer. When there is a girlfriend or a buddy involved, the story is completely one sided, the accused never gets a chance to explain themselves. Also, the major themes are always there. On “The Sharp Hint of New Tears” Carrabba sings, “The hint of these new tears are sharp/ I try to choke them back/ but it's useless”, while on Taking Back Sunday’s “You’re So Last Summer” Adam Lazzara splutters, “The truth/ is that you could slit my throat/ and with my one last gasping breath/ I’d apologize for bleeding on your shirt”. However, to read these lyrics conveys nothing. As with all emo music, it must be heard to fully understand the desperation of the singer. Emo is an emotional outlet with no sense of balance or responsibility. It’s extremely self-indulgent and sexist. Nevertheless, half of the kids that listen to emo music are girls. Some bands, such as Dashboard Confessional and The Starting Line, have audiences consisting mostly of girls. Saves The Day’s ‘Rocks Tonic Juice Magic’ is one of the most addictive tracks off of their 1999 release ‘Through Being Cool’. However, like many Saves The Day songs, it has unsettlingly violent lyrics. Chris Conley opens with “Let me take this awkward saw/ and run it against your thighs/ cut some flesh away/ I’ll carry this piece of you with me”. Even though Conley wants to mutilate this girl, he still wants to date her. However, if she rejects him, he sings, “I'll take my rusty spoons/ and dig out your blue eyes”. If he can’t have her, he wants to deface her, quite literally. ‘Rocks Tonic…’ sticks to a major theme of emo: vengeance. The reoccurring theme of revenge, of hurting the girl who rejected him, is present, but so is something else. It’s the hopeless flailing around for something to hold on to, and finding nothing. It’s surrender, but still very bitter, “My heart is on the floor/ why don't you step on it?” sings Conley towards the end of the song. It’s a hard life being in an emo band. Most don’t last a long time; Rites of Spring barely survived for half a year. This is in part because of the intense emotional strain it puts on the musicians. They are forced to relive, through singing and playing, their most painful memories and experiences every night. They never get to grow up or move on, they are permanently fixated on incidents that hurt them the most. If they change, they lose their fan base and are labeled sellouts, but their fans don’t want to be stuck with them forever. When they grow up and move on, they stop listening to the emo band, and forget about them. This is why many emo bands burn fast and bright. Anyway, back to what I think. "Emo" music is a music trend, but it is very easy to fit into. For me, emo music contains melodramatic break-up lyrics, high voices, and acoustic guitars. As for the social label of "emo", every human feels emotion. Some have more emotional intelligence than others and are more in-touch with their own emotions and the emotions of those around them. Some have mental disorders and suffer from personality disorders. These people shouldn't be considered "emo" and shouldnt have a label put on them because they don't deserve it. But others want to fit in with a clique (or want to seperate themselves), want to be labeled in some way, and want attention by following a stereotype. As humans, we naturally feel the need to belong, and some of us like to seek attention. I don't blame these kids for wanting to dress like others or act like others around them, because when we see something we like, we naturally want to imitate it. Yet these kids may label others as "conformists", which is hypocritical. Another way these kids go overboard is when they self-mutilate or starve themselves to fit in with the stereotype. These kids don't understand the suffering or state-of-mind of the mentally-ill self-mutilators. Although self-mutilators are frequently depressed, and emotional kids may become easily saddened, the sane should never hurt themselves to fit in or show off. The moment when the need to connect with others should supercede the need to belong with a trend is when an "emo kid" disconnects from his family and feels too sorry for himself. If the kid is sane, he should be given a dose of reality and shown his likely situation, that he is living in an upper-middle class family in the suburbs, and he's not forced to starve or regularly molested.
that is why i hate emo music. sometimes things of the past are meant to be left in the past. basically my thoughts towards "emo". Emo is just a lable give to those who are in touch with their emotions. to the point that they flucuate from one extreme to another. these people can CLEARLY express their emotions where as most of the rest of us want to keep ours hidden. unless they are extreme, such as rage, depression, the pain from loosing a loved one, etc. we want to keep our emotions in control so as to not feel, or appear weak to others. and over time we just get used to controling our emotions, that it becomes natural to appear as if we dont have any. where as emo kids....well...they wear their emotions on their sleeves, its as if they want everyone to notice, they want attention.
that is why i hate emo music. sometimes things of the past are meant to be left in the past. basically my thoughts towards "emo". Emo is just a lable give to those who are in touch with their emotions. to the point that they flucuate from one extreme to another. these people can CLEARLY express their emotions where as most of the rest of us want to keep ours hidden. unless they are extreme, such as rage, depression, the pain from loosing a loved one, etc. we want to keep our emotions in control so as to not feel, or appear weak to others. and over time we just get used to controling our emotions, that it becomes natural to appear as if we dont have any. where as emo kids....well...they wear their emotions on their sleeves, its as if they want everyone to notice, they want attention. [/b][/quote] I agree with you except for them wanting attention. I write lyrics and basically, I write lyrics to get my emotions out because it helps me feel better about the situation, not nessecarily to get attention but it helps relieve me of the thing that are making me depressed. It doesn't completely help with it but it does make me feel better to let it out. Music to me, is a release...I feel that no matter what the musicality is, whether it be instrumental or a normal song you hear on the radio, it should have emotion to it, it should mean something to you and you should put your heart and soul into it. Otherwise, I dont much see a point, save for party music like Techno or the modern mainstream rap.
I am not a big fan of emo bands because its just not my thing. But I don't wanna diss them or anythings. Ok, its kinda crappy if they do cut themselves to fit into a dumb stereotyping. I cut myself because I DO have serious issue but that isn't anything important. It makes me wanna scream. How can these people just cut themselves?! When there are people out there with serious issue!! I hate them, yes, I envy them because I am trying so hard to change my ways. And these people are deciding to just do it because they can fit in. But anyways, cheers for you if you're emo and you're just very expressive. I have no problem, just I do with people who try too much.
some idiot at my school claimed that "linkin park is emo" lmao i wanted to slap him but most of the people that liked Linkin park in the classroom already did..
Cough**Will**Cough, sorry I just had sometihng in my throat. Didn't mean to offend anyone there. But yah basically its sad I mad at the world and i cant get a girlfriend type of music. Actually I think LP could be classified in it but to me emo comes in a more punk presence.
Well, you definantly didn't offend me. Like I said, I agree with you. And I was pretty sure you didn't mean the whole "girls" thing, but I had to call you on it. Just for fun. And I definantly agree that Jackie is a spiled brat. Yes. But like I've said before, this isn't about the fact that all music is emotional. I hate when people use this arguement to dodge the real debate. You're right, most music is emotional. But "Emo" is the label given to bands such as MCR, The Used, Dashboard Confessional, etc. When people talk trash on Emo music, you know what they mean, and the arguement that all music is "emo(tional)" really has nothing to do with anything. Do you see what I mean? Am I making sense at all?
in response to the essay thing: yes some emo lyrics are violent etc., yet you could hardly say that all metal lyrics are nice etc. slipknot-"i'm gonna cut your throat and f*ck the wound" such nice lyrics, un emo lyrics... also justin timberlake sings about his heart being broken as do most pop groups...does that make them emo?
Lets just put it this way... Anyone who listens to music solely on genre or actually classifies genre is dumb. There are so many genres it's not even funny. There are two genres in my opinion. The music I listen to. And the music I don't listen to.
Indeed. The only thing I use genres for is to make talking about music easier. Anyone who likes or dislikes a kind of music solely due to the label attached to it is a moron.
first, the essay isn't about metal music, don't think it mentions it. i agree whole-heartedly that metal has violent lyrics. emo music is characterized by lyrics that blame the girl and sometimes the singer writes lyrics that selfishly display his violent wishes through love and/or hate for the female. also, i think the essay classified emo as a genre beginning in the 80's with many different characteristics from justin timberlake. for example, justin timberlake never has and never will, to my knowlegde, played a lick (bad pun) of guitar onstage in his career. he obviously does not draw influences from hardcore music. his lyrics are as far from poetic as you can get (exaggeration).
emo is emotional rock for lets say loosers. its like (((lets cry awwww, cry some more......isnt this sad , now lets sing bout it))) i mostly noticed "emo' ppl are so freaken depressed (cutting which i find just sad cuz all they want is to get attention)
You know, that is stereotyping, which is basically predjudice. You should be banned or warned or something.