# a fragmented music scene **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2001, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-fragmented-music-scene/78737 "2001-08-29T16:33:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HalberMensch242](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@HalberMensch242](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HalberMensch242)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-fragmented-music-scene/78737/41 "2001-08-31T15:38:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maeglin \* > \*\*Would any of the emo experts qualify Vast for me? A friend of mine is really into them, and even jaded ol me finds the first album really compelling. > > Too bad the second one blew… \*\* VAST…emo?! Me thinks not, although i myself was a huge fan of their 1st album, they are a far cry from emo. VAST is more in the alternative/pseudo-industrial/esoteric catagory. **Hell, maybe even The Swans will become popular some day!** Haha…oh man…would these happen at same time as Coil produces an NSYNC slbum? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-fragmented-music-scene/78737/42 "2001-08-31T20:58:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rackensack \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by bdgr \* > > \*\*Seems like just yesterday I was sleeping in a burned out house in a big pile of straight edge punks, huddled togeather for warmth, wishing I could find a Hammerskin who wore my size docs so I could get some new boots, and now I find myself working for a defense contractor in a cubicle, listening to California uber alles on mp3 while I worry about how to pay my mortgage and my credit card bills. \*\* > > Or as Joe Strummer put it: > > > [@](#): > > > > But I believe in this and it’s been tested by research > > That he who fucks nuns will later join the church . . . > > –“Death or Glory”, **The Clash** > > \*\* I’m so depressed…damn… ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-fragmented-music-scene/78737/43 "2001-09-03T04:05:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HP Ellison \* > **Sure, there are some good emo bands out there; Weezer (yes, weezer IS emo** In an absolute spirit of friendly debate (I swear), could you possibly be any more blatantly wrong? Emo traces back to Hardcore and Wash DC Dischord bands. Though there are naturally pop influences in the melodies, the structures are totally different from the 70’s power-pop in which Weezer deals. Weezer owes much more to Cheap Trick and Chicago than to Fugazi…if they owe anything to Fugazi at all. And Rivers Cuomo’s lyrics are far too clever and catchy to be Emo, which tends to have more weepy, self-consciouly “poetic” lyrics. Now take it back.\* (\*not that I have a problem with emo, just that I can’t stand it when a situation is so grossly misinterpreted…) ---
**Author:** ![Totoro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Totoro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totoro)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-fragmented-music-scene/78737/44 "2001-09-03T04:57:11Z")
No, Dammit! Emo isn’t a fucking sound, it’s a sense! It’s the “lemme be your boyfriend” shit! That’s why they call it EMO! EMOTION! Duh, monkey nuts! And who bashed ICP? Bring it! ---
**Author:** ![HP\_Ellison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HP\_Ellison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HP_Ellison)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-fragmented-music-scene/78737/45 "2001-09-03T06:52:02Z")
(Hijacking ensues) Very well, I shall delve into this a bit further. Weezer is what every emo band wants to be. The flavor of punk is there; distortion is meant to be abrasive, and the “fuck the world” attitude still rests somewhere back in the wings. Weezer is also not afraid to wear their hearts on their collective sleeves. The songs are on a more personal level, preferring heartbreak to rampant social commentary. Now, every self-declared emo band I’ve ever seen seems to have an identity crises that Weezer lacks. They want to sing songs of love and loss, but don’t want to be perceived as pussies by the punk and hardcore fans, so they try and add an element to their songs that, in my humble opinion, rarely works. I can’t tell you how many times I’ll listen to an emo song that begins like your friendly every-day average rawk love song and then loses the plot amidst a hail of misplaced distortion and screamed vocals. When this happens, it’s painfully obvious to me that these poor souls are trying to force themselves to incorporate genres of music that they really aren’t feeling. Now, some emo bands are capable of sidestepping this; they can successfully write melodic punk love songs without giving a damn about paying their dues to whatever genre spawned them. Weezer is like this. Weezer might not sound a lot like many other less-known emo bands because they’ve synthesized several different types of music into one sound, and therefore don’t suffer from a total crisis of identity. They are fully-realized emo. Now, granted, we could get into a big debate on whether this makes them something else entirely, but that’s for another thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-fragmented-music-scene/78737.md?page=2)