Ok, So I must be getting old 'cause I had no idea until just today(4-12-08) what EMO was. Now, I’ve looked at a couple of videos from the tube and figured out that, as far as I can tell, EMO is nothing more than a return of Goth. I might be wrong but I really don’t see a difference. So if you could help me out. Give me some info. Maybe some music to listen to. Otherwise, if what I’ve seen is a true represntation of “EMO” I’m just gonna have to call you what you are.
Goth
Welcome to the dark abyss that is life and may the blue bird of happiness shit in your hair.
I kinda hope it is a respring of goth, I miss those days.
Well, originally, they called themselves emotional hardcore and were supposedly really in touch with their raw and emotional sides. The difference between goth and emo seems to me to be that a goth is more likely to be found sacrificing small animals to the dark gods of the underworld while an emo is more likely to melt into a puddle of wussiness.
The first Emo band I ever heard of was The Descendents, who formed in 1978. Granted, I personally didn’t hear of them until about 1995, but Emo is nothing new. I think we just hear about it more now because it has gotten its own look (long straight hair and your sister’s jeans) and bands on MTV (Fallout Boy, Deathcab, etc.)
Erm, well, I’m an old Goth and we used to scoff at emo kids. Anyone telling us emos were Goths would be scoffed at, too. As far as me and my peers saw it, emo kids were sad little pandas with no sense of humour and too much in the way of taking themselves seriously. Also, they couldn’t lace a corset worth a damn, wouldn’t recognise a good Chianti and smudged their makeup all over. How barbaric. Us Goths were in touch with our feelings too, we just did it with more flair and without all the sobbing.
ETA: That is to say, emo really doesn’t have anything to do with Goth as far as I’m concerned. More like punk rock or heavy metal with sudden pangs of angst.
Wow, you two really don’t know what you’re talking about.
Goths have nothing to do with animal sacrifice or dark gods – if any subculture would be into that stuff, it would be black metal, like the Scandinavians who wear “corpse paint” on their faces and occasionally burn churches. Goths are more likely to write bad poetry, listen to dark synth-pop or industrial music, and wear either fetish-inspired or Victorian clothing (lots of corsets, black velvet, the occasional cape, plenty of black leather and latex). Goths are very much into aesthetics – finding beauty in things, even if the beauty is twisted or dark. Think of the set design in Tim Burton movies. The Cure is kind of Gothy, but Marilyn Manson has nothing to do with Goth music or culture. He is more of schlocky “shock rock” – hard rock or metal with some industrial influences and all the horror movie trappings.
As for emo, you were spot-on about how it started as “emotional hardcore.” The website http://www.fourfa.com/ offers the best explanation of the origin and evolution of emo music. However, today the common usage seems to have shifted completely to whiny pop-punk (often derided as “mall-punk” due to the bands’ clothing styles and actual merchandise marketed heavily to teenagers at Hot Topic stores). Bands adopt androgynous looks with shaggy dyed hair, eyeliner, and often very tight, almost capri-like pants on the guys. Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco are two of the most popular “emo” bands that really aren’t emo, but other artists that get lumped in there are My Chemical Romance (actually sort of cool, conceptual, anthemic rock, but with a large eyeliner-wearing crossover fanbase) and Bright Eyes (a whiny and emotional singer-songwriter, but definitely not “emo” in either musical sense aside from his maudlin lyrics).
Also, the Descendents? An awesome band, but punk rock all the way.
I love The Descendents and I don’t like emo at all. I think they got hit with the tag because they were the first punk band to sing about girl troubles. Pretty sure they considered them selves “nerd punk” or “nerdcore,” but they might have come before the -core suffix craze.
They were definitely nerds, but I can’t stand thinking of them as “nerdcore,” a genre better reserved for dorky college kids rapping about World of Warcraft and Cartoon Network, using a thesaurus for as many big words as possible.
Ok. So basically it’s goth with no anger but more sadness??? Maybe I don’t want to give it a listen. I try to be “up to date” and listen to a little of everything but I don’t think I could handle (Sung)I’m so sad, give me a hanky. I’m really sad and my hair is lanky
I’ve never been able to figure out what exactly “emo” is. Most emo today I can’t stand, but there’s bands like Fugazi, Weezer, even Rainer Maria, that get lopped in with bands like Fall Out Boy, The Promise Ring, and The Get Up Kids, (all of whom actually write decent enough pop songs, but whose music I don’t really like), that I can’t for the life of me figure out what exactly “emo” is supposed to mean.
Goth, emo, and a lot of other terms you hear to describe bands really have more to do with their fanbase than the style of music. A band is emo if emo kids like it, and goth if goth kids like it.
No, it’s not goth at all. It’s punk with whining, like Larry Borgia was getting at. Punk, not goth. There’s nothing like goth about it beyond a liking of black clothes. By that standard we could say that the Catholic church is filled with goths, right?
