# Proper "emo"



## Cermage (Jun 8, 2010)

I'm sick of people labelling bands "emo" just because the vocals are screamed or the band members dress "emo". 

Emo is a shortened version of Emotive hardcore, which came from hardcore (punk). the differences with hardcore is that the vocals can be screamed or whined instead of roars and growls. Original emo, borrowed pretty heavily in terms of hardcore but these days the emo scenehas moved to pretty funky melodies and harmonies, similar to mathrock. i see a lot of people labelling bands emo based on the lyrics, which does borrow from the proper genre, where the lyrics surround relationships and/or something happening to said relationship. but then the other end of the spectrum, a lot of r'n'b artists sing about the same thing but you don't see people saying usher is emo. lyrics don't play all that much in emotive hardcore nowadays, its mainly defined by the strained or whined vocals. instruments lie inbetween hardcore to mathrock to postrock. 

then lets look at the dress sense

How "Emo"'s dress  






How Bands that play emo music dress 





they're pretty much skate kids. 

black, side fringes, makeup e.t.c belong in scene. definitely not emo.  


What bands aren't emo: 
My Chemical Romance 
Simple Plan 
Hawthorne Heights 
Taking back Sunday 
Amberlin 
the used

Definitely not any metalcore (and its subgenres) bands. you can tell the difference simply by listening to the pace of a song, metal death grind e.t.c all have much, much more complex and technical playing. you can easily tell by listening to the drums. Guitars are usually heavily distorted, sharp solo's now and again and interesting riffs. following metal pretty closely. 

What bands are emo: 
Rites of Spring  
Gray Matter
Sleepytime Trio  
Moss icon

these are all the older bands of emotive of hardcore. 

and then the more recent emo bands
American Football 
Hightide Hotel
Snowing 
Small Brown Bike 
Castevet
Street Smart Cyclist
Algernon

you know?

American Football - Honestly? 


Snowing - Sam Rudich


Castevet - Evil Robot with Swords for hands


Hightide Hotel - The tender and the terrible


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## Rainy (Jun 8, 2010)

I agree. I've never classified My Chemical Romance or Simple Plan "emo" music.


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## Overlord Nadrian (Jun 8, 2010)

They look like zombies.


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## Hadrian (Jun 8, 2010)

Ugh I hate it when people say Usher is "R n' B", he's not he is soul music.  Proper r 'n' b blah blah. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	





Yeah I do agree with you, some time ago bands like Jimmy Eat World, Rival Schools, Sunny Day Real Estate, Weezer, At The Drive-In, Fugazi and Embrace (US band not UK) were considered emo.  It was a shit term to be honest with you, much preferred the post-hardcore tag for most of these.  Fuck it can't we just call it music?  If someone wants to know what sort just play them it.

Basically to me it was sad songs about girls played loud by people who didn't follow fashion.  After the turn of the century it seemed to be any goth-lite looking band that played 80's style riffs and sang in a grating voice were emo.  Most of these were middle class kids with no reason to actually winge about anything.


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