Emo what is it?

[Guest razazteca]

a little help please

[Guest]

well it's basically a term used to describe any rock music with emotion.  Because of this, many bands are labeled as emo, even when many of these new bands are very original and imspiring.  Some emo has gone mainstream, like Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard (bands I personally don't like).  IMO, it's just a matter of time before emo goes very mainstream and a bunch of posers calling themselves "emo" will be all over the radio and MTV.  This is only the tip of the iceberg, and it's gonna get alot worse, but that's just the pessimist in me talking.

 

Anyway, if you wan't to get into emo, I'd start with these bands:

 

At The Drive-In  

Sunny Day Real Estate

Mineral

Cap'n Jazz

Thursday

Taking Back Sunday

Junction 18

 

BTW, did anyone see this thing on MTV2 yesterday where Blink was playing some live concert?  What a complete disgrace to bands like Cap'n Jazz just stealing the sound they created, and using it on their shitty pop songs.  Bunch of little bitches.

[Guest]

I think of it as slow punk. Some of my favorite bands are emo.

Jimmy Eat World,Thursday, and the almighty =W= (Weezer)

[Guest]

At the Drive-In is emo? One Armed Scissor doesn't seem very Emo-ish to me, but hey, I'm probobally too mainstream to know what truely is Emo...

 

And it is an outrage that Blink 182 can have musical influences! Everyone should come up with something totally new and refreshingly devoid of any kind of reminder of what some other band did... I mean, JESUS CHRIST!

 

And don't even get me into the whole "mainstream" argument... me and my friends are the only ones who should like my kind of music, not anyone else...

[Guest]

Well I wouldn't call ATDI anything but a rock band.  They were one of the first non-mainstream bands I really got into and it's a great introduction to emo and indy rock.

 

It's not Blink-182 taking influences from other bands that pisses me off.  When Cap'n Jazz used that effect (I think it's called short-string guitar, but I could be wrong), they made it truly original and innovative.  When bands like Blink use it, they turn it into cheap lifeless crap that has no impact.  Thats what pisses me off.

 

And just because a band is mainstream does that mean I have to like it?  I mean I hate Chris Carraba, but I always thought his band Further Seems Forever was decent stuff.  It's when he sold out his own band that I started to dislike him, and his music is whiny emo-crap, so of course it gets non-stop play.  And I dont hate JEW, I just don't like them.  Is that a crime?  I wouldn't knock you for disliking something.  It's all about personal taste.  You really don't want to start the whole mainstream argument, because there are some mainstream bands that I do like, and some I don't, so just leave it at that.

[Guest]

I guess as much at it is an oxymoron, it pisses me off that people get so pissed off about music. Music isn't something to get angry about at all.

 

Let's compare this to wrestling...

 

I love Hayabusa. I would say that he's my favorite junior heavyweight wrestler by far. His high flying stuff was so revolutionary when it first came out, and he could still pull it off flawlessly until the day when he got paralyzed. He truely broke new ground with his style.

 

But do I get pissed off when I hear that an indy wrestler named "Menace" is essentially ripping of Hayabusa by wearing the same costume and using some of the same trademark manuvers?

 

Nope. He'll never even be close to Hayabusa, and at least he's trying the junior-style that I like so much...

 

And even though I don't like hardcore/garbage wrestling, I still respect it as a legitimate slice of the pro-wrestling pie

 

So I see no need to get all worked up and hateful over anything like wrestling or music or sports or whatever you cant think of that doesnt involve opression, pain, and/or death.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Emo, to me, is incessant and whiny bitching. Of course, this definitely comes from the impression the local emo bands give me, so...

 

In reality, I can't fucking stand ANY music that's incredibly depressive. Staind especially. Every song, bitch-bitch-bitch-bitch-SCREAM-bitch-whine-piss-moan-bitch. Not that Staind is emo...

[Guest]

But Lazarus, dont you listen to death metal or something?

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Tell me how Slayer's lyrics are anything like this pseudo-angst bullshit, or even Shadows Fall's lyrics, or any other band I listen to...

[Guest Coffin Surfer]

O.K. Everybody listen up, here's the facts on emo:

 

1.  Emo started off as a nickname for D.C. Hardcore Punk bands who's lyrics were sad songs about relationships, love,..etc.  As opposed to the typical angry social and politcal commentary of the early 80s. (ex. Rites of Spring)

 

2. In the early 90s for some reason, Emo became a catch all term for post punk, that had no real defining charactersitcs.(Fugazi)

 

3.  In the mid 90s emo was associated with slow-midtempo alternative pop bands.(ex. Sunny Day Real Estate)

 

4.Also in the mid 90s the term emocore popped up, as a nickname for Melodic Hardcore.(ex. Shai Hulud)

 

5. In the present the term emo is used to describe all these things, creating great confusion. The truth is that emo was never a genre of music, nor will it ever be.  It was just a bullshit slang term that went to far. If you hear a band being labeled "emo" chances are they are probably just either alt. poprock, poppunk or postpunk.

 

BTW: At the Drive In and Thursday are postpunk.  Dashboard Confessional and Juliana Theory are Alternative poprock.  Jimmy Eat World started off as alt. poprock but are now poppunk.

[Guest Anteater]

I'm a huge Grade fan, and while I figure everyone has heard of them, if you haven't I would highly recommend them. They still rock, and I would definitely classify them as hardcore, but when I noticed that Shai Hulud, whom I consider on some levels, I dunno now. Perhaps emo is a label of personal construction, and depends on the individual; though I would definitely classify many of the bands above as emo.

[Guest Coffin Surfer]

Mostly Emo has become a cool word for people who like poprock, but are scared to admit they like poprock.  

 

But lets face it, the genre does not exist.  There are no defining characterstics to distinguish a band thrown in the genre from any other genre.  

 

Shai Hulud is melodic Hardcore and Grade is melodic hardcore but some of their stuff is simply postpunk.  

 

People for some reason act like punk is a dirty word, and try to avoid calling obvious punk bands like At the Drive In "punk".  Oh their not a punk band, their an "emo" band.  Their not poppunk their an "emo" band.  Its really stupid.

[Guest razazteca]

so your saying that Emo is basically New Wave in a sense that they use punk as a basis for the music but don't want the image of the Sex Pistals or Rancid.

[Guest Vyce]

Even if it isn't really a genre, it sure seems as if they (i.e. MTV, the radio stations, the record companies, media in general) are trying to make emo into a new genre of music.  Posterboys being JEW and Weezer.

 

I really am not into it at all....it all seems like crappy, watered down punk pop to me.

 

BUT!

 

Chant with me folks:

 

"Anything's better than nu-metal!"

[Guest Coffin Surfer]

razazteca: Not so much the bands, as the fans of the bands.  Punk elitiest are also to blame, proclaiming anything that doesn't sound exactly like The Sex Pistols or Rancid as not being punk

 

Vyce: Yes, much like "Grunge", MTV always wants a new revolution.  "Grunge" isn't even a genre of music, considering most of the so called "Grunge" bands were Sludge/Stoner Metal. Much like the so called  "Emo" bands are mostly poppunk or postpunk bands.

[Guest razazteca]

I get confused on the rational of how the Clash and the Sex Pistols could be considered as Punk, they seem worlds apart, New Wave made sense to me as this term set bands like The Talking Heads away from Wendy O.

 

Or if the band does not sound like Green Day punk then it must be given some obscure new label.

 

still confused

[Guest Coffin Surfer]

O.K. here is all the different punk subgenres or related genres that I recognize.  Remember Punk began on an ideal that a  band can sound any way they want.  At a time of formulic music with something new rarely began tried, this set the early punk bands apart from other genres.  

 

Prepunk-Punk and Postpunk before the names existed in the late 60s, also tends to be on the early Metal/Thrash side as well. This includes bands such as Stooges, MC 5, Dead Boys, Monks.

 

N.Y. Punk-A prepunk movement in New York, that started around 1970 inspired by the 60s prepunk bands and glamrock.  Unlike the prepunk bands of the 60s, these bands were all completely unique and didn't really have anything in common. This includes Ramones, Talking Heads, Television, New York Dolls.

 

British Punk-started around 75, this was the first group of punk bands to share a similar sound. This sound was mostly influenced by the harsher and faster prepunk bands like the Dead Boys, MC5, Ramones, Stooges, and Dolls.  The British Punk movement was of course led by The Damned, Sex Pistols, The Clash(who sound very much like the Sex Pistols in the early days.

 

New Wave-Not a punk subgenre, but a poprock subgenre. Unlike British Punk bands these bands took their inspiration from the softer and more friendler prepunk bands like Blondie and Talking Heads(who would both later be considered New Wave themselves).  New Wave Sucks so lets move on.

 

Sreet Punk/Oi-A big fuck you to New Wave.  These bands are dedicated to keeping the true sound of British Punk alive and pure. The music is also a big part of Skinhead subculture(not the fucking nazi kind, the drunken soccar hooligan kind.)   These include Cockney Rejects, Business, Anti-heroes, Dropkick Murphys.

 

Early Hardcore Punk-Another fuck you to New Wave.  Hardcore took the British Punk sound made it louder, faster, and harder.  I give you The Misfits, Dead Kennedys, Germs, and Bad Religion.

 

Hardcore Punk-A further evolution of Hardcore punk, they played even more louder, faster, and harder.  And unlike their forefathers, they were all skilled musicians.  Here comes Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Fear, and Sucidial Tendencies.

 

Postpunk-Bored with the limits of Hardcore Punk, these bands said Fuck You, punk isn't a sound its in idea.  This movement is by far punks largest and still exists and continues to expand the genre's borders till this very day. The Clash is said to have started the movement with "Londons Calling".   This movement includes Huskur Du, Replacements, Minutemen, later Bad Brains, Fugazi, Boy Sets Fire, At the Drive In, Nation of Ulysses, Sonic Youth.

 

Poppunk-The Ramones are said to be the first poppunk band.  But the genre really was recognized until The Buzzcocks came around.  Their music was melodic, funny, catchy and at times sad. Their vocalists Peter Shelly sang in a high whiney voice(that is still imiated to this day.) The Descendents, Dead Milkmen, Queers, Gen-X, Greenday, Rancid, would all follow.  

 

MTVpunk(posers)-This would include newer Blink 182, Sum 41, and all that crap.  Its like the GoGos.  They crossed poppunk into straight up poprock. New Wave of the 90s.

 

Hardcore(punkmetal)-Hardcore Punk and Metal mixed it up quite a bit in the 80s with the birth of Speed Metal. But another style would also be born "Hardcore".  The genre is similar to Hardcore Punk except it slower, heavier, and more metal.  This includes: Agnostic Front, Hatebreed, Sick of it All.

 

PostHardcore(metalcore)-Hardcore would evolve yet again, this time becoming much more looser, complex, and melodic.  This includes Today is the Day, Shai Hulud, Dillinger Escape Plan, old Cave In.  

 

There it all is. Its not complex if you think about.  Most bands now days are either hardcore punk, posthardcore, street punk, postpunk, or poppunk.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

More metalcore bands:

Merauder (FUCKING OWNS), Biohazard

 

Coffin, you got the punk aspects down, I got the metal down...LET'S TAG~!~ MWAHAHAHAHA~!~!~!~!~!~

 

Oh, and big "props" to raza for mentioning WENDY O AND THE PLASMATICS...which, coincidentally, is my dad's (44) favorite band...

[Guest razazteca]

so the Red Hot Chili Peppers would be considered (blank)-core?

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

I'd call RHCP more just rock/funk, really...

[Guest LooseCannon]

Coffin Surfer: Pretty good run down of the history and sub classifications.  I just have one little quibble I wanted to clarify.  It's my understanding that oi/pub-rock/street-rock was not really originally a sub-genre of British punk or a reaction to new wave as you put it.  Rather it was a distinct, yet similar sound that was popular among British working class skinheads (non-racist kind) of the 70s.  The difference b/w the two being that oi is more sing-along and had more of a ska influence originally.  In Britain in the 70's the skinheads and the punks actually violently hated eachother and there were violent altercations between the two groups.  The skinheads tended to dress well despite their working class status and maintained a strong sense of pride in themselves.  They hated punks who they saw as poorly dressed riffraff who had no pride and gave the lower class a bad name.  At some point however, perhaps as each was imported to America where there seemed to be a distinction without a difference, the two genres blended a bit, and came to have common fans.  Though even today we can recognize certain bands as having an oi sound, these bands are pretty firmly within the punk genre and their fans generally consider themselves punks.  Most of the people I've known that are skins, still tend to favor the oi sound or hardcore, though they still go to and enjoy punk shows, as well.

[Guest Ignatz Belzner]

Okay, to totally change the subject...

 

Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Black Metal:

 

What is the essential difference?  I mean, I view, say, Opeth as being more along the lines of Black Metal, whilst I always thought of Slayer as Thrash Metal...I could be wrong about these, though.  What's the difference between the genres?

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Death Metal: Usually Drop-Tuning used on guitars, extremely fast drumming revolving around double-bass and snare drums, vocals are growled, most bands have "gore" lyrics (meaning they're about murder, necrophilia, etc.), entire thing is to be "brutal."

 

Black Metal: Standard-tuning (usually, or one whole step down), drums are about power and moderate speed (focus on strong double-bass and snare drums), vocals are screeched, either be Christraping (Antichrist) or Satanic or Viking lyrics, entire thing is to be "evil" and "true."

 

Thrash Metal: All sorts of tuning, main focus is SPEED and HEAVINESS, lyrics range from partying (old-school bay area thrash) to murder (Slayer, Testament), most song have "breakdowns" in them to slow the song down and give the audience a minor rest, vocals can be done in any which way, entire thing is to be FAST.

[Guest]

Emo is a band that does strictly emotional songs. Think of it as a writer that does romantic novels, you have to have it as your 'specialisation'.

 

But be careful when slotting some punk bands into sub-gernes as many (normally the better bands) are constantly changing their style. Eg Coffin Surfer mentioning Rancid as pop-punk despite their last album being hardcore and the one before that Ska.

 

Punk bands are really more as that of having similar beliefs, and therefore there could be two punk bands that sound nothing alike but are. That's why Blink and Sum are hated upon, they went against these 'beliefs'.

[Guest Coffin Surfer]

Emo is a band that does strictly emotional songs. Think of it as a writer that does romantic novels, you have to have it as your 'specialisation'.

 

Now here's my problem with that vague definition of emo.  What band doesn't write emotional songs.From Journey to Metallica all bands are emotional about something.

 

The subgenre thing is of course not always 100% accurate, Replacements and Huskur Du started off as Hardcore Punk  bands, before going postpunk.  I was just trying to simplify it  for razaz, not confuse him. Most of Rancid's stuff is poppunk with some ska mixed in. They have like two hardcore punk albums.

[Guest]

Here's the bands that I like that I would consider from the punk genre, though some people might not agree.

Alot are Punk/Ska I'd say,  I don't really like straight up Ska, but the punk/ska genre is awesome.

 

A few of my favorites:

NOFX

Operation Ivy

Rancid

Propaghandi

The Vandals

The Queers

Sublime (more ska then punk)

 

And a couple more straight up rock, less punk, bands I like:

Nirvana

Weezer

Nerf Herder

Kid Rock (everyone seems to hate him, but I like him)