What the heck is an EMO?

Question

I keep hearing this. What is an EMO?

Answer 1

Emo (from emotional) is a slang term used to describe a range of fashion styles and attitudes somewhat affiliated with emo music and its related scenes. The word "emo" may be used as a noun to describe a member of the emo scene, as an adjective to describe a certain style of fashion or music, or even to describe a state of feeling unhappiness, loneliness, depression or melancholy (to feel "emo").

For more than a decade, the term emo was used almost exclusively to describe the genre of music that spawned from the 1980s DC scene and all of the bands inspired by it. However, during the late 1990s, as emo music began to emerge from the underground into popular consciousness, the term began to be used as a reference for more than just the music.

The origin of the word emo itself is unclear. In a 1985 interview by Rites of Spring in Flipside Magazine, members of the band noted that some of their fans in DC were starting to call them "emo", arguably because of the state of emotion that the band displayed during their shows. In later years, the word emo was viewed as a contraction of "emotional hardcore" or "emocore", which was the popular designation of the music genre. (One contingent of the scene insists that emo is a contraction for "emotive hardcore". However, no primary source has been found to confirm use of that term prior to the mid-1990s.)

In recent years, as its use has come to define more than just the music, the word emo has more often been viewed as simply being short for "emotional".

2000s
Bands like Dashboard Confessional began to popularize a more dramatic and personal style of "emo", which utilized lyrics that had a far greater appeal amongst teenagers experiencing life and love for the first time. As the lyrical content shifted and as the sound began to enter the mainstream, the term "emo" started to be used more often to describe what was perceived by those outside the scene as the overwrought melodrama of the music. The perception was that melodrama was simply an invention, an effort to display depression or dysfunction where it didn't actually exist. Popular comments such as "don't be so emo" and "cheer up, emo kid" drove home the belief among deriders that fans of emo music took themselves too seriously.

As major labels began pushing more bands under the "emo" umbrella, varying styles of music and dress began to be lumped in as well. The style of bands like My Chemical Romance, including their use of makeup (particularly black eyeliner) and longish hair covering the face, began to be associated with "emo".

to read more about emo kids go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo_(slang)

Answer 2

Emo is a term for someone who is very emotional and not afraid to express it in front of others. It was originally applied to a local music scene in the D.C.area, then expanded to include bands like My Chemical Romance. Most people have the stereotype that all Emo kids are cutters, or goth, but it's simply not true.

Answer 3

An Emo, is simply slang for an emotional person.
But nowadays...people who are called emo, are stereotyped as people who have tattoos, piercings, wear dark clothes & cuts their wrists.
Not True.

Some good emo bands: Copeland, The Early November, The Movielife, The Get Up Kids, Thrice..etc.

Here's a video where Crista Flanagan from MADtv is imitating an emo kid. HAHA..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMvMzQ4Vu-8&search=Hope%20is%20Emo

Answer 4

depends on what context you heard it...read on
Emo (music) a subgenre of hardcore punk
Emo (slang), a slang term used to describe a wide range of fashion styles and attitudes somewhat affiliated with emo music
EMO may stand for:

Electronic Money Order, a type of online currency, or eCurrency
Emergency Measures Organization, an agency of Canadian provincial government responsible for emergency preparedness
Emergency Machine-Off operation, more commonly referred to as an Emergency Power-Off
Extra Man Opportunity, a synonym for a lacrosse or hockey power play

Answer 5

Emo- is a style of track that originated from hardcore punk early on, and followed pop-punk affects in a while within the 2000s while it grew to be mainstream. It has given that come to explain a few variants of track with typical roots and related type and stereotypes. In the mid-Nineteen Eighties, the time period emo defined a subgenre of hardcore punk which stemmed from the Washington, D.C. track scene. In later years, the time period emocore, brief for "emotional hardcore", was once extensively utilized to explain the emotional performances of bands within the Washington, D.C. scene and one of the offshoot neighborhood scenes corresponding to Rites of Spring, Embrace, One Last Wish, Beefeater, Gray Matter, Fire Party, and later, Moss Icon Starting within the mid-Nineteen Nineties, the time period emo started to consult the indie scene that adopted the affects of Fugazi, which itself was once an offshoot of the primary wave of emo. Bands adding Sunny Day Real Estate and Texas Is the Reason had a extra indie rock type of emo, extra melodic and no more chaotic. The so-known as "indie emo" scene survived till the overdue Nineteen Nineties, as a number of the bands both disbanded or shifted to mainstream patterns. As the rest indie emo bands entered the mainstream, more moderen bands started to emulate the mainstream type. As a outcome, the time period "emo" grew to be a vaguely outlined identifier as a substitute than a distinct style of track. From approximately 2004 to the reward, emo noted pop-punk bands corresponding to Good Charlotte, Fall Out Boy and Simple Plan who took the have an impact on of common indie emo acts and combined them with pop-punk within the like of Blink-182.

Answer 6

"EMO" is a type of person that is silently and desperatly begging for attention. My lil cuz is an "EMO" person. He'd never admit to wanting attention or being despessed, but he is. I'm 29 yrs old now. When i was in high school, there was styles/fashions of preppy, gangster, redneck, gothic and just plain old normal i guess.... I was "gangster" lol. I'm white, but i sold drugs, would always have mininum $250 on me (felt great when i'd pay for my $1.50 lunch during school out of a 2" wad out of my pocket) and everybody would stare at you, knowing how you got it. And I assume they either thought "your a bad person" or they be jealous. Either way, i didnt much care, aslong as they knew. I never expected anyone else to be like me, i got along with pretty much everybody except the gothic kids. I mean, what in the world would make somebody want to dress like that. The only person i know that would be looked at as cool wearing all black was Johnny Cash!! So these people wear black make up, dye their hair black, wear spiked dog collars, listen to "screamo" music that you cant understand a dam word, and just make themselves different purposely!! WHY?!?! Are you that pathedic, that you gotta make yourself be soo different? Its not even an attractice look. If it was, maybe i'd have a little more tolerance for it. If your want to get attention, maybe try looking presentable, so somebody might actually feel comfortable having a conversation with you. And that dam music, ARRRRR BSTJVSDTBV, hvdynbdfyj..... What the hell did that person just say?? Lol. "EMO" is a phase that people tend to grow out of once they realize he or she cant get hired anywhere with a dog collar around their neck and purple pieircings in their nose and spiked hair.... I think these kind of people are crying for attention, but when you tell them that, they get all defensive! Usually these kind of weirdo's have a mental issue aswell, always trying to get others to believe that he or she has back pain, or sciatic pain, or their stomach is always bothering them. Again, looking for attention! If its really that hard for you to fiquire life out, you probably need more than just attention!! Maybe a couple weeks in a nut house, or phyciatric care... Regardless these people are strange and very complicated. Talk to one of these people if you ever get a chance, and if theres any "normal" in yourself, then you will see what it is i'm talking about!!! What the hell is this world coming too?!?! Im no dam prize, but jesus christ, i certainly didnt make people wanna run the other way when they saw me!! Like i said, either they were jealous of me, or thought to themselves " i dont have the balls to live like him"

Answer 7

Emo is punk nowadays

Answer 8

Emo is a person who is an emotional punk rocker wannabee, whiner,and crybaby.

Answer 9

emo is slang for "emotional" basically its a person whos really into sappy love songs and all overly sensitive to things. this is mainly used to describe teens who are into punk rock that are all emotionally sensitive.

Answer 10

it means emotional.its basically a style of hair and clothes that so called EMO people wear