What defines the Emo style of music and culture?

Answer 1

G'day Scubby04,

Thanks for your question.

Emo is a subgenre of hardcore punk music. Since its inception, emo has come to describe several independent variations, linked loosely but with common ancestry. As such, use of the term (and which musicians should be so classified) has been the subject of much debate.

In its original incarnation, the term emo was used to describe the music of the mid-1980s Washington, DC scene and its associated bands. In later years, the term emocore, short for "emotional hardcore", was also used to describe the DC scene and some of the regional scenes that spawned from it. The term emo was derived from the fact that, on occasion, members of a band would become spontaneously and strongly emotional during performances. The most recognizable names of the period included Rites of Spring, Embrace, One Last Wish, Beefeater, Gray Matter, Fire Party, and, slightly later, Moss Icon. The first wave of emo began to fade after the breakups of most of the involved bands in the early 1990s.

Starting in the mid-1990s, the term emo began to reflect the indie scene that followed the influences of Fugazi, which itself was an offshoot of the first wave of emo. Bands including Sunny Day Real Estate and Texas Is the Reason put forth a more indie rock style of emo, more melodic and less chaotic in nature than its predecessor. The so-called "indie emo" scene survived until the late 1990s, as many of the bands either disbanded or shifted to mainstream styles.

As the remaining indie emo bands entered the mainstream, newer bands began to emulate the more mainstream style, creating a style of music that has now earned the moniker emo within popular culture. Whereas, even in the past, the term emo was used to identify a wide variety of bands, the breadth of bands listed under today's emo is even more vast, leaving the term "emo" as more of a loose identifier than as a specific genre of music.

Emo is a slang term used to describe a range of fashion styles and attitudes somewhat affiliated with emo music and its related scenes. As an adjective, emo can describe a style of fashion or music; or a general state of unhappiness or melancholy (as in "to feel emo"). Emo is also used as a noun, often pejoratively, to identify a member of the "emo scene" or someone viewed as fitting the "emo" stereotype.

Good books to read about Emo are:

Andersen, Mark (2001). Dance Of Days, Two Decades of Punk In The Nations Capitol. Soft Skull Press. ISBN 1-887-128-49-2.
Greenwald, Andy (2003). Nothing Feels Good. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-31-230863-9.

I enclose sources for your reference.

Regards

Answer 2

Emo is a depressing and satanical type of music which depressed teenagers listen to.

Answer 3

I duno, usually they listen to people who wear black and stuff, I love that song i don't jump around when i go to shows lol.
i play guitar and write suicide notes (i love it)

Answer 4

http://www.adamandandrew.com/mp3/emo.mp3

Answer 5

elmo?