What is Emo?

Question

So, I may be old or out of the "in" crowd or something, but what exactly is EMO?

Answer 1

Emo is a cross between goth and itself. Emo stands for "emotional" and emo people often cut themselves (on wrists as act of self-violence). If you want to try to spot an emo person, many of them have similar dressing choices; girl emos wearing baggy jeans and shirts, and boys wearing tight jeans and shirts. Some emos don't necessarily cut themselves, but it is just another form of our diverse world's self'expression. I hope you found my answer helpful!

Answer 2

Emo is a stereotype. An emo person would usually wear all black and cut their arms. Emo stands for emotional. It's usually a middle school or highschool label.

Answer 3

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.

There are two popular forms of dress that are considered emo. The first is essentially derived from the 1990s "indie emo" scene, and has connections to indie rock, grunge, and punk rock. It includes more vintage and thrift store clothing, typically for a well-worn look. Some of the clothing leans toward khaki colors. T-shirts are typically of smaller sizes, and with various prints, often images from the 1980s punk culture. Bags and backpacks often have pins and patches of various bands.

The other popular style of dress focuses on darker colors. Commonly seen styles include straight, dark colored hair, either black, red, multi-colored (brown and black, red and purple, etc.) which covers one eye, males wearing pants tailored for females, lip, eyebrow, and labret piercings, and dark make-up on males and females (most notably black eyeliner, although red and pink eyeshadow is becoming increasingly popular). A common accessory for both males and females is glasses with a dark coloured (usually black), thick rim, a style sometimes even worn by persons who do not require corrective eye-wear. Wristbands in various colors are also popular.

Converse All-Star style shoes are common amongst both styles of dress, as are Vans and other skate shoe brands.

While "emo" is often used to describe the dress and attitudes of fans of emo music, "emo" as a musical genre and "emo" as a slang term are largely separate. "Emo" as a musical genre long pre-dated the use of "emo" as a slang term. At the same time, most current bands are labeled "emo" unwillingly, largely because they share some of the fashion trends and attitude associated with "emo" as a slang term.

There is also a common stereotype that associates "emo" with self-harm, most notably cutting wrists, partly due to song lyrics associated with "emo" bands, which often speak of acts of self-destruction. However, apart from the anecdotal, there is no significant evidence of any correlation between emo and self-harm.

Answer 4

It is short for "emotional." If someone cuts themselves or constantly talks about committing suicide, etc., they would today be considered emo. hope this helps.

Answer 5

Emotional?

Answer 6

Elmo is the lil' red guy that kids love.