The Emo Education/FAQ/History Thread

[Figure8]

The Emo Education Thread

A Brief Emo History

"Emo" is a shortened term for emotive or emotional hardcore. Originally, it was used mostly by kids who were faithful to the early DC hardcore punk bands like Minor Threat as a putdown to fans of bands like Indian Summer. Today, it is a more ambiguous term and describes a variety of different styles and is often misinterpreted to just mean emotional music which is obviously wrong seeing as all music is emotional from Tupac, to Bob Dylan to Mozart.

Emo is a derivative from the early 80s hardcore punk movement. The earliest band tried to deviate from the well-established and more violence-shifting hardcore sound, first evidenced in released like Husker Du's "Zen Arcade" in 1984, and later releases from Rites Of Spring and Embrace. This upcoming breed of music was characterized by more intense and passionate vocal delivery while retaining a more tranquilized hardcore punk quality.

The summer of 1985 (termed the "Revolution Summer") marked the emergence of many new bands like Moss Icon, Gray Matter, Shudder To Think, Ignition and Dag Nasty. These bands tended to have a less aggressive more melodic sound with more high to low sound transitions.

By the mid-1990s, there were many derivations of the D.C. style that appeared in different parts of the country, such as the scene in California pushed by Gravity Records. Influenced by bands of the Revolution Summer, prominent bands of this era included, Antioch Arrow, Mohinder, Heroin, Angel Hair, Swing Kids, and Indian Summer. Most of these bands retained the hardcore-influenced sound and were later termed "screamo", for their screaming vocals and more harmonized and melodic riffs. There was also the independent Delaware based label Jade Tree Record featuring post-emo (or indie-emo, indie rock emo, etc) bands such as Texas is the Reason, Jets To Brazil, Promise Ring (earlier albums were more post-emo) and quite a few Kinsella projects such as Owls and Joan of Arc. They would also release the very influential Analphabetapolothology by Cap'n Jazz. These bands held some emo elements but quite a few indie-rock elements, they were much softer with pop guitar riffs. The post-punk and post-hardcore movements had a large influence on these bands. The post-emo movement got more notice than the original emo movement and was more commercially successful, though bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and early Jimmy Eat World were more popular then bands such as Cap'n Jazz. The post-emo was movement was heavily scrutinized by loyalists of the original hardcore movement. Labeling such bands as "emo" caused more debate and separatism.

Though more recently the post-emo movement has been less scrutinized because of the clear emo influences it holds. While bands such as Panic! At The Disco and Dashboard Confessional who don't hold much of an emo influence at all are being credited as emo just because their lyrics are confessional and deal with relationships, or are labeled by scene kids as emo. Theres many problems with this, some of the bands that they label emo hold slight post-emo influences but a lot of those influences they have are not from the original emo movement at all, and are from that the post-emo bands drew from elsewhere. In addition to that the genre itself has no set standards, it seems to be alot of times set by the clothes the band wears or what they decide is emo. Bands they label emo have ranged from heavily prog influenced Coheed and Cambria, to singer/songwriter Bright Eyes, to metalcore act Norma Jean to pop bands like Panic! At The Disco and My Chemical Romance.

Emo

There is a lot of musical diversity, ranging from soft guitar riffs to crashing riffs and whispering vocals to screaming. The lyrics can be thought of as a unique form of poetry and are often hard to decipher. They tend to be more personal, and sometimes they can be political in nature. The songwriting has been commonly and ignorantly mischaracterized as being solely depression and sometimes suicide oriented.

Often used interchangeably with “emo”, emo-core was originally used to describe early D.C. bands and later bands that retained the hardcore-influenced sound.

Examples: Rites Of Spring, Indian Summer, Moss Icon, Nation of Ulysses, Dag Nasty, Native Nod, Embrace

Screamo

Starting in the 1990s with an emo influence, screamo has faster harmonized guitar riffs, screaming vocals, and softer and more melodic breakdowns. Gravity Records was the prominent source for this style of music. The intensified, emotional, and sometimes dramatic screaming performances have been acquired by many of today’s alternative, pop-punk, hardcore, and metal oriented bands. Inevitably, this has caused a divide between fans of this style and early hardcore loyalists.

Examples: Circle Takes The Square, pg.99, Orchid, La Quiete, Antioch Arrow, City Of Caterpillar, Neil Perry, Ampere

Post-Emo (a.k.a. Indie Emo)

Musically, indie-based emo is a lot softer, with soften rock or pop guitar riffs. The songs range from uplifting and happy to melancholy. The vocals tend to be high-pitched, but they are not as intense as hardcore or screamo vocals. The post-punk and post-hardcore movements had a large influence on this sound, particularly Husker Du and Fugazi (Guy Picciotto and Ian Mackaye). This indie-based emo is more commercially successful and recognized than the original hardcore movement.

Examples: American Football, Sunny Day Real Estate, Cap’n Jazz, Mineral, Jets To Brazil, Texas Is The Reason, Christie Front Drive,


Links

Gravity Records
Level Plane Records
Dischord Records
Perpetual Motion Machine Records
Hyper Realist Records
Robotic Empire Records
Electric Human Project Records

[Figure8]

An In-Depth Look At Screamo (written by Mike).

In the early 1990's, the term screamo would be closely aligned with Gravity Records' bands primarily forming on the west coast, particularly in San Diego. Back then they called it emo, a shortened genre title to describe the more EMOtional aspect of bands influenced by hardcore and punk. Early 90's west coast screamo bands include the likes of: Mohinder, Angel Hair, Heroin, and Second Story Window (not to be confused with From a Second Story Window, a western Pennsylvanian metal act), just to name a few.

The problem with this term emo is, when bands such as Sunny Day Real Estate and Texas is the Reason started coming out in the mid 90's, they began using the term emo to describe the emotional aspect of their music and lyrics, and relate it back to their direct influence from hardcore. The problem with that was there was no screaming. I think a main factor in the changing of the "genre" name was to keep these bands' screaming credibility.

The modern term "screamo" as we know it, is first and most closely aligned to the likes of Saetia. In the late 90's, many bands from the east coast began pulling heavy influence from these early 90's Gravity Records bands, but with some modern flair. Modern screamo almost always refers to a group of east coast bands featuring college level kids looking to provoke thought and release their own aggression through the power of music. These bands typically stretched from Massachusetts to Virginia and rarely further west than Philadelphia (with a few exceptions, such as Georgia's Portrait). Although the term is first related to the likes of Saetia, I personally believe that there were lesser known predecessors. For instance, a pre-You&I band known as Instil first started playing shows around 95/96. Around 1997-98, bands such as Saetia, You&I, Usurp Synapse, Jerome's Dream, and Orchid began popping up playing in basements and other tiny establishments to only a few people. I've heard the late 90's screamo criticized as "artsy" and "pretentious," but I think naysayers don't quite understand the intended point of this movement. Normally, when a hardcore/punk kid begins college, he/she starts to understand him/herself better. They will grow bored of the "posicore" crap of the 80's and move to an entirely new genre of music and thought that isn't nearly as socially aware. Rather than abandon their roots in hardcore or punk music, the modern screamo kids wanted to expand on a tired sound and keep themselves socially, politically, and emotionally aware.

The following is a rather short list of screamo bands from this later era that is probably not nearly complete enough (feel free to let me know whom i forgot):

Saetia, Instil, You&I, City of Caterpillar, Songs of Zarathustra, Orchid!, Jerome's Dream, Page99, Forstella Ford, Neil Perry, Usurp Synapse, Joshua Fit for Battle, Portrait, DeadSeraphim, A Trillion Barnacle Lapse, Linus, Red Scare, Reversal of Man, Makara, Racebannon, Hot Cross, Lickgoldensky, This Ship Will Sink, Melt Banana (Japan), Envy (Japan), Welcome the Plague Year, Anodyne, Malady, The Assistant, Mannequin, A Day's Refrain, Transistor Transistor, The Wolves, Ampere, and Bucket Full of Teeth.

It is worth noting that by 2001 or 2002, the majority of these screamo bands disbanded. I think most of the reason can be attributed these kids finishing college and moving in separate directions with their personal, social, political, and emotional agenda. My personal opinion is that a lot of public interest in screamo waned by 2002. Of course many of the first string of modern screamo bands didn't sell out their beliefs of playing till their hearts stopped. Hot Cross, for instance, features ex-members of You&I and Saetia. The Assistant also featured former members of You&I. Bucket Full of Teeth, The Wolves, and Ampere all feature(d) ex-members of Orchid. Malady features former members of Page99 and City of Caterpillar. These more current bands still carry on with the screamo aesthetic, but with more maturity due to the fact that they're older and wiser now.

To boot, there are bands now that are heavily influenced by screamo that also help to carry the torch, including (but not limited to), Circle takes the Square, I would set Myself on Fire for you, Since by Man, and The Locust. Unfortunately, I think the growing popularity in bands like Since by Man and The Locust have forced their later releases into a sort of "accessible screamo" which in and of itself is an oxymoron.

I think when you kids argue over the screamo-ness of any particularly popular outfit, you're entirely missing the point. Finch, Thrice, FATA, Poison the Well, and especially Thursday are all well rounded musicians. The members of these bands enjoy products of many underground revolutions, including, but not limited to, screamo. These bands happen to use the emotional aspect without embracing the "arty pretense." For instance, Thursday, being from New Brunswick, played many of their first shows with You&I. They count You&I highly on the influence list. When listening to Thursday, their "Full Collapse" album sounds particularly screamo (moreso than the other bands' albums). I think Thursday's singer takes 3 main aspects from his brethren in You&I: vocal patterning, vocal layering, and lyrical content. When Geoff Rickley decides to use 2 or more separate vocal patterns at once, they juxtapose each other beautifully. This is a page from You&I. A band like Finch or Thrice will do this much more subtly than Thursday. Extra vocals for these bands are more in the background, but the emotionally and socially aware conscience remains. Poison the Well's first album used a lot of screaming over clean parts, a concept first put into place by screamo bands. FATA I don't even want to touch base on because to me, they're more metal than screamo. I think people use the tone of the drummer's ****ty whiny voice to align it with screamo, when in reality it draws no parallel to screamo music. Keep in mind that although I haven't touched base on most of the bands you mentioned (ie atreyu, alexisonfire), they're not screamo. I think a good tool for measurement would be: If you've heard of them, they're not screamo. Screamo isn't about the genre, or the money, or the touring, or the girls, or the chops, or the fashion. It was about the music and the moment. I think, for the most part, "the moment" is gone and most bands considered to be blatantly screamo are just retreading a path already carved. It's sad to say I missed out on most of what these bands were doing at the time they were doing them. I'll have to tend to agree with previous posts that say not to really call it screamo. These bands weren't doing it because it was screamo. They were doing it for themselves.

[r0ckl0bster]

good stuff, just browsed through

[Kingmob]

Meh. Its ok. Its not very concise. There are some glaring inaccuracies, particularly in the screamo stuff. I mean, not one mention of Witching Hour?? Get a grip. Also Reversal of Man were goign in 95, and they were in Tampa, not up the East coast.

Basically what I'm saying, is this is never gonna be definitive. There is to much room for subjective debate.

[r0ckl0bster]

good basis to build on if you want though

[Figure8]

Originally Posted by Kingmob

Meh. Its ok. Its not very concise. There are some glaring inaccuracies, particularly in the screamo stuff.

Care to point them out?

Originally Posted by Kingmob

I mean, not one mention of Witching Hour?? Get a grip.

I've never even heard of them.

Originally Posted by Kingmob

Also Reversal of Man were goign in 95, and they were in Tampa, not up the East coast.

I didn't write it, and I don't see any specific mention of them being from the east coast in it, but the year inaccuracy is a mistake. I didn't write this though I will alter it if necessary.

Originally Posted by Kingmob

Basically what I'm saying, is this is never gonna be definitive. There is to much room for subjective debate.

Welcome to the world of music.

[Kingmob]

Originally Posted by Figure8

Care to point them out?

No mention what so ever of Witching Hour records. THE definitive screamo record label.

Originally Posted by Figure8

I've never even heard of them.

Operated out of Indianapolis, only had 20 or so releases, the last being the Neil Perry picture disk 7", but it put out something by almost every band from the 1999 "peak" screamo period.

Furthermore, there is not one mention of Honeywell anywhere in there. Now most people I know would site them as the first screamo band. Not Saetia.

There is also nothing about the End of Century Party, Palatka, In/Humanity and emo violence, which contribuited to the sound that became know as "screamo".

[Figure8]

Yeah, i'll revise this and look more into Witching Hour. I have some of their releases too haha, i'll look more into it and post an up to date version in about a week.

Originally Posted by Kingmob

There is also nothing about the End of Century Party, Palatka, In/Humanity and emo violence, which contribuited to the sound that became know as "screamo".

In/Humanity used emo violence to describe their sound as a joke. Emo Violence = Screamo.

[Kingmob]

Originally Posted by Figure8

In/Humanity used emo violence to describe their sound as a joke. Emo Violence = Screamo.

The name was a joke, but if you look at the band, compare them with Eurich/Palatka/EOTCP they're not playing "screamo" stylistically its different in a lot of ways.

[r0ckl0bster]

Yea emo violence started as a joke, but definitely had a following and carved it's own niche.

[Ms.Andi]

It may not be definitive but this post certainly gave me some directions to look for more information and helped me figure out a few things. I'll look forward to reading revisions and learning more.

[cwistine]

good info on the emo history it was a good read =]

[epiclulz]

cool

[epiclulz]

thats cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!