A couple weeks ago, a group of friends and I were extremely excited as we bought our tickets and prepared our outfits for what was supposed to be the best night of our entire freshman year: Emo Nite. If you’re like me, and you spent your middle and high school years dressed in all black and practicing the perfect eyeliner on the daily, you probably have heard of the infamous Emo Nite. If you haven’t, Emo Nite is a tour that features a setlist of the best of the best in terms of “Emo” music, sometimes even inviting special guests from notable bands for their shows. I put “emo” in quotation marks because, after my experience at this show, I was left somewhat confused.
You see, having entered this scene in the late 2010s in middle school, my perception of “emo” was highly influenced by the current trends and music scene of the time. When I heard the word “emo”, I thought of tumblr, of Fall Out Boy’s Drunk History featuring Brendon Urie, of guys in tight pants and eyeliner, and of course, My Chemical Romance. The music I heard at the show, on the other hand, was very different from what I was expecting. The playlist at this event ranged from “Since You Been Gone”, some heavier 90s deep cuts, all the way to “Wonderwall.” Not to mention their lack of what I would consider emo staples, such as “I Miss You” by Blink-182. This led me down a rabbit hole of googling fueled by the question, what really is, or was, considered emo?
When I went on my deep dive into the history of the term emo, I learned that the band credited as being the first to bear the label was actually based in Washington, DC. Formed out of the DC hardcore scene in 1984, Rites of Spring differed from its predecessors by turning away from an outwardly aggressive style and towards more emotionally charged lyrics. Hence, the term “emotional hardcore” was born, shortened to emo. Many other bands began to follow in Rites of Spring’s footsteps, leading to what was called “Revolution Summer”, or a period of musical experimentation and anti-violent sentiments within the DC rock scene. However, the term given to these bands was hardly considered a compliment. Embrace, another so-called “emo” band from the DC area, referred to the moniker given to them as “the stupidest thing” they had ever heard.
This distaste for the term did not keep it from sticking around into the 90s, spreading west into the newly emerged grunge genre. It began splintering off into subgenres, like the “midwest emo” of Sunny Day Real Estate and American Football, or the “screamo” bands coming out of the San Diego music scene. Alongside this, many bands began taking the heavier elements from hardcore and punk and combining it with the lyrical tropes of emo and the structure of mainstream music, leading to the development of pop-punk in the late 90s, with representative bands such as Green Day and Jimmy Eat World. The term emo was being applied to many different bands across the spectrum, with noticeably varied styles. Although the label had expanded in use, the negative connotation persisted, and most bands either shied away from it or denounced it all together.
Whereas previously, emo had been a term solely categorizing music, in the 2000’s it grew into an entire subculture. With new avenues of expression available through the introduction of MySpace and LiveJournal, and the opening of stores such as Hot Topic, the commercialization of emo was underway. A distinct style began to develop, taking inspiration from punk and goth, and the “mall” versions of those aesthetics. Emo began making its way into the mainstream, with Warped Tour (a pop-punk music festival that ran from 1995-2019) propelling the careers of acts such as My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and Paramore. Although all three of these bands differed drastically style-wise, and advocated against their classification as emo, it can be argued that what emo became can be traced back to their influence on the genre.
The part of emo history that I’m the most familiar with was considered “The Emo Revival”, and consisted from the 2010s and still today. This is where we see many emo bands reaching widespread success, breaking out into the mainstream music industry. Alongside this transition, the understanding of what emo was began to shift from intense introspective lyrics and a collision of styles from all-over the rock scene, into a dumbed-down version. This version consists of wearing all black, eyeliner, and just generally being depressed (Not to say these factors weren’t present). This change became very evident within the Tumblr community. This is where we start to see the disconnect between emo music and aesthetic, with the growth of fast fashion commodify-ing the style, with little to no regard to where it came from. Many alternative fashion styles, from goth to punk, were recognized and marketed as emo, despite the differences between them. This is most likely why my personal interpretation of emo was so skewed, as it was a very surface level depiction.
So what is emo? It’s not an isolated style, genre, or trend. What started as a lyrical movement and turned into a musical revolution taking place across the U.S, it defied many of the norms held in place for what rock music should be, and continues to do so to this day. Emo has begun making its way into the wider alternative scene, with artists such as Machine Gun Kelly, and even rappers such as Lil Peep and nothing, nowhere having drawn inspiration from the emo movement. Hopefully in the future, with the return of Warped Tour next summer and the creation of larger emo festivals such as When We Were Young and Sad Summer Fest, we will see another revival, and be able to witness the creation of something entirely new.