The history and present state of emo

As I’m writing this, it’s November, 2013. You know what term you haven’t heard tossed around in mainstream media in the past ten years? Emo. And good riddance, right? Why should you even care about that self-indulgent excuse for a punk rock derivative? Well I can give you two reasons right now:

1. Now, more than any time in the past twenty years, emo is gaining headway as an underground phenomenon. 
2. Because listen.

Emo’s History

In Chicago, Illinois in the early ‘80s, a movement retrospectively called “post-hardcore” began taking formation, with bands like The Effigies, Naked Raygun, and Big Black heading the early scene. This up-and-coming sound (as well as the release of Hüsker Dü’s 1984 release Zen Arcade) appealed to certain key figures in the Washington, D.C. hardcore (or harDCore) scene, namely Guy Picciotto, who wanted to prevent the perpetuation of the violence that inevitably occurred at hardcore shows in D.C. Picciotto and some fellow harDCore musicians formed Rites of Spring in 1984. Rites of Spring put a unique spin on Chicago’s post-hardcore sound, using D.C. hardcore as a base. Many traditional-minded D.C. punks scoffed at Rites of Spring’s emotionally-driven and introspective lyrics. Since it was the norm for punk lyrics to be either socially or politically conscious, it definitely turned some heads when they began writing this way. So much so that it was rumored that some of Rites of Spring’s aggressors labelled them as “emotional hardcore” (which shortened to “emocore” and finally “emo”), a term which they did not care for. A year later (1985), another band formed in a similar style. That band was Ian MacKaye’s (Minor Threat, Teen Idles) Embrace, whose lyrics were arguably more personal than that of Rites of Spring. These two contemporary bands were the only first wave emo bands that got any notable recognition. There were a handful of less influential bands that existed however, such as Dag Nasty, Beefeater, and Grey Matter. After Embrace’s demise, MacKaye went on to form hugely influential post-hardcore band Fugazi, which Picciotto later joined.

(For reference, “For Want Of” by Rites of Spring and “Give Me Back” by Embrace)

In the mid-‘90s, a second wave of emo bands began to appear that had a post-hardcore sound, but also utilized an indie rock sensibility. The group that pioneered this scene more than any other was Sunny Day Real Estate and with their 1994 release of Diary, the indie emo scene had become somewhat firmly established. Many of the following bands came from the Midwestern United States, such as Braid, The Promise Ring, and Cap’n Jazz, although there were several other bands from other areas, such as New York’s Texas is the Reason and Texas’ Mineral. Regardless of geographic origin, all of these bands became known as either indie emo or Midwest emo.

(For reference: “Seven” by Sunny Day Real Estate and “Gloria” by Mineral)

Meanwhile, bands such as Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional began to craft a sound that incorporated both emo and pop. To everyone’s surprise, this became known later on as “emo-pop”. This style did not catch on in the mainstream until the early 2000’s when Jimmy Eat World began to release several singles successful on the chart (2001’s “The Middle” and “Sweetness” and 2004’s “Pain”) and when other bands like Brand New, My Chemical Romance, and Circa Survive formed that took the genre to another level. These bands garnered massive mainstream success by the mid-‘00s, and by 2008, you’d be hard-pressed to find an American who wasn’t familiar with the term “emo”.

(For reference: “Screaming Infidelities” by Dashboard Confessional and “Jesus” by Brand New)

Screamo’s History

Backtracking a tad to late ‘80s/early ‘90s San Diego, there was a venue there called Ché Café. This venue was home to what would be the first split in the emo movement- a genre called “screamo”. This genre, fronted by Heroin, and later, bands like Portraits of Past and Antioch Arrow, would prove to be an embellishment on the previously established post-hardcore and first wave emo styles, incorporating a more aggressive, more dissonant sound, while maintaining the same introspective and personal lyricism. The term “screamo”, just as with “emo”, holds baggage, which many practitioners of the genre had disdain for. 

(For reference: “Hasbeen” by Heroin)

A powerviolence band called In/Humanity formed in 1991 in South Carolina that incorporated some emo sensibilities into their music. They created the portmanteau “emo violence” in a tongue-in-cheek fashion that seemingly predicted the formation of bands that adhered to this style in the late ‘90s like Orchid and pg. 99 that were also influenced by the early San Diego screamo scene. There were many other influential screamo bands that began to appear at this time, less influenced by powerviolence such as Saetia, Funeral Diner, and Circle Takes the Square.

(For reference: “Aesthetic Dialectic” by Orchid and “In The Nervous Light of Sunday” by Circle Takes the Square)

In 1997, a band formed that changed the course of screamo forever. This band was New Brunswick, NJ’s Thursday. Thursday had a unique sound, as they fused their Fugazi-inspired foundation with the melodic post-punk influences derived from bands like the Smiths, Joy Division, and the Cure. Seemingly all at once, screamo took the world by storm. Bands such as Thrice, Finch, Silverstein, Alexisonfire, The Used, and Hawthorne Heights appeared, creating a clearly marketable scene. There were many fans of early ‘90s screamo who were averse to the new direction the genre began to go in. People started to refer to the earlier generations of screamo as “real screamo” or even “skramz” to provide distinction to the two different sounds. 

(For reference: “Understanding in a Car Crash” by Thursday and “What It Is To Burn” by Finch)

The present state of emo

The late 2000‘s more or less saw the demise of emo as it came to be known, and just as emo and screamo were leaving the public eye, a handful of bands formed that gave a new spin on the genre. Groups like Algernon Cadwallader, Snowing, Dads, and William Bonney incorporating math rock influences as well as the light, twinkly clean guitars from early indie emo bands like Cap’n Jazz and American Football. This addition of sound earned them the term “math emo”, or the somewhat condescending term “twinkly emo”. 

(For reference: “Shit Twins” by Dads)

Since the arrival of math emo, it’s become more and more apparent that there’s an emo revival going on in. Many bands are looking back to the 1990’s Midwest bands for influence (don’t worry everyone- present day emo still twinkles), and have formed such acts as Crash of Rhinos, Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate), Dikembe, Touché Amoré (more influenced by screamo than indie emo), and perhaps most notably, The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die. 

(For reference: “Heartbeat in the Brain” by The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die)

In the wake of said revival, some are even referring to the revivalists as “Twinkle daddies”. In an age of absurd genre names, let’s hope this one doesn’t stick.

-Thus spake the Atma