Emo

Emo is a sub genre of punk music. The term emo stands for emotional rock, because members of a band would become emotional during performances, Emo originated in the mid 1980’s in Washington, DC when musicians of the hardcore music scene decided to shift away from the basic style of hardcore punk and the violence associated with the music style. In the 1990s emo began to incorporate indie influences. The band Lifetime is a capstone of the emo music scene. Lifetime decided to slow down and soften their music and adding more personal lyrics that defined their sound. Lifetime's sound, lyrics, and style were a blueprint for later bands. In 2003 Chris Carrabba, the singer of Dashboard Confessional featured lyrics that were considered a diary of emotion. Earlier emo had featured lyrics that were darker and painful, but Carrabba's lyrics had a greater focus on love and the inability to cope with reality. This new emo sound had a bigger appeal among adolescents than earlier bands. Insiders in the emo subculture do more than just listen to the music. Emo fashion has roots in punk fashion as well as gothic fashion. Emo clothing is characterized by tight jeans on both males and females, long bangs often brushed to one side of the face, dyed black hair, tight t-shirts, studded belts, belt buckles, Chuck Taylor All-Stars, and thick black-rimmed glasses are considered the pinnacle of emo fashion. To watch a controvesial video on the Emo subcluture click below: