Emo 3: The Music

Believe it or not - when you said "emo" about 15 years ago, people knew what you meant, or they just didn't know it at all. It started underground, and it was defined. Now, it's a label that gets slapped on to every kid with a weird haircut.


Some History

In 1985, Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye and fellow musician Guy Picciotto wanted to shift away from the violence that surrounded the DC hardcore punk scene, so they decided to move their music in a more personal direction. They formed a band called Rites of Spring, whose innovative and experimental songs created a whole new genre – something their fans started describing as “emocore”.

In the 90’s, emocore began to take on a more indie rock feel, producing bands like Jawbreaker and Sunny Day Real Estate. “Indie Emo” was highly influenced by another one of MacKaye’s projects, the band Fugazi, and indie group Mission of Burma. Bands including Cursive, The GetUp Kids, and Bright Eyes were signed to indie labels and started to generate national attention.

Towards the end of the ‘90s, indie emo wasn’t so indie anymore – Teen People sealed the deal with their article on the new hip music called emo. Indie emo was officially dead – and mainstream emo was born.

The transition was evident in Jimmy Eat World’s release of Bleed American, which had almost no trace of emo whatsoever. But, the public knew Jimmy Eat World was associated with the term emo – so it stuck. Dashboard Confessional accomplished national success with frontman Chris Carrabba’s bleeding heart lyrics. New bands that had similarities to Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard were lumped into the same category – creating what we know as today’s emo genre.

Some Examples

Emo music involves pain - and describes it too. In the early nineties, Jawbreaker was the cornerstone of emo with frontman Blake Schwartzenbach belting out songs about alcohol, regrets, heartbreak and failure.

"There's a white light coming up
You draw the blinds hoping it'll pass
I kissed the bottle
I should've been kissin you
You wake up to an empty night
With tears for two" - Kiss the Bottle, Jawbreaker

Later 90's and early '00s, we saw the rise of emo icon Chris Carrabba and his band Dashboard Confessional. Carrabba would not just use his lyrics to convey his pain, but his voice too (I'm serious - he wrenches in pain). He often sheds a few tears during his shows because he is so moved - and, well, emo.

"Walking away.
It's not the same as running.
Is it to you now that you've run this in the ground.
And you say take this.
This medicine is just what you deserve.
Swallow, choke, and die. " - The Bitter Pill, Dashboard Confessional

Now, it's taken an even more drastic turn. Bands like Brand New spill not only their sadness but their anger and resentment as well. In one instance, the lead singer caught his girlfriend kissing another band member at a party. This was the result.

"So, is that what you call a getaway?
Well tell me what you got away with.
Cause I've seen more spine in jellyfish.
I've seen more guts in eleven-year-old kids.
Have another drink and drive yourself home.
I hope there's ice on all the roads.
And you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt,
and again when your head goes through the windshield." - Seventy Times Seven, Brand New

Lately, one of emo's more popular associations with pain is the spilling of blood. Bands like My Chemical Romance and Senses Fail paint bloody pictures with their lyrics - often bordering on being just plain ridiculous. This one is my favorites.

"Can you grant me one last wish
Play russian roulette as we kiss
I'll be your cheap novelty
Blow your brains out on me." - Choke on This, Senses Fail

Emo 2: The Playlist

Before I get into emo music, here's a playlist to reference.

In the spirit of sadness, regret, heartbreak, and being an outsider...I'm gonna call this playlist "My Heart Has Become An Empty Black Hole of Swirling Sadness That Causes Me to Cry Oceans of Tears Sending Me Into A Downward Spiral of Despair of Loneliness and Despair and Sadness and ...stuff"

(To be fair - that was a very poor attempt at being an emo writer. The bands actually do a much better job)

1. Remainder - Rites of Spring
2. Nickel Wound - Texas is the Reason
3. Kissing the Bottle - Jawbreaker
4. In Circles - Sunny Day Real Estate
5. Ghost - Lifetime
6. At Your Funeral - Saves the Day
7. You're Luck to Be Alive - Braid
8. Stay Gold, Ponyboy - The Get Up Kids
9. Embroglio - At the Drive In
10. El Scorcho - Weezer
11. Lover I Don't Have to Love - Bright Eyes
12. The Recluse - Cursive
13. This Bitter Pill - Dashboard Confessional
14. Crush - Jimmy Eat World
15. Seventy Times Seven - Brand New
16. You're So Last Summer - Taking Back Sunday
17. Choke on This - Senses Fail

Emo 1: Congrats, You're an Emo Kid

Been a while...but finally an explanation of this curious term "Emo".

Emo, depending on who you talk to, stands for "emotional" or "emotive". Emo has evolved with every new generation of teenagers. You’ll hear people nonchalantly call it punk, and that's definitely where it came from – but it’s important to clarify the difference between the punk and the emo kid.

Punk: Gives mainstream the middle finger. It's all about DIY (Doing It Yourself). Becomes a walking contradiction once people find out about it. Gather together in essence to fight and protect each other.

Emo: Tend to keep away from the mainstream - but in a different way. It's the suburban kid that feels out of place and is looking for understanding and acceptance. Emo kids are looking for others who feel the same - "better to be together than alone".

Andy Greenwald (Spin writer, author of Nothing Feels Good) puts it best:

"Emo - or whatever you call it - doesn't happen on the stage and it doesn't happen in the diary. It happens somewhere between the two. It is the act of reaching out towards something larger to better know yourself. It's the desire to make yourself bigger by making yourself part of something bigger."

I’m a firm believer that we were/are all “emo” at some point – outsiders looking in…yearning for acceptance, yearning for others who are yearning for acceptance. You know you’ve written some lame poetry about how you caught the girl you were dating in high school kissing some other dude under the bleachers or about how you felt left out cuz you didn’t have a hypercolor t-shirt and mossimo jeans.

You were looking for some understanding and a community built around it. You were a teenager – so therefore, you were emo. Congratulations.

NOW! INDIE MUSIC

I love this...

" What was your introduction to indie rock? Think back. Was it seeing the Replacements on "Saturday Night Live"? An R.E.M. video? A band t-shirt Kurt Cobain wore? Garden State ? Hearing "Float On" on the radio?"

You know it's true:) Read the article and ROFL with all its wonderful indie kid pretentiousness.

Basically, some indie labels have decided to partner with MTV2 (do they even play music anymore?) and put out indie rock compilations. Labels mentioned include Matador (Mogwai), Vice (Bloc Party) and Sub Pop (Arcade Fire). Who would be the distributors? Wal-Mart. I hope the South Park guys find out.

No DRM = $.30

So Mr. Jobs and EMI have made a deal to drop DRM from their music on iTunes. This means that you can copy the songs as many times as you want - so...cool. And they are better sound quality.

But here's the rub...
You better start saving up your extra Starbucks change because you are going to have to chuck 30 more cents to iTunes - but this is, of course, ONLY if you want to actually OWN the music you buy.

This is a good step - it may really bring down the barriers that come with digital music sales. Just be ready to pay.

Universal is going...umm...universal?

You may or may not have heard about Universal Music Group's recent investment in TRACE. So why should you care?

TRACE is "the first and leading TV network and digital platform for international urban music and culture reaching almost 50 million homes in nearly 100 countries and markets, including 9 million paid households in France, Germany, Poland, India, Russia, West Africa, China, Indonesia, Turkey and the Middle East."

So basically it's an international tv network and web site THAT ACTUALLY PLAYS MUSIC VIDEOS. What a novel idea right?

It was launched in Paris in 2003, and now (with the backing of Universal) hopes to expand it's reach internationally to tv, cable, cell phones, radio, IPTV, etc. etc. More chances to bring more music to more people.

So even though the indie kids may see Universal as the Sauron of the music industry, they are really doing some cool things. AND they are being open minded to the digital future.