Why Emo music is complete and Total Bull****
This weekend I was threatened with violence for the crime of dancing. Not to mention that this threat came from a scrawny 15 year-old boy wearing girl’s jeans. I went to a local music show to see former band mates of mine play, and after they played and left, I stuck around to hear the other bands. While a friend and I danced exuberantly to the music, some people around us laughed and joined in, while others were so mortally offended by the sight of dancing they said they’d fight us if we didn’t stop.
Either Lexington is the town from the movie Footloose, or the Emo scene kids are so incredibly deep and drenched in sorrow that they must cease any and all happiness around them. But wait; doesn’t that entirely defeat the principles of the Emo movement?
Emo is short for Emotional, which refers the “emotional” style of music that is favored amongst the followers. It also refers to the style of dress and attitudes of the “Emo Kids.” They often pride themselves on being sensitive, mature individuals with a powerful love for self-expression and music. Well, I assure you from what I have witnessed, these kids do not possess any of those qualities.
While my dancing was highly eclectic and generally not very good, it was a raw display of self-expression. Just me and a friend having a good time, hurting no one. While the Emo kids were all blankly staring at the performers, arms crossed, not so much as swaying to the music, I was moving my body to the rhythm, doing what the music made me feel. After all, you do dance to music, right? Nothing is more natural or appropriate. I’m sure I looked like a total fool dancing in the flailing and absurd fashion that I did; but at least I have the poise to have fun, laugh at myself and not care how I look.
Emos also pride themselves on being musicians and music-lovers. I found these facts to also be highly disputable. Mostly the entire crowd disinterestedly gawked at cookie-cutter bands whose entire repertoire consists of 3 power chords and zero solos. The bassist of one band didn’t even know the names of his strings and the guitarist of another honestly thought the famed 12 bar blues had 7 bars. The usual response from an Emo fan when these details are brought up consists of something along the lines of “Well, if you’re true to the music, play what’s in your heart, and think outside the box then you don’t need to know any musical theory!”
What I would like to know is how exactly you’re supposed to think outside the box when you don’t even know what’s inside? Calling yourself a musician and lacking all knowledge of theory is like calling yourself a Writer, yet being illiterate. So that leaves the Emo Bands with being able to play what’s in their heart, which is apparently nothing more than two-note vamps, power chords and teenage angst, all of which is painfully apparent through their one-dimensional style of music. If you want to hear real “emo” music, buy a John Coltrane album. The Blues is true emotional music.
So, all in all, The Emo movement presents itself as accepting, perceptive individuals, but in actuality come off as nothing more than hypocrites. By banding together to attempt to conform a person who’s not doing what the crowd is with a threat of violence, they went against everything they stand for, and didn’t even stop to ponder the irony. By not being able to laugh at themselves or with anyone else they show they aren’t as mature or sophisticated as they think they are. For a group that praises acceptance of differences, they seem in dire need of a lesson for themselves.
I definitely agree.
I hate emo music more than everything except for country...stupid whiny cracker wankery. (as opposed to emo, which is simply stupid whiny wankery).
Emo music has no complexity, no emotion, no variety, nothing to it. Three-chords played over and over again while we listen to a pimply-faced loser whine about how he can't get girlfriend, or how his girlfriend dumped him, or how he gets beat up when he annoys people at school, or how his dad doesn't like him? How do people enjoy this shallow garbage? And how can they possibly call this poorly written trash "emotional"?
If musical evolution were like biological evolution, emo would be a human evolving into an amoeba. The blues did everything emo does 1000 times better and then some...SEVENTY ****ING YEARS AGO.
And the culture...how did they make a culture out of crying? Every emo kid I've ever met has been a whiny, shallow jerk who deserves and CREATES every problem he has. I've had things 100 times worse than anything written about in emo songs happen to me, and do you see me crying myself to sleep? No, I MOVED ON, emo music revels in dwelling on problems. Not only is it weak, poorly written music and an irritating culture, it disseminates this horrible message of self-pity.
Emo should be broken on the wheel.
The blues is just such an amazing part of music. The blues scale fits in perfectly into changes and works up tonal perfection, raw emotional, and leaves plenty of room for advancemant, which is what happened. I have another essay I wrote about John Mayer's new album and the blues if you'd like to read that.
But It just always got so hard when I read about Coltrane's life, his accomplishmants, his mastery of emotion and the blues in music, and all the shit he had to deal with and how it affected his music, which went on to affect the rest of THE WORLD profoundly.
....And then some emofag comes along with his Epiphone Les Paul strung low, focusing more on his image and what he looks like than his music and procedes to exploit foolish immature teenagers by passing his music off as "emotional." Great, you broke up with your 14 year old boyfriend and it's the hardest thing anybody has ever gone through. Wonderful. Now if you could learn to transmit that pain and energy into sound with talent instead of with distasteful amounts of distortion, pathetic lyics shouted out of tune, all while wearing girls pants, that would be wonderful
Even after reading your article, I still don't understand what Emo is. I've never fully understood it, and most probably never will.
This leads me to believe that emo, as a genre, doesn't really exist. Someone had to say it.
To call a particular type of music "Emo" is ignorant, and overlooks the fact that music itself evokes emotion. Perhaps it's a marketing campaign targeted at those with tunnel-visioned taste in music. Oh dear, I'm getting all confused now. Whatever. Kudos on the dancing, I guess.
What a concept! Emo isn't a genre at all, it's punk minus talent, rawness, and energy!
Awesome idea, most definitely true, now that I think about it.
(Objective - opinionless, I mean) template for an "emo" song:
3 sequenced chords on a guitar
chorus, verse, chorus structure
Angsty/sad delivery
Lyrically simple content, on the topics of basic teenage frustrations
Instruments: one drumset, lead guitar, bass guitar, vocalist
Bascially, emo is flaccid punk.
Yeah, I had to ponder long and hard to even try to outline exactly what Emo is. But this was written as a speech and I performed it for th e class this morning. I cut two paragraphs before I went on due to time constraints (had to be under 3 minutes, I clocked in after the amendmants at 2:59....)
But it was well recieved (minus a couple emo kids in the class) and the teacher had me read it once more for another class.