Question #8
“What classifies a band as 'emo'? What is an 'emo' band?”
- Brooke
Sorry it’s taken me a while to get to this one. Things get lost in my gmail inbox when I don’t check it for a few days.
Most people will tell you that the term emo is short for ‘emotional.’ Some have more specifically described it as a “broad title that covers a lot of different styles of emotionally-charged punk rock,” (because all punk rock sounds so distinct these days) but this definition is pretty controversial. People who have been listening to punk rock for a long time claim the music must be upbeat and energetic for it to be a true brand of punk. However, if you take a look at the newer releases of some punk bands (i.e. - Blink 182) you can see how punk rock has slowly evolved and converged with a style of mainstream pop. But I digress, and you still don’t know what emo is. So here’s a different approach.
Picture Woody Allen for a minute.
Ok. If Woody Allen were to start producing music it would probably be emo. I’m not exactly sure what Woody Allen produced in the past, but the association is really just with his extremely annoying voice, which is pretty important when it comes to emo. Typically the singer will whine a lot with lyrics about how no one liked him in high school or about how is girl friend dumped him – that kind of stuff.
Looks are equally significant. The lead singer should be a skinny white guy. Height isn’t particularly important, as long as he is wearing tight jeans, and usually he should have finger length hair parted slightly to the side. The proper emo stance is to have both feet pointed somewhat inward while singing. Also, nerdy glasses can be a nice touch.
Besides all of this, the other elements that characterize emo are pretty debatable, or at least variable. Generally, the vocals are highlighted along with acoustic guitar being the key instrument. Sometimes electric guitars are used but with low distortion, and regardless power chords are the norm with occasional picking during the verses.
Dashboard Confessionals might be considered an archetype of emo, so for a good example check them out.
Lastly, I’d like to say that not all emo bands are bad even though I may have made them out to be, and some of them can be pretty enjoyable. But a lot of them just whine way to much.
- Brooke
Sorry it’s taken me a while to get to this one. Things get lost in my gmail inbox when I don’t check it for a few days.
Most people will tell you that the term emo is short for ‘emotional.’ Some have more specifically described it as a “broad title that covers a lot of different styles of emotionally-charged punk rock,” (because all punk rock sounds so distinct these days) but this definition is pretty controversial. People who have been listening to punk rock for a long time claim the music must be upbeat and energetic for it to be a true brand of punk. However, if you take a look at the newer releases of some punk bands (i.e. - Blink 182) you can see how punk rock has slowly evolved and converged with a style of mainstream pop. But I digress, and you still don’t know what emo is. So here’s a different approach.
Picture Woody Allen for a minute.
Ok. If Woody Allen were to start producing music it would probably be emo. I’m not exactly sure what Woody Allen produced in the past, but the association is really just with his extremely annoying voice, which is pretty important when it comes to emo. Typically the singer will whine a lot with lyrics about how no one liked him in high school or about how is girl friend dumped him – that kind of stuff.
Looks are equally significant. The lead singer should be a skinny white guy. Height isn’t particularly important, as long as he is wearing tight jeans, and usually he should have finger length hair parted slightly to the side. The proper emo stance is to have both feet pointed somewhat inward while singing. Also, nerdy glasses can be a nice touch.
Besides all of this, the other elements that characterize emo are pretty debatable, or at least variable. Generally, the vocals are highlighted along with acoustic guitar being the key instrument. Sometimes electric guitars are used but with low distortion, and regardless power chords are the norm with occasional picking during the verses.
Dashboard Confessionals might be considered an archetype of emo, so for a good example check them out.
Lastly, I’d like to say that not all emo bands are bad even though I may have made them out to be, and some of them can be pretty enjoyable. But a lot of them just whine way to much.
posted by brien at
1/13/2005 11:55:00 PM
1 Comments:
IF WOODY ALLEN PRODUCED MUSIC IT WOULD BE EMO! = LMAO!!! oh that is too funny and so true.
By
Anonymous, at 10:03 PM
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