It's Emo Week!
Emo (
/ˈiːmoʊ/) is a style of
rock music characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s
hardcore punk movement of
Washington, D.C., where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore" and pioneered by bands such as
Rites of Spring and
Embrace. As the style was echoed by contemporary American
punk rock bands, its sound and meaning shifted and changed, blending with
pop punk and
indie rock and encapsulated in the early 1990s by groups such as
Jawbreaker and
Sunny Day Real Estate. By the mid 1990s numerous emo acts emerged from the
Midwestern and
Central United States, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the style.