The Emo Education Thread (lyrics, alternative, country, hardcore, house)

[sleepy jack]

The Emo Education Thread

Written by Crowquill.
Reviewed By riseagainstrocks and Zealious.


A Short Emo History

”Emo” is a shortened term for emotive or emotional hardcore. Originally, it was used mostly by “scene” kids, who were faithful to early DC hardcore punk bands like Minor Threat, to putdown fans of bands like Indian Summer and other similar bands. Today, it is more of an ambiguous term, like “indie”, to describe a variety of different styles, with much debate. Most applications of the word refer to bands of the Revolution Summer and the screamo movement of the 1990s.

Emo is a derivative of the early 1980s hardcore punk movement. The earliest bands tried to deviate from the well-established and more violence-shifting hardcore sound, first evidenced in releases like Husker Du’s “Zen Arcade” in 1984, and later self-titled releases from Rites of Spring and Embrace (fronted by future Fugazi vocalist Guy Picciotto and ex-Minor Threat vocalist Ian Mackaye respectively). This upcoming breed of music was characterized by more intense and passionate vocal delivery, while retaining a more tranquilized hardcore punk quality. The summer of 1985 (termed the “Revolution Summer”) marked the emergence of many new bands like Nation of Ulysses, Moss Icon, Gray Matter, Shudder To Think, Ignition, and Dag Nasty. These bands tended to have a less aggressive, more melodic hardcore sound with more high-to-low sound transitions. Some of today’s well accepted emo qualities appeared here, with the introduction of more intricate pop-oriented guitar melodies and high pitch screaming. Some of these bands have been labeled “post-hardcore”, suggesting a derivation from the hardcore movement of the 1980s.

By the mid-1990s, there were many derivations of the D.C. style that appeared in different parts of the country, particular the scene in California pushed by Gravity Records. Influenced by the bands of the Revolution Summer, prominent bands of this era included Antioch Arrow, Angel Hair, Mohinder, Heroin, Portraits of Past, Swing Kids, and Indian Summer. Most of these bands retained the hardcore-influenced sound and were later termed “screamo”, for their screaming vocals and more harmonized and melodic guitar riffs. The evolution of emo continued with the introduction of more indie-influenced emo (like Sunny Day Real Estate) and emo-influenced pop-punk or “pop-core”. Bands (and fans) of the latter type are heavily scrutinized by loyalists of the original hardcore movement. Labeling such bands as “emo” has caused much debate and separatism between the hardcore faithfuls and the current Wave fans. Despite this, there are still some modern day “traditional” hardcore-based emo and screamo bands.


Emo

There is a lot of musical diversity, ranging from soft guitar riffs to crashing riffs and whispering vocals to screaming. The lyrics can be thought of as a unique form of poetry and are often hard to decipher. They tend to be more personal, and sometimes they can be political in nature. The songwriting has been commonly and ignorantly mischaracterized as being solely depression and sometimes suicide oriented.

Often used interchangeably with “emo”, emo-core was originally used to describe early D.C. bands and later bands that retained the hardcore-influenced sound.

Examples: Rites Of Spring, Indian Summer, Moss Icon, Nation of Ulysses, Shotmaker, Hated, Evergreen, Dag Nasty, Native Nod, Embassy, Gray Matter, Embrace, Fire Party


Screamo

Starting in the 1990s with an emo-core influence, screamo has faster harmonized guitar riffs, screaming vocals, and softer and more melodic breakdowns. Gravity Records was the prominent source for this style of music. The intensified, emotional, and sometimes dramatic screaming performances have been acquired by many of today’s alternative, pop-punk, hardcore, and metal oriented bands. Inevitably, this has caused a divide between fans of this style and early hardcore loyalists.

Examples: Heroin, Saetia, Off Minor, You&I, pg. 99, Amanda Woodward, Orchid, La Quiete, Antioch Arrow, City Of Caterpillar, Portraits of Past, Circle Takes The Square, IWouldSetMyselfOnFireForYou, Angel Hair, Joshua Fit For Battle, Usurp Synapse, Hassan I Sabbah


Post-Emo (a.k.a. Indie Emo)

Musically, indie-based emo is a lot softer, with soften rock or pop guitar riffs. The songs range from uplifting and happy to melancholy. The vocals tend to be high-pitched, but they are not as intense as hardcore or screamo vocals. The post-punk and post-hardcore movements had a large influence on this sound, particularly Husker Du and Fugazi (Guy Picciotto and Ian Mackaye). This indie-based emo is more commercially successful and recognized than the original hardcore movement.

Examples: Christie Front Drive, Sunny Day Real Estate, Cap’n Jazz, Promise Ring, Mineral, Jets To Brazil, Joan Of Arc, Braid, Texas Is The Reason, Rainer Maria


Links


Foufra
Cross My Heart With A Knife
Gravity Records
Level Plane Records
Dischord Records
Perpetual Motion Machine Records
Hyper Realist Records
Robotic Empire Records
Electric Human Project Records

mp3s

Dag Nasty - Justification
Dag Nasty - Last Song (Pretty Is My Middle Name)
Dag Nasty - I Wouldnt Cry
Usurp Synapse – Oh…You Are Sick
Heroin – Moving Parts
Antioch Arrow – Angel’s Lawn
Amanda Woodward - Binaire et Lisible
City Of Caterpillar - A Heart Filled Reaction to Dissatisfaction
Get Fucked - Inside The 8lb. Dorm Fire
Hot Cross - Better a Corpse Than a Nun
Kaospilot - The Process is Set
Saetia - Some Natures Catch No Plagues
Saetia - Notres Langues Nous Trompent
Neil Perry - Nine Minutes Of Non-Fiction
Lickgoldensky - Untitled 05
Circle Takes The Square - Houdini Logic

[Zealious]

Great Post. I like how you included the pop-punk genre because it could serve as a bridge to all the pop-punk fans who want to know where their music came from.

[Urban Hat€monger ?]

Nation of Ulysses are emo?

Damn that means i`ll have to go & burn the albums I have by them

[hookers with machineguns]

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger

Nation of Ulysses are emo?

Damn that means i`ll have to go & burn the albums I have by them

Ahhhh, don't do that. NofU are one of the best, very underrated around these parts.

[runawaymylilnightmare]

looking to find new bands (not from late 80's or 90s) that are emo-core or screamo similar to Embrace, Dag Nasty....rather than emo-influenced pop punk which is most of the stuff i listen to

[Urban Hat€monger ?]

Originally Posted by hookers with machineguns

Ahhhh, don't do that. NofU are one of the best, very underrated around these parts.

They`re ok

I like the make-up more.

Maybe I should do a britpop education thread , i`m feeling left out.

[hookers with machineguns]

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger

Maybe I should do a britpop education thread and finish Urban 100, i`m feeling left out.

WONDERFUL!

Regarding this thread, we spent some time thinking about how to word the last genre. But, I think it turned out ok; we definitely wanted to include it.

This post is dedicated to the co-author :
Crowquill, Alexisonfire, MIsfitspunk, Blatzkriegpop, Metro Sensitive

[hiu]

I feel that all of the stuff below "emo-core" should be edited out with the "screamo" bit just added to the above section. The rest of the writing just confuses people.

[sleepy jack]

Zealous listed the reasons why the very bottom part is put there, and I fail to see how bands like cap'n jazz and sunny day real estate didn't contribute to emo history. The purpose of these threads is to educate people, not give them a quick paragraph of what it is. If they want that then they can read only a paragraph of it.

[hookers with machineguns]

Originally Posted by Razorsinthenight

I feel that all of the stuff below "emo-core" should be edited out with the "screamo" bit just added to the above section. The rest of the writing just confuses people.

I agree, those parts are redundant and confusing. Should be fixed.

Originally Posted by Razorsinthenight

Don't worry, it's better than the hardcore/emo thread

Yeah, but when we were writing these threads up, hardly anyone wanted to help. Most of the PM's I sent out didn't even get a "no" or "yes" reply. So at least give us some credit for tackling alot of these on our own, w/o the help of people who could have made it look better. Overall, these threads turned out to be a big flop and a big waste of time on my part.