abakubub

Actually, Emo has a long and twisted history. It began as an offshoot of Hardcore (The first band to be called Emo was the short-lived Rites of Spring, headed by Minor Threat and Fugazi frontman Ian McKay). Bands such as Orchid, Antioch Arrow, and Indian Summer played music that was stylisticly similar to hardcore - loud and distorted guitars, screamed vocals - but with occational melodic breakdowns and, most importantly, an lyrical focus on emotions rather than the more concrete themes of standard Hardcore. These early Emo bands would be called Screamo by most people now. Today, the music that is called Emo is divided into two catagories: music that is similar in style to run-of-the-mill Pop Punk (bands like Taking Back Sunday, The Promise Ring, and Saves the Day), and music that has a more acoustic, singer-songwriter kind of feel to it (bands like Bright Eyes, Dashboard Confessional, and Pedro the Lion). Both of these catagories, are, like the early Hardcore-derived Emo bands, focused heavily on topics of emotion, usually but not always concerning the opposite sex.