A History of Emo Music and its Punk Heritage

Spanning the Emo Music Genre's 1980's Punk Roots, to its Image Today

Nov 2, 2009

Emo, short for emotional, covers many different styles of emotionally charged punk rock and has been warped and convoluted over the many years of the genre's existence.

The Birth of Emo and Death of the Hardcore Punk Explosion

The genre begins in America, Washington DC 1983, the year Minor Threat split up bringing the 1981 hardcore punk explosion to an abrupt end. Soon after this punk bands all over the country began to turn to other genres of music. Bad Brains turning to cheese metal, 7Seconds creating a jangly, U2 alternative and, in 1984, a new band appear on the scene called ‘Rites of Spring’ formed from ex-members of The Untouchables, Faith and Deadline with a new style of punk rock. The instruments carrying the same speed, ferocity and chaos of hardcore punk but layered with the intensely personal vocals of Guy Picciotto.

Rites of Spring’s self-titled debut is considered by many to be the first true emo album. The band was unfortunately short-lived, breaking up in 1986 only releasing a second 4 track EP making 17 songs in total, later to be collected in 1991 under the album name End On End Although they only performed live several times, their concerts were legendary.

In 1985 there was a revolution of melodic punk music, but the genre didn’t really take off until slightly later when popular band Moss Icon took the music out of the underground and into the mainstream, replacing the thrash guitar work with delicate arpeggios. There are often arguments as to whether it was Moss Icon or Rites of Spring that founded the genre, it’s true that later emo bands seemed to be more influenced by the guitar and vocal styles of Moss Icon.

The Saturation of the Emo Music Genre and its Modern Day Image

Throughout the years the angry, almost tribal aspect of emo was diluted and by the 1990’s emo/Indie hybrid bands such as Christie Front Drive and Sunny Day Real Estate began to emerge. Recognised as part of the emo movement, critics labeled it as; music emo-kids play to make love to.

By 1999 this emo/Indie hybrid had become widespread throughout the States and was even flooded over shores to the UK. The new style quickly distorted the original ideals behind the emo genre, often confusing some older fans.

With many bands conforming to the image such as Lost Prophets and Taking Back Sunday the genre rose in popularity vastly and with this, the genre became a target for mockery. It started in the early stages of the ‘third stage’ of emo music as a lighthearted self-mocking satire. In 2002 web developer, Jason Oda, created Emogame; A game which mocked various emo stereotypes and musicians. This was presented in such a way that it could be enjoyed by fans and detractors alike. In more recent times however the brand emo has became an insult. Bands often refused to accept the label instead calling themselves post-hardcore or metalcore.

Guy picciotto of Rites of Spring, when asked how he felt about "being the creator of the Emo genre" in a telephone interview with Mark Prindle in 2003 for his website, markprindle.com, responded with;

“I don't recognize that attribution. I've never recognized emo as a genre of music. I always thought it was the most retarded term ever.”

People associated with the emo scene today are often said to be homosexual or suicidal by extreme discrediters; especially by those involved with metal or, ironically, hardcore punk. The term is also used as a generic slang term for someone who is over emotional e.g; ‘You are such an emo.’

It seems that the emo scene, as it was intended, has been distorted and ridiculed, becoming something it was never intended to be.

The copyright of the article A History of Emo Music and its Punk Heritage in Music History is owned by Sean Young. Permission to republish A History of Emo Music and its Punk Heritage in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.