The Origins Of Emo

By Author: Jan Weidenbach
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Emo emerged from the hardcore punk scene of early 1980s Washington D.C., both as a reaction to increased violence and extension of personal politics. It is a style of rock music which is normally characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive and confessional lyrics. The word Emo is derived from Emotional Hardcore or a.k.a Emocore. Rites of Spring and Embrace are the pioneer bands of emo.

The music style remains like any contemporary American punk groups , but it shifts and blends pop punk with Indie rock to give it a distinctive sound. The basic themes of emo music would always revolve around nostalgia, romantic bitterness, self-searching, emotional release and poetic desperation. Their performances would at times become publicly emotional where audiences would sometimes even cry. The exact origins of the term emo are uncertain, but it probably began in the year 1985.

Soon emocore found its ways into Washington D.C. punk scenes and became attached with many of other bands who were looking for renewed spirit of creativity. However, the emo scene didn't last too long in Washington D.C. as major bands like ...
... Rites of Spring and Embrace broke up. But in the early 1990s, emo was reinvented and once again emo movement spread across the United States of America. Many local scenes came up with hardcore music and complex emotions of growing older. Bands like Jawbreaker and Sunny Day Real Estate took a step forward to reinvent the emo culture and music, keeping intact its core characteristics.

In 1991, Nirvana's Nevermind became a huge success in the underground music scene and punk entered mainstream. With so much publicity of emo, more and more teenagers across the country became fans of independent music. Couple of years later when emo culture and music was already spreading quickly across United States, more emo-leaning punk bands emerged with emotionally overbearing music which was romantic, but distanced from political nature of punk rock.

In the mid 1990s when underground music was gaining popularity and becoming a part of mainstream culture emo went under transformation and morphed into something new. This new sound of emo was a blend of hardcore's passion and indie rock's intelligence. Emphasis was given on the do-it-yourself work ethics with smoother songs, sloppy melodies and yearning vocals.

By late 1990s, emo had a surge of popularity in the realm of independent music with many successes which would lay the foundations for the emo subcultures in the future.
About Author:
Jan Weidenbach is the owner of www.punkz.fm. Emo people welcome!
We have a large punk forum.