Emo In The Media

By Author: Jan Weidenbach
Total Articles: 4717
Comment this article

Emo had a surge of popularity in the realm of independent music in the late 1990s, as a number of notable bands and record labels experienced successes. As emo gained a larger fan base the music industry began to see its marketing potential. Emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s with the platinum selling success of Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional. In addition to music the term Emo began to signify a particular relationship between fans and artists, and to describe related aspects of fashion, culture and behavior.

Emo culture broke into mainstream media in the summer of 2002 when Jimmy Eat Worlds Bleed American album went platinum on the strength of The Middle which reached to the Number One on Billboards Modern Rock Tracks chart. Dashboard Confessional reached on Number 22 on the same chart and became the first non-platinum selling artist to record an episode of MTV Unplugged. Amazingly the live album itself went up the charts in 2003 and went platinum. By the end of that year, many other emo artists and groups went up the charts, also performed in large venues such as Madison Square Garden and ...
... aired their videos on MTV. Music videos for At Your Funeral and Freakish were aired in heavy rotation on MTV2. Gradually, more and more emo groups evolved with their videos on music channels, influencing the youth with their music. Many emo bands were signed to major record labels and the style became a marketable product. The depoliticized nature of emo, coupled with its catchy music and accessible themes, gave it a broad appeal to young mainstream audiences.

Emo culture has even been successful in influencing the movies of Hollywood. Though, there are no definitive emo movies, there are a quite few that appeal to many people in the emo culture.

Movies like Velvet Goldmine, Ghost World, Say Anything, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Some Kind of Wonderful are few of the movies that have shown some hints of emo culture. Velvet Goldmine shows about the 1970s glam rock scene and is loosely based on David Bowie and Iggy Pop. Ghost World does not show more about emo culture but it reflects teen angst and alienation that so many alternative type girls feel so well. Animated movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas showed emo monsters in many ways the makes could.
About Author:
Jan Weidenbach is the author of www.punkz.fm. Emo people welcome!
We have a large punk forum.