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Great Debate: Emo Music - Here To Stay Or Please Go Away?
By Brendan Butler and J.P. Gorman: 2007-04-10 21:40:54
 Here To Stay! -- Brendan Butler With every passing generation, the style of the music changes and adapts to the new adolescent contingency. Case in point: emo music--anything to do with emotive pop-punk sound. The genre spawned from the underground hard-punk-rock in the late '80s, merged with indie-rock in the '90s, and transpired into all things introspective and sharing. Hey, what can you expect? When your parents’ generation is cooler than your own, things can get a little emotional. But today everyone has his or her own idea of just what emo encompasses. Many merely associate the genre with the likes of Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional, who they view as hijacked and corporatized talent marketed to A.D.D- ridden pre-pubescents and the kids who sit alone at lunch (memories!) Although, it isn’t held only to the pop-punk persuasion, as some have argued that John Mayer, Jack Johnson, the Shins and Death Cab For Cutie fit the criteria. As for the whining element, you’d have a hard time convincing me Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” didn’t give birth to the new wave of woe is me! you rally so much against today. Besides, in my humble opinion, emo’s age of enlightenment is upon us, ushered in by way of Panic! At The Disco’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. The group’s innovative light seasoning of techno resonance and its peculiar, unique lyrics tell me the future of emo is being paved by them. I feel that emo music is pertinent and accessible to the modern music universe because, believe it or not, you love some deviation of it or another. Emo is really too nuanced, too scattered and too broad to be dismissed as a whole among music fans. Which begs the question: How does it make you feel?
-- J.P. Gorman No rock scene has been co-opted as fast or as mercilessly as emo. I can’t say it any plainer than that. The scene started in southern California as a way for sensitive rockers to embrace the sound of the region’s indigenous hardcore punk. It was great adolescent/college music, loud and fast, with big choruses, young love stories and songs detailing the oftentimes uncomfortable truth about growing up in America. And, what’s better, it was a relatively small and self-contained community. There was charming ennui in the songs of bands like the Mr. T Experience or MxPx. This world-weariness combined with a sugary consistency to bring the tunes home to those of us who didn’t howl at the moon but still had plenty of awkward youthful exuberance needing release. Then, in 1999, those pranksters in Blink-182 ran through a video buck naked and put a porn star on their album cover. MTV, never opposed to raping a newfound trend for all it’s worth, jumped at the opportunity to get some fresh California faces on your television. They’ve been in the young flesh trade for a while now, and once emo blew up, they had their suburban vehicle. A Simple Plan and Good Charlotte took off, only God knows why or how, and that was that. The sweetness that is emo’s trademark, extrapolated to this larger scale, is rotting away at American rock music. Teeth and candy have a similar relationship. Affected SoCal nasal whines, little girl jeans on 20-something men, and Guyliner are now hallmarks of popular American rock and roll. I suppose emo is better than nu-metal as far as popular rock trends go, but that’s sort of like saying a punch in the face is better than a kick in the balls. I’d just as soon skip both, thanks.
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April 11th, 2007 at 00:15
Right. Emo is better than Nu Metal. Uh huh.
Can't stand emo, but I think it'll go away sooner or later and be replaced by something even more annoying.
Overall, I agree with Gorman's point of view more. But these days, the term "emo" is painted with a huge brush, so I wouldn't necessarily say that ALL of the so called "emo" bands should go away. I mainly judge them based on the vocalist's style, and lyrics for sure.