Emo /ˈiːmoʊ/ is a style of rock music characterized by expressive, often confessional, lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore" and pioneered by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace. As the style was echoed by contemporary American punk rock bands, its sound and meaning shifted and changed, blending with pop punk and indie rock and encapsulated in the early 1990s by groups such as Jawbreaker and Sunny Day Real Estate. By the mid-1990s numerous emo acts emerged from the Midwestern and Central United States, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the style. Emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s with the platinum-selling success of Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional and the emergence of the subgenre "screamo". In the wake of this success, many emo bands were signed to major record labels and the style became a marketable product.[1] By the late 2000s, emo's popularity began to decrease. Some bands moved away from their emo roots and some bands also disbanded. The "emo revival"[2][3][4][5] emerged in the 2010s, with bands drawing on the sounds and aesthetics of emo of the 1990s and early 2000s. Offshoot genres emerged such as emo pop and emoviolence (a style of screamo and powerviolence). The term "emo" has been applied by critics and journalists to a variety of artists, including multiplatinum acts and groups with disparate styles and sounds. In addition to music, "emo" is often used more generally to signify a particular relationship between fans and artists, and to describe related aspects of fashion, culture, and behavior. Emo has been associated with a stereotype that includes being particularly emotional, sensitive, shy, introverted, or angst-ridden.[6][7][8] It has also been associated with stereotypes like depression, self-injury, and suicide.[9][10] Precursors In the 1980s, many DC hardcore bands formed. Many of them were hardcore punk bands with as well as some post-hardcore bands. Post-hardcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk, only like post-punk it is more melodic and experimental. Some of the styles of hardcore punk bands such as Minor Threat,[11] The Faith,[12] Black Flag,[13] and Hüsker Dü[14] were influential bands which influenced many emocore bands. Emo began off as a style of post-hardcore[16] and emerged from the hardcore punk scene of early-1980s Washington, D.C., both as a reaction to the increased violence within the scene and as an extension of the personal politics espoused by Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat, who had turned the focus of the music from the community back towards the individual.[15][17] Minor Threat fan Guy Picciotto formed Rites of Spring in 1984, breaking free of hardcore's self-imposed boundaries in favor of melodic guitars, varied rhythms, and deeply personal, impassioned lyrics.[18] Many of the band's themes would become familiar tropes in later generations of emo music, including nostalgia, romantic bitterness, and poetic desperation.[19] Their performances became public emotional purges where audience members would sometimes weep.[20] MacKaye became a huge Rites of Spring fan, recording their only album and serving as their roadie, and soon formed a new band of his own called Embrace which explored similar themes of self-searching and emotional release. Many of the new emo bands originated from the Midwestern and Central United States, such as Cap'n Jazz[53] from Chicago, Illinois, Braid from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, Christie Front Drive from Denver, Colorado, Mineral from Austin, Texas, Jimmy Eat World from Mesa, Arizona, The Get Up Kids from Kansas City, Missouri, and The Promise Ring from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[54] According to Andy Greenwald,

• published: 25 Apr 2015
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