The first I ever heard the term "emo" was in reference to the band Rites of Spring, an 80s hardcore punk outfit on Dischord with emotional lyrics that were screamed (the singer was Guy Picciotto, pre-Fugazi). I was verrry confused when the term gained popularity years later.

The first I ever heard the term "emo" was in reference to the band Rites of Spring, an 80s hardcore punk outfit on Dischord with emotional lyrics that were screamed (the singer was Guy Picciotto, pre-Fugazi). I was verrry confused when the term gained popularity years later.

Exactly! All the hardcore punks I know were like "What? What are they calling emo now? The fuck?" when the term started cropping up again a few years ago.

Frank Iero's "homophobia is dumb" t-shirt, the ever evolving stagegay aspect of MCRs live shows, Gerard ranting about other band's roadies trying to get girls to flash them for backstage passes.)

This actually partially got me into them.

Also, Jilli, Trudy owes you a cookie.

Also, Jilli, Trudy owes you a cookie.

Okay, I like cookies.

... um, why does she owe me a cookie?

I also associate it with homophobia and misogyny, due to the fact that, by aforementioned macho youth, the word "emo" is frequently coupled with "pussy" or "fag."

Bingo. I have always seen "emo" used as a derogatory term. Which is part of the reason I don't have a clear understanding of what music genre really could be called emo.

Yeah, I have this problem with the term, too.

However, the following joke is still very funny to me:

"I wish my lawn was emo so it would cut itself."

Again, very poor characterization of the term emo (which is vague enough as to be useless), but that joke made me laugh and laugh and laugh when I heard it.

Well, emo was originally short for emotive rock, which was a subgenre of hardcore. The term was (mis)appropriated around the time Bright Eyes and Death Cab and Dashboard came out for the kind of lyrically intelligent, slightly maudlin indie pop gone mainstream. It started to get used for Fall Out Boy specifically post "Take This To Your Grave" and into "From Under the Cork Tree" around the time of Pete Wentz's incident with prescription medication. Funny, that. Before then they were pretty clearly in the pop-punk category; Pete has said that he and Joe wanted to put together a band like Good Charlotte, which is a pretty clear indication of where they wanted to put their genre label.

This is also pretty closely related with the mainstream media generally (mis)labeling contemporary goth-adjacent rock as emo, probably because media thinks goth looks sad and sadness is apparently a characteristic of emo. Or something. I don't really understand the mainstream media. So by 2005 (at the latest) you had three threads of contemporary media that all got stuck with the emo label--slow singer-songwriter indie pop, the bitter, clever lyricism of Fall Out Boy, and the fashion and imagery of My Chemical Romance. (I am disincluding Evanescence here on purpose.) The result is a shambolic attempt to slap "emo" on anything wearing eyeliner, writing about sad or bitter things, or wearing black.

Predictably that doesn't work terribly well in practice, especially when the term itself was pulled from a subgenre that it is no longer is correctly applied to anymore. Pete rightly pointed out in some interview that most of what people write songs about is emotional stuff, so everything is emo.

Granted, emo as a descriptor, while nonsuccessfully applied to music, can serve as an accurate enough term for a style that fits snugly between hipster and goth.

Gerard ranting about other band's roadies trying to get girls to flash them for backstage passes.

[link]

There is audio of that. It kicks in at :28 and goes to 1:08

... um, why does she owe me a cookie?

She promised a cookie to the first person to use the term "stagegay" in the music thread.

"I wish my lawn was emo so it would cut itself."

I totally laugh at that, too.

And once again, SA for the win.

Granted, emo as a descriptor, while nonsuccessfully applied to music, can serve as an accurate enough term for a style that fits snugly between hipster and goth.

V. true. I was going to say that "emo is the new goth" in terms of a group of young people mocked for eyeliner and depressive tendencies (and boykissing) , but that's more accurate.

Granted, emo as a descriptor, while nonsuccessfully applied to music, can serve as an accurate enough term for a style that fits snugly between hipster and goth.

Mmm, snug jeans....

She promised a cookie to the first person to use the term "stagegay" in the music thread.

Awesome!

I was going to say that "emo is the new goth" in terms of a group of young people mocked for eyeliner and depressive tendencies (and boykissing) , but that's more accurate.

Yep, which is also why a lot of ElderGoths get cranky about emo. We look at the emokids and go, "waitaminute, aren't you just confused babygoths?"