Emo Punk

Jennifer Ann Lourdes L. Fuller

English 10

March 8, 2006

Emo Punk

Of all the different subgenres of rock, emo punk is probably one of the hardest to define and distinguish. "Emo" is short for emotional, which "is very similar to hardcore punk except with more emotional lyrics often expressing sadness, love and even anger, hence the term emo" (Rock Music). A common misconception of emo punk by many people is that it is "an upbeat and lively music" (Bunag). People confuse it with pop punk which is actually more melodic and consist of lyrics that usually contain personal life experiences of the artist. According to Wikipedia "[...] pop punk [is] often times wrongly referred to as emo which draws its style from softer punk and alternative rock styles from the 1980s". Pop-punk actually comes very close to the authentic emo sound of being "more melodic and introspective/depressing than hardcore [punk]" (Lloyd), but less melodic than pop punk for it is, more often than not, devoid of simple chord progressions. Examples of pop-punk bands are Simple Plan, Bowling for Soup, Smash Mouth, and Good Charlotte to some extent. Another misconception is that emo punk is in stark contrast with the idea of "punk" for it is slow and whiny which in a sense, "kind of takes all the punk out of it" (Chaves). This is because some people tend to stereotype the "emotional" concept of emo punk in a slower and more sensual light as in love songs.

What many people and emo fans seem to agree on is that its roots go back in the "Washington D.C. area [...] with bands inspired by that area's post-hardcore acceptance of new, diverse sounds within the punk scene" (Radin). It was during the 1980's when these punk bands started to emerge, most notably the band Rites of Spring, whose lead singer Guy Picciotto produced a "surprising deviation from standard punk music, and [...] heavily emotion-laden lyrics, dangerously exposing himself and his personal feelings in each song" (Seawell) which eventually became the foundation of emo punk. The band possesed the raw and traditional emo "out-of-breath punk style, [...] [where vocalist Guy Picciotto's] voice breaks down at climactic moments into a throaty, gravelly, passionate moan." (Radin).

Another important band in emo history is Moss Icon, who managed to develop a more energy-driven type of music, and more melodic than but equally loud as the Rites of Spring's. Some would say that Moss Icon's music is the standard for emo punk as opposed to the Rites of Spring's that actually evolved directly from hardcore punk. Others even argue that the Rites of Spring is not an emo band at all. Nathan Hyatt, in his review on the band said, "I remember when the term ["emo"] first came out, almost fifteen years ago, [and] the bands that were originally termed "emo" (basically Fugazi, and in retrospect, this band) sound NOTHING like today's emo." Hyatt claims that Rites of Spring "is hardcore, not emo" all the while comparing it with more modern and recent bands that call themselves emo. Examples of these bands are Yellowcard, AFI, and The Used, which are actually labeled "MTV Pop-Punk trash" (real_emo) by emo fanatics. The so-called "emo" nowadays is almost indistinguishable from the pop- punk music created by rock bands that have a distorted view on how emo punk should sound like.

With all this confusion going on, the need to set parameters for emotional punk was felt by real emo fans trying to debunk other punk bands that did not meet emo standards. According to Thom Lloyd, author of "Origin of Emo":

"The best way to describe emo music is by soft [...] guitar [playing in arpeggio or in rapid chord succession] overtop soft airy vocals that build up and release into an orchestra of heavy distorted guitars and then brought back down to the original quiet part".

This seemingly narrow explanation of how emo punk music should limit the types of music that can be considered emo and raises a lot of questions. What if the whole song stays soft and airy and never progress to heavy guitar playing? Would it still be considered emo? According to music fanatic Andy Radin " 'emo' is actually a broad title that covers a lot of different styles of emotionally-charged punk rock".

Radin broke emo music down to five categories that elaborated on the different types of emo. Emocore is probably the earliest type of emo that emerged in Washington D.C. in 1984, hence the name "core of emo". According to Andy Radin:

"The "emocore" style has become broader over the years. In the beginning, these bands consisted mostly of people who played in hardcore punk bands, got burned out its limited forms, and moved to a guitar-oriented, mid-tempo, rock-based sound with emotional punk vocals [...]. The central aspect here is the guitars - distorted, strummed mostly in duo unison, with occasional catchy riff highlights. This becomes known as the classic "D.C. sound".

A simpler definition of emocore would be that it is music that indeed started from hardcore punk, concentrating more on the different artistic (sometimes violent and distorted) sounds that could be created by an electric guitar, with little hints of pop-punk melody, and consisting of highly emotional and poetic lyrics. Fast and upbeat singing in the normal voice range is the trademark vocal style of emocore. Andy Radin classified bands like Rites of Spring, Fugazi (both bands having the same vocalist), and Embrace under this category.

The next category is "emo" which could be very confusing to understand for its name implies that it is a sub genre of itself. This style is actually too close to the generalized emo music to have another sub genre created for it, at the same time, it is distinctively different from other emo styles. Andy Radin stated that:

"The vocal style is usually much more intense than emocore, ranging from normal singing in the quiet parts to a kind of pleading howl to gut-wrenching screams to actual sobbing and crying. [...]. Most emo bands tend to have some epic-length songs that build up very slowly to a climax where someone cries. If you're receptive to this kind of thing, it can be extremely powerful and moving, since it's very hard to fake that kind of pure emotion convincingly. Lyrics tend toward somewhat abstract poetry, and are usually low in the mix and hard to decipher."

It is very hard to distinguish emo from emocore for differences in the music are