What makes an emo band?Is it their penchant for eyeliner or perhaps their tight jeans? Angel discovers what makes an emo band – and it ain’t their fashion sense!Long black fringe? Check Skinny jeans? Check. Dark eye make up? Check. Congratulations, you are now officially an emo! The term emo has come to describe something beyond music. It is now a lifestyle, a fashion statement, perhaps even a subculture if you will. But with emos popping up in Hollyoaks (hello Newt) and bands like MCR topping the pop charts it’s questionable how ‘sub’ this culture is. Even a lot of the fashions cross over into the mainstream, with shops like H&M peddling their footless tights and canvas pumps at an alarming rate. The prevalence of this scene has made me question a few things about its musical influences and where the fashions have come from. I began to wonder ‘what makes an emo band’… wonder with me if you will. Emo simply means ‘emotional’ but it’s not always looked and sounded the way it does now. The musical history of emo takes you way back to the mid 80s in Washington DC ’s underground hardcore punk scene.  Bands like Rites of Spring and Embrace took their punk in a more emotional direction and this offshoot culture became known as emocore. Then the term shifted again in the mid-90s when Fugazi and other similar bands started peddling a more melodic and less chaotic sound - known as indie emo. (Are you keeping up kids?) By the end of the 90s the original emos had either disbanded or had taken a more mainstream route. A great example would be Jimmy Eat World, whose current deeply emotional emo-pop is a far cry from their punk roots. They jumped on the emo band wagon during Fugazi’s reign and enjoyed underground success before releasing Bleed American which took them smack bang into the pop playground. Bands such as Thursday and Finch sprung up in the early noughties touting a similar sound and from these roots grew the bands that we know and love - hello MCR, Taking Back Sunday, Funeral for a Friend, PATD and Fall Out Boy! Offshoots of emo include screamo – with heavier/rockier sounds but lyrics that still cut through your heart. Check out Glassjaw and Thrice for some top notch examples. Alkaline Trio and Aiden also have a definitively 'emo' sound but their look and lyrical topics have a more gothic feel. So that’s the music but what of the fashion and style that has become so intrinsically linked with the emo scene? There are no medical reasons why emo bands need to wear make up - contrary to popular belief eyeliner does not help you scream louder – but perhaps if your name’s Billy Jo you find it a useful tool to cover up your wrinkles (hehe). The most obvious reason for the fashion element is that it allows people with similar outlooks on life (alternative, free thinking and free spirited, not to mention introspective) to separate themselves from the crowd visually and to celebrate their differences together. This non-conformist style reflects a degree of anti-establishment thinking, reminiscent of the punk scene from whence it sprang. But the bondage trousers and mohicans have been replaced by skinny jeans and floppy fringes, which seem closer in style to that of goths, with the black clothing, and bands such as The Cure – that Robert Smith is a sucker for eyeliner. Obviously this popularly-viewed emo 'look' is touted by bands like MCR and 30 Seconds to Mars, which strengthens the association with this style of music – but there are plenty of bands whose music is oh-so-emo but never touch the black stuff. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that one should never judge an emo band by their clothing, but rather ask whether their music makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. That’s what makes an emo band – pure, unadulterated emotion. |
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