Emo? WTF?
Out of context: Reply #73
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- cinder0
Emo is a term accurately describing Rites of Spring, Moss Icon and bands of that sort.
Sunny Day could probably be related to that original stuff - but they're really not *real* "emo*
They're about 2 steps off, whereas all these terrible nu-emo bands, Story ofthe Year, etc are very, very far from the ideology and even the sound.Most of these nu-emo, or false-emo bands are just attempting to jock the short-lived underground movement - but even THOSE bands (old saves the day, Braid, promise ring, capn' jazz, etc) were inspired by Sunny Day, Mineral, etc
It's really a progression of punk, to hardcore, to emo to emo-pop to what basically amounts to last years mall-punk with screaming.
At the Drive-In was more directly influenced by real Emo - but they weren't just imitators. They had a lot of influences like prog, and pop which are a lot more evident in their current bands (Sparta and The Mars Volta)
Dashboard is really not related to any of these things at all.
Chris' previous band, Further Seems Forever (Check out The Moon Is Down) definitely fell into the emo-pop category but even that is a pretty gross generalization.
Anyway - I don't see how you can make any correlation at all between a lone pop-folk singer/song writer and a melodic hardcore band.
Granted, he was related to that scene (opened for friggin Snapcase and other hardcore bands, believe it or not)
His stuff was basically, bleeding heart breakup music with diary-lyrics. And his big thing was crowd participation. Now it just seems trite - but it really was his goal in the begining (and it was a lot cooler before it was 500 fat 16 year old girls - there used to be a fairly varied crowd at his shows)
but, now, of course - getting bigger means you need a bigger sound, so he's turned DC into a full band. I don't think the goal is quite the same any more.Anyway, what's happening now is that tons of indie bands are getting bigger, and to better market it - the media finds it easier to lump it all together into a general category called "emo" which has no relation at all to the actual meaning of the term.
(just like the term "Country" is applied to the pop-twang shit on CMT which is NOT true country like old Johnny Cash)and no, Radiohead, U2, NIN blah blah are not emo and dont even sound remotely like false-emo, pop-emo, or real emo and are in no way related to those punk descendants.
If you look back at a term like "grunge" - those bands really don't have a ton in common other than some of their location (Seattle - Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Melvins).
They all have vastly different sounds and influences. I don't think there is really a problem with any morons calling them grunge anymore. The good bands will stand for themselves.Hell, even hardcore has been coopted.
It was never about being big, or making money or being signed or beating the shit out of kids who aren't from Boston - it was about community, community building and trying to affect mainstream society.Regardless, there are still plenty of bands out there that are pushing punk and hardcore to the edge, they're just harder to find sometimes.
The biggest problem are kids who soak up the music but don't do shit to support the community.