The Evolution of Emo

This is a pop blog and I think it is important to recognize all that pop encompasses. Pop music is really just whatever is popular at the time, though I think it's come to mean bubblegum beats with trite lyrics...



...Justin Beiber anyone? Oh, man. This article is great if you are looking for a mock-analysis of Justin Beiber....

But I digress.

Pop music has been many things through the years. Sometimes rock, sometimes folk. Sometimes rap, sometimes country. (And, yes, sometimes- A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock and Roll. Though whomever thought Donny Osmond was Rock and Roll. Really?)

But what happens when something meant to be non-conformist becomes mainstream?

I'm thinking punk. I'm thinking grunge. I'm thinking folk. All three genres started out kind of revolutionary but became- in their own way- "pop".

Emo? Revolutionary?

Nothing revolutionary about shutting yourself in your bathroom to "scream infidelities", I say.



Well As for now I'm gonna hear the saddest songs
And sit alone and wonder
How you're making out
But as for me, I wish that I was anywhere with anyone
Making out.- Screaming Infidelities, Dashboard Confessional.

Ah, I see what you did there...

Emo may be under the guise of something indie or revulotionary but only because of its angst, I think. This is my critique on hipsters as well- a movement that guises itself as something non-mainstream but is in fact ultimately just that.


I don't care how clever or ironic you think your outfits or your beer are. PBR is just gross. Humph.

And wouldn't you know Emo music is the First Stage in the evolution of a hipster?

But where did Emo come from? Is it pop? Is it grunge? Is it punk?

I would say emo is more pop than anything else because if we are taking the definition of pop music to be self-indulgent and trite, it's that. But if we are taking it to mean music that is mainstream and marketable...oh, wait. It's that too.

While people who listen to emo may think they are so different and against the grain, I would not say they are revolutionary. Folk music was revolutionary. It was popular (folk and folklore by definition is 'of the people'...) but it still went against the grain even without being musically abrubt. Hippies and folk artists of the 60s preached their revolutionary message of peace with a peaceful musical movement.

The punk music of the 80s also had some crossover appeal, despite its anti-establishment themes. I'm thinking the Clash, Sex Pistols. Bands that became popular and ironically similar in theme to folk music, however obviously not musically similar. A different approach to the "damn the man" concept. Anger just replacing peace and love, really.

Then we have the 90s. Ah, the 90s. The grunge movement was revolutionary perhaps not in message, but in lifestyle and musical achievement. I would say that emo probably has its roots somewhere in grunge. A type of music that is a little bit self indulgent, kind of whiny, and involves wearing flannel and jeans. But grunge was at least still about society and culture. Even if it was getting a little bit softer around the edges ( ie, Live, Soul Asylum, Nirvana, Hole...the message is there, but no ones burning bras or flags because of it).

So, if we are keeping track:

60s folk= whiny, but pretty.
80s punk= whiny, but loud.
90s grunge= whiny, but empathetic.
00s emo= just plain whiny

(oh, and the 70s have been eliminated because disco was pretty much the antithesis of all things revolutionary. However, does it thereby make it actually the MOST revolutionary? Hmmm...)



Now that I think about it...emo is probably as indulgent, if not moreso than disco....

Well, there you have it, folks. Emo actually gets its roots from disco. And well, that actually kind of explains alot. The End.

Peace,
Julia