A distant introverted person that has a black aesthetic and loves a certain type of music. Wears eyeliner and may seem edgy, but really they are crying alone in their room every night while men listening to MCR. Types of “emo” may vary. Not to be confused with goth.
by Emzi is a Phoenix January 22, 2018
Get the Emo mug.(Noun, Adjective) - A word of many uses, emo generally describes:
A) A genre of music
B) Style of fasion
C) Lifestyle/subculture
(NOTE - The following may be just slightly biased)
Emo music (short for Emocore or Emotional Hardcore) is a derivitive of the mid 80's hardcore scene. Born in Washington D.C., early emo was a mix of hardcore punk with both emotional lyrics and performances, dominated by bands such as "Rites Of Spring" and "Embrace". By the late 90's, most original emo bands had disbanded or changed direction. From 2000 onwards, many bands have unwillingly or unrightfully been labled as emo, such as "Dashboard Confessional" and "Taking Back Sunday". Many "classic" emo fans and outsiders view modern emo music as warterd-down punk rock.
Emo fasion or "the emo look" has a number of simple characteristics. For males, hair should be black (although dark red/brown is acceptable), greassy, have a long fringe and a bang covering one eye. For females, although dark hair is prefered, any colour is acceptable. While hair may be cleaner, it must still cover a large portion of the face. Black shirts and jackets are worn, although on rare occasions an emo may wear a grey or white hoodie. Jeans are the clothing of choice for the emo, although for males anything out of their sisters closet is fine. Footware is typically any sort of skating shoe. To complete the look, apply excessive amounts of eyeshadow (males and females), put on a pair of black horned glasses and start listening to your eyepod.
Emo culture, dominated by middle to upper class suburban white teenagers, is characterised by weak music, self loathing and melodrama. After listening to some emo music (generally, but not always shite), emo-boy will log onto myspace to talk to his emo friends. After blogging about how shit life is, how he fucking hates his parents, and how the whole world hates him, he'll have a look at emo-girls myspace page. A quick look at the 17,000 photos she's uploaded (either of her looking into the distance, her looking up at the camera in a confused and drugfucked way or her at an emo gathering), emo-boy and emo-girl will chat to each other. The conversation quickly turns to how they are both alone and nobody understands them. Emo-boy has had enough of myspace (for a few minutes at least) and decides he is depressed. He writes a "deep and meaningfull" poem, before deciding to end it all. A quick slash of the wrists and it's time to sit in the dark and wait for the end to come. Unfortunately, he only drove the razor 2 milimetres into his skin, so there's a pretty good chance he'll be back at school next week, trying (not very hard) to hide his fresh scars and emotions.
A) A genre of music
B) Style of fasion
C) Lifestyle/subculture
(NOTE - The following may be just slightly biased)
Emo music (short for Emocore or Emotional Hardcore) is a derivitive of the mid 80's hardcore scene. Born in Washington D.C., early emo was a mix of hardcore punk with both emotional lyrics and performances, dominated by bands such as "Rites Of Spring" and "Embrace". By the late 90's, most original emo bands had disbanded or changed direction. From 2000 onwards, many bands have unwillingly or unrightfully been labled as emo, such as "Dashboard Confessional" and "Taking Back Sunday". Many "classic" emo fans and outsiders view modern emo music as warterd-down punk rock.
Emo fasion or "the emo look" has a number of simple characteristics. For males, hair should be black (although dark red/brown is acceptable), greassy, have a long fringe and a bang covering one eye. For females, although dark hair is prefered, any colour is acceptable. While hair may be cleaner, it must still cover a large portion of the face. Black shirts and jackets are worn, although on rare occasions an emo may wear a grey or white hoodie. Jeans are the clothing of choice for the emo, although for males anything out of their sisters closet is fine. Footware is typically any sort of skating shoe. To complete the look, apply excessive amounts of eyeshadow (males and females), put on a pair of black horned glasses and start listening to your eyepod.
Emo culture, dominated by middle to upper class suburban white teenagers, is characterised by weak music, self loathing and melodrama. After listening to some emo music (generally, but not always shite), emo-boy will log onto myspace to talk to his emo friends. After blogging about how shit life is, how he fucking hates his parents, and how the whole world hates him, he'll have a look at emo-girls myspace page. A quick look at the 17,000 photos she's uploaded (either of her looking into the distance, her looking up at the camera in a confused and drugfucked way or her at an emo gathering), emo-boy and emo-girl will chat to each other. The conversation quickly turns to how they are both alone and nobody understands them. Emo-boy has had enough of myspace (for a few minutes at least) and decides he is depressed. He writes a "deep and meaningfull" poem, before deciding to end it all. A quick slash of the wrists and it's time to sit in the dark and wait for the end to come. Unfortunately, he only drove the razor 2 milimetres into his skin, so there's a pretty good chance he'll be back at school next week, trying (not very hard) to hide his fresh scars and emotions.
by Gobshite101 September 6, 2008
Get the Emo mug.An "Emo" really is just a confused teenager. The entire Emo subculture is rooted in music. Emo is short for "emotional" or "emotional hardcore." This type of music came about in D.C. in the 80's (before most self-proclaimed emos were even born.) The type of people who listened to this music had common tastes in fashion, and like many other fashion eras, they all began dressing the same way. Now the term Emo is associated more with behavior and style than it is with music. Simply don a pair Converse, a studded belt, head-to-toe black, and angled bangs, and voila--you're an Emo. Of course, there is the debate over real and wannabe Emos, but really they're all the same. They purposely choose to dress a certain way, act a certain way, listen to (or pretend to listen to) certain music, despite what their motives are. Whether their motives are sincere or superficial, all Emos have chosen to conform to a group of people they feel safe with. They would rather be called "weird" than be themselves and think for themselves. The ones that call themselves real Emos look and act (on the surface) like wannabe Emos. The only difference may be that they are truly admirers of the music scene, or that they truly have difficult family lives. Either way, they are all just this generation's subculture. Just like the Grunge group of the 90s or the Hippies of the 60s, the Emos have found their stereotypical shoe, their theme song, their color, and their attitude, and they will fight for it until the death (or until they grow weary of cutting themselves). If they do cut themselves, you will know it. The entire point of cutting is to garner sympathy and attention. Never will you find an Emo who secretly cuts him or herself. Emos are really just searching for a place to call home. Every teenager has to find some group to associate with, lest they be left out. In this way, Emos are no different than the Chavs. The Chavs are just looking for a group to fit into as well. While the Chav group may be much more dim-witted and emotionally numb, they too are just a group of scared teenagers looking for a family. One day, both Emos and Chavs will look back on their silly little phases and laugh. They'll also look back on their ridiculous Urban Dictionary entires and wonder how they were able to graduate from high school with such poor grammar and spelling skills.
by OmniscientOne August 20, 2007
Get the Emos mug.I looked at the other definitions, and there seems to few people on here that actually know what they're talking about. So I thought I'd add mine, with a bit of history and background information...
1976 saw the birth of punk, bringing with it many sub-genres, sub-sub-genres, and sub-sub-sub-sub-genres. In the early 80s, punk had branched off into several different styles, and ways of taking the genre. In 1981 there was a large amount of "hardcore" bands emerging from the D.C. scene. One of these bands were called "Minor Threat", who had a very vibrant, and melodic sound.
Nearing the end of 1983, the band "Minor Threat" broke up, after the band seemed to "run out of steam", and their last 7" single "Salad Days" in 1984 finally killed the band, and the DC hardcore scene.
After that new bands emerged, taking the genre their own way. 1984 showed the release of "Zen Arcade", an album by minneapolis band "Husker Du". This interpretation showed much more powerful, intense vocals with slow, melancholy and more melodic song writing.
In Spring 1984, D.C. Hardcore band "Rites of Spring" emerged, taking inspiration from the earlier hardcore scene. The band brought a totally new vocal approach to Husker Du's original style.
Summer 1985 became known as the "revolution summer" when a whole wave of hardcore bands emerged from the D.C. scene such as Gray Matter, Soulside, Ignition and Dag Nasty. Few bands retained the original fast paced, hardcore style proposed by "Rites of Spring" and "Husker Du" but took a much more droney, melodic approach to the genre.
These bands were then labelled the "D.C. Sound" or "D.C. Hardcore", and some of them were labelled "emo".
It was never suggested by Rites Of Spring that the term "emo" was short for anything. Although it has been proposed that emo was short for "emotive hardcore" or "emotionally charged hardcore punk" in a 1985 flipside interview with the band they claimed they were "not a punk rock band" and it was never mentioned in the text that they were "emotional" or "emotive" although the term "emo" was used several times.
Again, people took the genre several ways. Some people took an "Indie-rock" approach to the genre, while others retained a "post hardcore" style.
Many emo bands were poorly paid, underground, and rarely heard of, and few records were ever released around the genre. Which is probably why today it is so easily mistaken and misunderstood.
The "D.C. hardcore scene" grew, and with it, a stereotype fashion. People with a "Mop-top" haircut, skinny t-shirts and old trainers became a classic "D.C. hardcore scene" cliche. However, not all of these were "emo fans" nor were they in any way "emo's". It is suggested that this idea was taken, and progressed through the nineties to a much more "geeky" look nowadays.
However, emo is a genre of music, argue all you like, your still wrong. Saying "I am an emo" is like saying "I am a jazz", which is not possible. Emo has been heavily marketed by magazines (Kerrang etc.) and a totally wrong idea of the genre is now being spread across youths.
The early 90s saw a last breath for emo, with a much more softer, "Indie-rock" take on the genre. After that, the rest is history. It's a shame the genre was dragged through the gutter like that.
1976 saw the birth of punk, bringing with it many sub-genres, sub-sub-genres, and sub-sub-sub-sub-genres. In the early 80s, punk had branched off into several different styles, and ways of taking the genre. In 1981 there was a large amount of "hardcore" bands emerging from the D.C. scene. One of these bands were called "Minor Threat", who had a very vibrant, and melodic sound.
Nearing the end of 1983, the band "Minor Threat" broke up, after the band seemed to "run out of steam", and their last 7" single "Salad Days" in 1984 finally killed the band, and the DC hardcore scene.
After that new bands emerged, taking the genre their own way. 1984 showed the release of "Zen Arcade", an album by minneapolis band "Husker Du". This interpretation showed much more powerful, intense vocals with slow, melancholy and more melodic song writing.
In Spring 1984, D.C. Hardcore band "Rites of Spring" emerged, taking inspiration from the earlier hardcore scene. The band brought a totally new vocal approach to Husker Du's original style.
Summer 1985 became known as the "revolution summer" when a whole wave of hardcore bands emerged from the D.C. scene such as Gray Matter, Soulside, Ignition and Dag Nasty. Few bands retained the original fast paced, hardcore style proposed by "Rites of Spring" and "Husker Du" but took a much more droney, melodic approach to the genre.
These bands were then labelled the "D.C. Sound" or "D.C. Hardcore", and some of them were labelled "emo".
It was never suggested by Rites Of Spring that the term "emo" was short for anything. Although it has been proposed that emo was short for "emotive hardcore" or "emotionally charged hardcore punk" in a 1985 flipside interview with the band they claimed they were "not a punk rock band" and it was never mentioned in the text that they were "emotional" or "emotive" although the term "emo" was used several times.
Again, people took the genre several ways. Some people took an "Indie-rock" approach to the genre, while others retained a "post hardcore" style.
Many emo bands were poorly paid, underground, and rarely heard of, and few records were ever released around the genre. Which is probably why today it is so easily mistaken and misunderstood.
The "D.C. hardcore scene" grew, and with it, a stereotype fashion. People with a "Mop-top" haircut, skinny t-shirts and old trainers became a classic "D.C. hardcore scene" cliche. However, not all of these were "emo fans" nor were they in any way "emo's". It is suggested that this idea was taken, and progressed through the nineties to a much more "geeky" look nowadays.
However, emo is a genre of music, argue all you like, your still wrong. Saying "I am an emo" is like saying "I am a jazz", which is not possible. Emo has been heavily marketed by magazines (Kerrang etc.) and a totally wrong idea of the genre is now being spread across youths.
The early 90s saw a last breath for emo, with a much more softer, "Indie-rock" take on the genre. After that, the rest is history. It's a shame the genre was dragged through the gutter like that.
Emo - Rites Of Spring, Dag Nasty, SDRE, Drive Like Jehu, Fugazi...
What? - GUYS IN GIRL PANTS R HOT!!!11
Anything to do with 14 year old girls instantly becomes void of the possibility of it having anything to do with emo.
What? - GUYS IN GIRL PANTS R HOT!!!11
Anything to do with 14 year old girls instantly becomes void of the possibility of it having anything to do with emo.
by Jorj November 15, 2006
Get the Emo mug.A word used to describe someone who typically listens to rock music, wears all black, and usually has black hair.
by MyChemicalPsycho September 3, 2016
Get the Emo mug.Something that very few people are. The style has mind-fucked every teenager into thinking that they are depressed. I, being manic and having extreme anger issues and emotional outbursts, don't even know if I'm emo. If you seriously need to look this up because of style, you aren't really emo. So there.
FAKE SCENE/EMO KID: Oh, my Gawd, my life sucks so bad. Let's go cut our wrists while listening to Hawthorne Heights on my four thousand dollar stereosystem.
by O_o_I'm_a_Freak_o_O December 31, 2008
Get the Emo mug.A term created to give pre-teens and teens an excuse to behave poorly. Stolen almost directly from the Goth kids of the the early eighties, these teens and early 'adults' apparently pride themselves on being original while looking and behaving exactly the same. Emo is short for emotional, but we all know that those early years are a mess of predictably unbalanced, insecure histrionics and this label is just another way of glorifying it. As with other cultish groups, the emo subculture has attached whiney, cry-baby 'music' to its hapless existencialism that literally screams "why me." There seems to be virtually no way to combat this behavioral anomaly as attempts to do so only catapult the teen into carrying his/her angst even further. The ultimate color is black, with white and pink being thrown in for girls as contrast. The boys wear more bland colors with fashion statement Bed-head hair and a blank stare. Girls have a new version of big hair; long and puffy in the back ; styled in the front so that the bangs run the length of one side to the person's neck, covering a single eye entirely, giving the impression that the individual is hiding something. Easily bored and quick to depressive behavior, you'll rarely see them involved in activities that involve anything more than standing or laying around. Incessent eye-rolling and texting are the preferred exercises for this narcissistic cult.
by rumrunner68 September 25, 2010
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