Opened this thread expecting all the worst types of misinformation, but was pleasantly suprised when I saw Fugazi, Cap'n Jazz, and Algernon. Though I'm slightly skeptical about calling Fugazi emo. Guy Picciotto's earlier band, Rites of Spring, was definitely among the first wave.
There's a great entry in Brian Cogans "Encyclopedia of Punk" about emo:
EMO
An emotional style of punk developed in the 1980s by bands such as Dag Nasty and Rites of Spring, emo generally refers to bands with confessional lyrics that deal with difficulties in relationships, fitting in, and being honest in a harsh world. Legend has it that people at Rites of Spring shows had been known to burst into tears at their naked, emotional performances. Most of the early emo bands were also extremely devoted to their fans, treating them like family and sometimes even allowing them to share the stage.
However, in the 1990s, the term began to take on different connotations, as pop outfits like Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, and Weezer (the last primarily due to their second album, the under-selling, but critically acclaimed, Pinkerton) came to be described as emo. Other offshoots created by rock critics include screamo and extremo, more raucous versions of the same style, as epitomized by bands such as the Used, who scream their confessional lyrics as opposed to singing them melodically. Along the way, an unofficial emo uniform even came about, involving baggy clothing, rumpled hair, and large, nerdy glasses. Many modern bands refuse to be labeled emo, considering the term essentially meaningless and more of a corporate attempt to label music than an honest reaction to a musical style; though some true emo bands are still out their performing under the radar of the cultural mainstream, spanning prolific Myspace pages and zines devoted to their music. Given that the primary audience for emo-style music is composed of those under the age of 21, as long as some bands are able to capture that sense of emotive alienation so attractive to some teenagers, the genre will continue. But it remains to be seen if the success of mall-punk poseurs like Fall out Boy and Panic! At the Disco will further mainstream the term, or kill it off entirely.
tl;dr less labels, more listening
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