Emo
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Emo
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| Development phase: | Mid 1980s |
| Place of origin: | Washington, DC , United States |
| Stylistic precursors | |
| Hardcore punk , post-hardcore | |
| Pioneers | |
| Rites of Spring , Embrace , Fugazi | |
| Instruments typical of the genre | |
| Vocals , electric guitar , electric bass , drums | |
| Stylistic successor | |
| Screamo | |
Emo (from English Emotional Hardcore [ ˈiːmoʊ [-] ] or also ˈeːmo [-] ( dt. ), Sometimes also referred to as Emocore ) is a sub-genre of Hardcore Punk , which is characterized by a stronger emphasis on feelings, such as. B. Despair and grief, as well as by the predominant preoccupation with social, political and interpersonal issues.
Since around the year 2000, emo has also been used to describe a youth cultural fad that is only indirectly related to the music style of the same name.
definition
In general, the definition of emo is difficult because the genre definition and the resulting musical classification within the hardcore / punk scene - at least in the early days - did not exist to this extent. Many see the term - similar to grunge - as a music term brought in from the outside for a type of music that cannot be delimited at all.
Guy Picciotto, who played in the band Rites of Spring , among others , said in an interview:
“I've never recognized 'emo' as a genre of music. I always thought it was the most retarded term ever. I know there is this generic commonplace that every band that gets labeled with that term hates it. They feel scandalized by it. But honestly, I just thought that all the bands I played in were punk rock bands. The reason I think it's so stupid is that - what, like the Bad Brains weren't emotional? What - they were robots or something? It just doesn't make any sense to me. "
“For me, 'emo' was never a genre of music. I thought it was the stupidest term ever. There's this truism that all the bands labeled emo hate the term, they feel stigmatized. In all honesty, I thought all the bands I played in were punk rock bands. I think emo is a stupid term, after all, bands like Bad Brains also play emotional music, after all , they're not robots or something. It just doesn't make sense. "
An additional problem of demarcation is the fashion phenomenon that has arisen since the early 2000s. This refers to certain haircuts and clothes that were originally worn by certain bands associated with the genre. Today, however, this style is mostly associated with bands that, at least in the narrower sense, do not belong to the music genre of the same name ( see Emo (youth culture) )
history
The so-called Washington DC hardcore punk "school" is considered to be the origin of emo and is considered the most important and most influential in the hardcore movement alongside the West Coast groups and later New York Hardcore (NYHC). Bands like Minor Threat , Government Issue or the early Bad Brains shaped the hardcore punk from Washington. As early as the early 1980s, some musicians in the hardcore / punk scene were looking for ways to respond to the increasing harshness and machismo in parts of the hardcore scene - manners that have little to do with hardcore ideals.
Instead, they wanted to openly show emotions and feelings and also process this in their songs. Despite all progressive thoughts, this was frowned upon in the rough, rather pessimistic hardcore scene of the time.
The band Rites of Spring , which was active in the mid-1980s, is considered to be an important pioneer . Before that, the band Hüsker Dü from Minneapolis had built emotional passages into their songs and made love and despair a theme. After Rites of Spring disbanded, the bands Embrace and Fugazi formed a little later , both of which are among the most important bands in the emo and post-hardcore area.
At the end of the 1980s, other bands such as Nation of Ulysses , Shudder to Think and Fire Party formed , which further developed post-hardcore / emo.
“The summer of 1985 becomes known as 'Revolution Summer' when […] bands forms out of the DC punk musician pool with various rock sounds - Three, Gray Matter, Soulside, Ignition, Marginal Man, Fire Party, Rain , Shudder to Think , etc. […] These bands' sound eventually becomes known as the classic 'DC sound' . "
Above all, the band Moss Icon , also existing at the time, contributed to the sound of the emo. So the - today known - loud / quiet scheme and the change between screamed and clean sung vocals was adopted by many subsequent bands ( see below ) .
Andy Radin, former bassist for Screamo band Funeral Diner , describes the style and influence of Moss Icon as follows:
“Moss Icon strips the 'emo' element down to the core, and adds a great deal of intricate, arpeggiated guitar melody (by Tonie Joy, later of Born Against , Lava, Universal Order of Armageddon, etc.) with a strong focus on loud / soft dynamics. The vocals, too, break new ground by building up to actual top-of-the-lungs screaming at songs' climaxes. "
After a while, emo bands also emerged in other hardcore centers, on the west coast and on the east coast, especially around New York .
On the one hand, New York emo bands formed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, such as the influential band Policy of 3 or the briefly existing Native Nod , as well as bands with a harder emo sound, of which Merel is the best known belonged. On the west coast, on the other hand, at around the same time, emo bands such as Still Life , as well as bands such as Heroin, Indian Summer , Antioch Arrow , Universal Order of Armageddon and Swing Kids , who also played a harder emo style, formed. The sound of the harder emo bands developed - like that of the harder New York bands - later to screamo ( see here ) . Sometimes these bands are already described with it. Before that, bands from punk rock and melodic hardcore , such as Jawbreaker and Dag Nasty , had integrated emo elements into their style.
Further bands followed towards the end of the century, such as the influential Four Hundred Years or Falling Forward , which further consolidated the “typical” emo sound. In the Screamo area, Saetia , Funeral Diner and other musically important bands formed from the mid-1990s .
In the recent past numerous bands of the classical music genre existed or still exist with Sleepytime Trio , Life at These Speeds , Wolves , Sinaloa , Daniel Striped Tiger , Catena Collapse or ... Who Calls So Loud .
Development in Germany
In Germany, too, doubts about the content of common subversive political structures emerged , which then also sought out their cultural, musical and identitarian outlet and found emo as a form of expression.
One of the first German focal points in 1997/98 was Göttingen , an Antifa stronghold. This was largely shaped by the bands El Mariachi and the cat strike , which is still active today.
The punk group Turbostaat , which is mostly associated with the genre, or the screamo band Yage were involved in sampler projects from the university town in southern Lower Saxony. The label below average , which is now based in Cologne, also comes from Göttingen (including Jet Black, Syn * Error, Captain Planet ).
The bands Angeschissen and Boxhamsters also played a certain pioneering role for the German-speaking countries and , in turn, inspired by the American emocore forerunners Rites of Spring and Hüsker-Dü , one for many bands that tried to escape the common German punk clichés represented an important influence. Despite some audible parallels to the American post-hardcore and emo environment, the German-language style of these bands was independent and developed relatively clearly and quickly in the direction of German-language alternative rock .
Emobands, some of which are internationally known, have only existed in Germany since the late 1990s. Especially in Screamo spectrum, less US-centered, exists about the 1998 founded Yage a German band that set international standards. A large part of the current German emo bands can be assigned to the harder emo or screamo than the DC emo forms.
Especially screamo bands like Jet Black , Escapado or andorra ~ atkins (formerly Kill.Kim.Novak ) have recently achieved certain commercial successes for their standards. Larger band scenes also exist in and around Hamburg (Escapado, Kurhaus or The Town of Machine), Berlin (Syn * Error, Malatesta, It.Is.Imperative) or North Rhine-Westphalia or the Ruhr area (Yage, andorra ~ atkins, Coming Up for Air).
Emo and indie rock
In the nineties, the term emo was increasingly used for some bands that integrated stronger influences from indie rock into their music. At the end of the eighties, emo became partly more experimental and took on more and more characteristics of indie rock, which was also developed from hardcore / punk circles. The sound of post-hardcore bands such as Fugazi and Hoover in particular served as inspiration for many bands. Other bands that shaped or are shaping the indie rock-heavy emo are, above all, The Get Up Kids , Texas Is the Reason , The Promise Ring .
Nevertheless, the classification in the emo genre is not without controversy because of the very vague musical characteristics and similarities with other emo bands. The bands themselves are also very skeptical about their classification in a music genre close to hardcore punk. Tom Linton, guitarist of the band Jimmy Eat World , which is also assigned to this indie rock emo, said in a 2007 interview:
“We heard emo from the eighties, but we don't like to be given this label because it comes from somewhere different from us. [...] we only ever understood ourselves as a rock band looking for the perfect song "
Emo as a label for post-hardcore, metalcore and alternative rock
Especially in the course of the youth cultural fashion trend emo, many - in some cases commercially very successful - bands that are musically assigned more to alternative rock , post-hardcore or metalcore have been and are described as emo. The later successful band Funeral for a Friend was founded in 2002 , whose style, musically and in terms of content, no longer had much to do with the emo sound. Nevertheless, it was considered the epitome of the genre, especially among young people and in the music press, which was often viewed as undifferentiated or even wrong. Many subsequent bands made their sound their own. Also in 2002, for example, Silverstein was created , whose style is just as strongly circumscribed with the genre, but only indirectly has to do with it.
style
In general, a stylistic description of emo is difficult because of the differentiation within, especially with a view to the emo bands, which are more influenced by indie rock. The main focus is therefore on the classic "emotional hardcore".
The origins of emo lie in DC Hardcore in the early 1980s and post-hardcore groups emerging in the mid-80s. In the 1990s in particular, the emo style consolidated. To this day, the following are considered to be style-defining:
The singing is characteristic of Emotional Hardcore. Usually this alternates between melancholy to accusatory and sad (rarely spoken) parts and more explosive emotionally half-screamed and screamed moments. The band Moss Icon in particular had a strong influence on this scheme. The parts are not particularly distributed between the band members, nor is the change from calm to louder always clearly recognizable. One or more singers often alternate between whispering and screaming in the same breath .
When Andy Radin , we read:
"The vocal style is usually much more intense [...] ranging from normal singing in the quiet parts to a kind of pleading howl to gut-wrenching screams to actual sobbing and crying."
Especially in Screamo , which mainly uses aggressive screaming, the change in the singing is even more pronounced and ranges from very quiet, sometimes almost crying sung or spoken words to loud, aggressively screamed texts.
The song structure is not always straightforward, whereby a scheme with verse and chorus is sometimes more difficult to recognize, in screamo bands no longer at all. In addition to more classic hardcore punk and punk rhythms, relatively complicated figures with sometimes unusual beats, especially in the slow parts, are common.
In addition, the octave chord plays a role, especially when playing the guitars: “One of the most recognizable and universal elements of emo shows up in the guitar sound of this style: the octave chord.” Furthermore, dissonances are also characteristic. The distortion is based more on the "scruffier" DC hardcore sound.
In terms of content, it is mainly about more personal and emotional points of view, classic and simply presented topics about lovesickness , but lost love and the like are hardly found. Instead, (left) political and social perspectives, which are viewed from a personal point of view, as well as relationships between people are present as topics, whereby in the majority melancholy to angry and desperate views predominate. The texts are often kept more abstract and mostly not easy to decipher. Often the texts also seem like "just" juxtaposed fragments of sentences or words:
“Lyrics tend toward somewhat abstract poetry, and are usually low in the mix and hard to decipher. Record inserts have lyrics, but often so disorganized and haphazard that they're very difficult to read. "
Screamo
Most of the screamo bands came into being in the late eighties and early nineties. In a sense, this suggests that the development of Screamo is a reaction , based on the hardcore roots, to the emo, which is heavily influenced by indie rock .
The places of origin are primarily the other two major hardcore schools - the west coast around California and New York / New Jersey . The most important representatives of the genre would be Orchid , Envy , Saetia and Funeral Diner .
In Germany the band Yage or Jet Black , Escapado and andorra ~ atkins are the most important representatives of the genre.
Musically speaking, the screaming (very rarely also roaring) of emotions and emotional texts takes the lead role of the singer. In between there are clean - often overly emotional - sung and spoken parts. In contrast to “normal” emo, where the relationship tends more towards “clean” than to screaming vocals, this is clearly the opposite with screamo. The songs often seem chaotic, with a clear song structure with chorus, verse, etc. barely recognizable. A certain relationship to grindcore can be seen here.
Politics, Straight Edge and DIY ( Do it yourself )
Although emo as a subgenre tends to address personal problems, many emo bands are also positioned on the political left. In part, this connection between emo band and politics can certainly be seen against the background of the demarcation from the criticized tough guy hardcore as well as from right-wing, non- emancipatory attitudes that arose in hardcore punk.
The New Jersey band Policy of 3 explained the formation of the band, also from a political and scene-related point of view, as follows:
“The real motivation behind the band and the urgency directed to our music probably had more to do with the absurdities which were frequently and consistently expelled from the hardcore / punk scene before and during our early days as a band. This was a time of skinheads and the spectacular implosion of the straightedge scene on the East Coast when the self-righteous fell off the wagon. This was a time of Hare Krishna and vegan facism […] This was a time of creeping commercialism and slick professionalism. This was a time when hardcore bands praised the Gulf War. "
In many cases, the political attitude can also be shown using the band names. Sun is about the name of the emo band Four Hundred Years of Four Hundred Years of Slavery (Four hundred years of slavery) , referring to the beginning in the 16th century oppression, suppression and eradication of the North American natives . The name Policy of 3 refers to an association of three Chinese farmers who rebelled against feudal oppression in China at the end of the 1930s. The swing youth , after whom the band Swing Kids was named, was the rebellious and oppositional youth culture that identified with swing jazz, especially during the Nazi era . In addition, both album titles and many songs are characterized by political and socially critical issues.
Above all, the idea of non-commercialism and DIY , as can also be found in hardcore punk and punk , are expressions of political awareness. Many emobands and the scene also see themselves as part of the DIY hardcore punk and punk scene.
City of Caterpillar, for example, said in a 2003 interview:
“For us as a band, DIY is of course very essential. We all grew up with punk rock and the DIY attitude has always been an integral part of it. "
Furthermore, the majority of the emo bands publish their albums with small scene independent labels or bring them out themselves. The CDs and, above all, records are often produced in small numbers and provided with creative and elaborate artwork . Sometimes some bands, like Catena Collapse or Policy of 3, even forego the publication on CD and only release LPs / EPs. This can also be found in the Screamo area.
The emo / post-hardcore band Daniel Striped Tiger explains DIY as follows in an interview:
“The DIY scene has always been important to us as kids and musicians. The community is really strong and positive. "
Other attitudes and opinions that are common in hardcore punk , such as veganism , the preoccupation with animal rights / anti-speciesism and animal liberation are also lived and actively propagated by emo bands, especially Sinaloa here .
Policy of 3 was also an important straight-edge band, for example . Other players in the emo sector also see themselves as straight edge.
Kent MacClard, founder and owner of Ebullition Records , wrote about the XXX - some ideas are poisenous compilation:
“I have been straight edge for more than half of my life; twenty years and counting. [...] I also wanted to point out that many straight edge bands are not caught up in the stereotype of mosh and regurgitated Youth of Today songs. Straight edge to me was never about belonging to the crew or trying to fit in with some preconceived idea of existence. Instead I believe straight edge to be a deeply personal philosophical choice that will effect your life in both good and bad ways for the rest of your days on the planet. "
Labels
As already mentioned, the DIY idea is also present in many emobands - and so there are many smaller independent labels that are also among the main publishers of bands in the genre. For example:
- Dischord Records , Washington D.C. label founded by Ian MacKaye
- Ebullition Records , the Californian label for strongly DIY-influenced emo, screamo and hardcore punk
- Lovitt Records , the Washington suburb label for emo, DC hardcore and indie rock
- Level Plane Records , traditional screamo and emo label from New York
- Jade Tree Records from Delaware
In Germany, the following should be mentioned in particular:
- Below average , a label for screamo, emo, noise and hardcore punk , founded in Göttingen and now based in Cologne
- Zeitstrafe Records , label for hardcore punk, emo / screamo and punk from Kiel
- adagio830 Records from Berlin, label for Screamo, Emo Violence, Hardcore-Punk and Grindcore, that also releases some records from foreign groups
literature
- Martin Büsser, Jonas Engelmann, Ingo Rüdiger; with photographs by Jana Nowack: Emo: Portrait of a scene . Ventil Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-931555-61-0 (German)
- Steve Emond: Emo Boy Volume 1: Nobody Cares about Anything Anyway, So Why Don't We All Just Die ?: Nobody Cares About Anything Anyway, So Why Don't We All Just Die? Slave Labor Books, 2006, ISBN 978-1-59362-053-0 (English)
- Andy Greenwald: Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo . St. Martin's Griffin, 2003, ISBN 978-0-312-30863-6 (English)
Web links
- Overview of the development of the individual Emo waves (English)
- "A How To Guide To Emotional Hardcore" page with lots of band and album information from the Emo / Screamo area (English)
- Article on the genre in indiepedia
- Emo at Allmusic (English)
- Jim DeRogatis : Emo (The Genre That Dare Not Speak Its Name) . In: Guitar World , 1999 (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Guy Picciotto - 2003 markprindle.com; Retrieved July 12, 2007
- ↑ a b c History of Emo fourfa.com; Retrieved December 6, 2007
- ↑ Music that is "in a class of its own in our beautiful country, even in Europe." From a review by Green Hell ; greenhell.de ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 21, 2008
- ↑ FUZE Magazine; No. 7, Dec. 2007 / Jan. 2008; P. 20.
- ↑ bands.rock-im-park.de accessed on December 26, 2007; Quote: "[...] catapulted the band ( My Chemical Romance , editorial assumption) from New Jersey to the top of the Screamo / Emocore genre."
- ↑ arte.tv ( Memento of the original from January 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed December 26, 2007; Quote from the Arte magazine Tracks: “Alexisonfire is Canada's export demonstration in the Emo genre. [...] You play with the genres, but you don't have a big problem with the emo stamp either. "
- ↑ "So far I was actually very well served in the Screamo-Emo section with [...] My Chemical Romance, and so the question quickly arose whether the space reserved for Bullet for My Valentine on the record shelf makes sense." Powermetal Reviews Retrieved December 26, 2007.
- ↑ Musicchannel.cc accessed on December 26, 2007: "Funeral For A Friend play pure Emo / Sreamo."
- ↑ a b fourfa.com. Retrieved July 7, 2008
- ↑ An Anthology (Policy of 3) - Booklet . Ebullition Records , p. 2 ff.
- ↑ An Anthology (Policy of 3) - Booklet . Ebullition Records , p. 2
- ↑ Interview with Broken Violence; brokenviolence.de ( Memento of the original from October 11, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 26, 2008
- ↑ Interview. In: Shot Me Again Webzine; Retrieved May 26, 2008
- ↑ cf. Split about the one with Ampere , second booklet on animal rights and veganism
- ↑ Under "V / A - XXX LPx2 / CD". ebullition.com; Retrieved May 27, 2008
