NationStates Jolt Archive

All the students I teach refer to each other as emo, sometimes as an insult. I want to know what emo is. I'm curious, and can't be bothered doing a google search myself.

I've wondered that myself. :confused:

For all great questions we turn to wiki for the answer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo

The first two should be what you're looking for.

Emo is a cross between "Punk" and "Nerd"

http://faimao.blogspot.com/2004/11/all-emo-all-time.html

When I'm not playing pirate here I am Fai Mao

All the students I teach refer to each other as emo, sometimes as an insult. I want to know what emo is. I'm curious, and can't be bothered doing a google search myself.
It started as a style of music, coming from the word Emotional. If you have heard of Dashboard Confessional, he is quite "emo". It is basically music that roots itself in the hardcore rock scene, but adds in an emotional quality, often about heartache and angst. The typical dress has become salvation army clothes, large black square plastic frame glasses, tight pants, side bags rather than backpacks, military hats, tight shirts, vintage style, pins and buttons, that kinda thing.

Well, they insist this isn't Emo (http://www.anythingmatters.com/img-comedy/emo_philips_color.gif), but I don't believe them.

Thanks to all those who replied. So basically, it's kids having emotional angst and expressing it? And a fashion trend?

So should I be on top of kids calling each other emo? Like, is it an insult? We do have a small but significant bullying problem at the school...

Thanks to all those who replied. So basically, it's kids having emotional angst and expressing it? And a fashion trend?

It's more emotional angst expressed as a fashion trend. In my experience, Emo kids are usually rich and have pretty much everything they ever wanted.

So should I be on top of kids calling each other emo? Like, is it an insult? We do have a small but significant bullying problem at the school...

Don't bother.

Emo kids are suburbans youth who is middle class to rich on the social-economic scale. They have no real worries, no real problems, but they like to pretend they do. They like to pretend that they are deep tortured souls and that why they wear black. It's just another form of Goth, except goth kids were kinda cool, at least at my school they were.

I am also a teacher and I probably wouldn't worry about it. It isn't that huge an insult. I've certainly been called much worse. The word for a non-Chinese in China who isn't black is "Gweilow" it means devil or ghost. Quite insulting. But the taxi drivers will address me as "Mr. Gweilow" I'd personally veiw being called "Mr. Emo" as an improvement.

I also think that kids kind of need to learn to deal with that kind of thing without to much help.

...the taxi drivers will address me as "Mr. Gweilow"

Wow. What's with those people?

Thanks to all those who replied. So basically, it's kids having emotional angst and expressing it? And a fashion trend?

So should I be on top of kids calling each other emo? Like, is it an insult? We do have a small but significant bullying problem at the school...
I wouldn't worry about it. It isn't so much a bully thing as a friendly banter kinda thing

Emo is a cross between "Punk" and "Nerd"

http://faimao.blogspot.com/2004/11/all-emo-all-time.html

When I'm not playing pirate here I am Fai Mao

I always thought "Mod" was Punk + Nerd, and Emo was Punk + Whiney little brat.

Emo kids are suburbans youth who is middle class to rich on the social-economic scale. They have no real worries, no real problems, but they like to pretend they do. They like to pretend that they are deep tortured souls and that why they wear black. It's just another form of Goth, except goth kids were kinda cool, at least at my school they were.

Yep, that's it.

emo kids are the ones that listen to heavy "emo-core" music... stuff like In Flames, Dashboard Confessional, Thrice, to name a few. In my experiance, they are the ones who come from either a fairly well off background but crave and need attention paid to them. Or they are from a relativly worse off background and crave and need attention paid to them. They often use extreme methods such as self harm, and violent emotional moodswings to get attention.

Emos are the ones that do it because its cool. They do it because everyone else is doing it, or because they generally like the music and/or the fashion side of it.

I think that it isn't serious bullying, but more like a social group segragation, like chavs/scallies/scunners etc. opposed to moshers/goths/meal heads etc.

It could turn into a more serious problem if it is let to escalate, the emo kids that get bullied will actually then become even more depressed and actually try to self harm in an extremly serious way (suicide, overdose).

emo kids are the ones that listen to heavy "emo-core" music... stuff like In Flames, Dashboard Confessional, Thrice, to name a few.

Metal, indie rock and pop punk aren't emo.

Emo is a subgenre of hardcore, think bands like Orchid and Saetia and Planes Mistaken For Stars.

Somewhere along the development of emo a few of the bands started playing really poppy songs and stopped being emo, thus the name started getting applied to pop-punk songs about getting dumped and whiny indie rock and all sorts of wide ranging sad, barely even emo influenced alternative rock.

I chose some bad examples....

It's good to see the youth of today carrying on the old tradtions of dividing themselves over meaningless abstractions about popular music. And then tormenting each other.

Reminds me of the Skins v. Brolly Boys in the 70s. *sniff*.

I chose some bad examples....

No, you're ignorant about underground music like most people, including the kids who go around saying they're 'emo'.

It could turn into a more serious problem if it is let to escalate, the emo kids that get bullied will actually then become even more depressed and actually try to self harm in an extremly serious way (suicide, overdose).
Hopefully, some will succeed and rid us of their drudgery. Then there are those who consider themselves judge and jury of what qualifies for underground music. Any band who makes it somewhere "sold out" and isn't (insert music type here). Gotta love FIF's Handbook for the sellout:

You found a way to draw a line,
between the world, and you
Faking your idenity, it's true.
Did you think the word "alternative",
was only meant for the likes of you?
Do you think that they're too cool now?
Being popular is lame.
You're the one who made them popular,
all their songs are still the same.

You found them first,
it made you stand apart, you know?
But then everyone jumped on the same bandwagon,
making you an average Joe,
A lemming for the mediocre,
you were just a plain old joker status quo.
Blame it on the band now.
If you prick them do they bleed?
What's the point in playing what they want,
if you won't let them succed?

Do you remember where we all came from?
Do you remember what it's all about?
When you made a point to be objective,
before you started writing Handbook for the Sellout?

You sunk your worth in being different,
just to be like your own kind.
You traded in objectiveness,
for the underground you follow blind.

No, you're ignorant about underground music like most people, including the kids who go around saying they're 'emo'.
The problem is, like grunge, it became more of a fashion trend than a musical style in the eyes of people.

There's one more thing never, ever to be brought up with religion and politics. That's genres of music. Just avoid it. You will be destroyed.

I always thought "Mod" was Punk + Nerd, and Emo was Punk + Whiney little brat.

I could be wrong. I have been before.

I could be wrong. I have been before.

Same here. ;)

I was hopeing to clear up my confusion. After I get Emo and Mod down, I'm going to hammer away at Ska.

:confused: ok, so is Emo like Goth? or are they different. and if so, how?

:confused: ok, so is Emo like Goth? or are they different. and if so, how?
Emos must not melt in sunlight.

http://www.somethingdirectory.com/main_emo.htm

20 minutes long, but well worth it.

:confused: ok, so is Emo like Goth? or are they different. and if so, how?

No, not at all.

Goth music is slow and sad.

Emo is screamy and usually chaotic.

Popcore is whiny pop-punk with a bit of hardcore and metal added to it.

Just for future reference, where would you classify the scum that is Green Day?

There's one more thing never, ever to be brought up with religion and politics. That's genres of music. Just avoid it. You will be destroyed.
Ahem.

Just for future reference, where would you classify the scum that is Green Day?

poprock/poppunk

Something with pop

Metal, indie rock and pop punk aren't emo.

Emo is a subgenre of hardcore, think bands like Orchid and Saetia and Planes Mistaken For Stars.

Careful now, or you and I will end up getting all dewy-eyed over bands like Moss Icon again.


EDIT:

Pseudo-elitist footnote: ah well, the mainstream will never be able to take bands like Born Against, Pleasent Valley Children, Buzzoven or Rorschach away from us. Having said that it is interesting to speculate how the world would look now if hatecore had ended up being The Next Big Thing instead of emo...

Just for future reference, where would you classify the scum that is Green Day?

Ex-underground pop punk gone corporate. Regardless of the actual facts of the matter, their putting Lookout! records out of business hardly helped their public image with the people who helped them on the way up.

God I must be getting old to not have heard of this genre, or any of those bands before.

No, you're ignorant about underground music like most people, including the kids who go around saying they're 'emo'.

The problem there is taht you're either part of it when it happens, and listening to the releases and reading the zines as they come out or you have to wait till all the innovators turn forty, get podgy and sit down to write books about their salad days (all viewed through somewhat rose-tinted glasses, of course) - witness the recent increase in documentary sources covering the 80s hardcore scene. There is probably more information out there about it than there has been for twenty years.

Just for future reference, where would you classify the scum that is Green Day?

"Scum" pretty much says it all.

I get the impression British emo is siognificantly dfferent to the American concept, in that it is more overt, however, do not make the mistake of classifying it as a music genre, since that is but a facet of a culture that includes: fashion
hair
conversation
vocabulary
perspective

and other elements

Emos are people who aren't very good at life so hide behind a RIDICULOUS insular culture to gain some very lame props amongst fellow losers and try and kid themselves that they don't suck so hard. However, in doing so, they simply bring more attention to their rubbishness.

Wow. What's with those people?
Can you say "rampant ethnocentrism," boys and girls? :D

Emos are people who aren't very good at life so hide behind a RIDICULOUS insular culture to gain some very lame props amongst fellow losers and try and kid themselves that they don't suck so hard. However, in doing so, they simply bring more attention to their rubbishness.

Hence why I am so superbly talented at, actually, everything.....

Ah so that's what an 'Emo' is! I'm a teenager and I've always wondered what that was... Then again we don't use that term where I'm from! Thanks, teacher, your thread taught me something new!

I still use "emo" as an abbreviation for Emotional Hardcore [music]. It's subgenre of Hardcore Punk which itself is a subgenre of Punk.

ok first of all ive read what youve said and id like to point out one little difference,
emo kids and scene kids.

emo kids are the thrift store, heavy reading geeky type of kids who are actually emotionally challenged, normally the chord and woolly jumper types.

scene kids however are a total new thing that most people get confused with emo, scene kids are the all black black eyeliner and pink eyeshadow types, skinny black jeans or recently drainpipes, with black everything else, the big fringed hair and lots of black and blonde dye.
the scene part of it comes from the idea that theres nothing wrong with these people, they are the rich kids, there parents get them everyhting they want but the still act depressed, wear the black and basically do it for the scene, alot of them dont even listen to emo, or emo-core alot these days are more into metal however i still beleive the roots are similar although the emo kids wanted a real "scene" rather thanjust looky geeky perhaps?

not sure if thats how it is in the states, thats a UK perspective.

sam

ps im a scene/emo kidjust shedding some light.

Hence why I am so superbly talented at, actually, everything.....

Sorry, I can't tell if that's sarcasm or whatever if I don't know anything about you :)

Are you an emo?

I am also a teacher and I probably wouldn't worry about it. It isn't that huge an insult. I've certainly been called much worse. The word for a non-Chinese in China who isn't black is "Gweilow" it means devil or ghost. Quite insulting. But the taxi drivers will address me as "Mr. Gweilow" I'd personally veiw being called "Mr. Emo" as an improvement.

Damn, that sucks. Well, at least I know not to bother going to China.

From what I've heard and read, emo is probably no better than any other kind of popular music. If what I've seen is correct, it is basically whiny punk music.

All the students I teach refer to each other as emo, sometimes as an insult. I want to know what emo is. I'm curious, and can't be bothered doing a google search myself.
Click this link for a film on how to be emo.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-412302931332188859&q=How+to+be+emo

Here's a suburban high schoolers perspective:

I have friends that refer to kids as "emo" in somewhat derogratory ways and I'm assuming this is basically the same thing you're seeing. When somebody says another person is "emo" they're saying that person is on the "emo" scene. I would say most "emo" kids actually do listen to some of the music. Most "emo" kids have either dark hair or bleach highlights or parts of their hair dyed red/blue/purple. "Emo" kids are mainly suburban kids and the majority of them are well off financially (not all though, this doesn't have much to do with it, really). They don't neccesarily where black clothes but guys will where tight shirts and tight pants. A lot of "emo" kids where converse shoes. Also, black-rimmed glasses are popular with "emo" kids.

That's basically what I've seen. I listen to some so-called "emo" bands like Something Corporate, The Starting Line and Coheed And Cambria but I am definetly not on the "emo" scene.

I listen to some so-called "emo" bands like Something Corporate, The Starting Line and Coheed And Cambria but I am definetly not on the "emo" scene.

The Starting Line and Something Corporate are poppy-punk bands. Coheed are hard to define but I have referred to them as emo in the past.

The Starting Line and Something Corporate are poppy-punk bands. Coheed are hard to define but I have referred to them as emo in the past.

Very simply, and from a scene perspective, Coheed are awful.

are you an emo blessed christopher?

I wear tight trousers or 'drainpipes' sometimes (and yes, they are black), i like my black hoodie and most of my tshirts are black or grey and old, and i paint my nails black sometimes. I listen to the likes of AFI, offspring, less than jake and RHCP, so it sounds like im turning emo, but unintentionally. I always thought of myself as a hardcore punk without much of the attitude.

Gimme the news, am i turning emo?

p.s. i think the combover or 'seagull' hair look is ridiculous.

both of the videos posted on this forum about how to be emo are correct, that is if your going for the orrigional emo kid look highly emotional and an all round whiny geeky kid who wants a way to attract girls, but in the UK that emo image is pretty much obsolete, for a good example of emo scene this is my freinds myspace account,

www.myspace.com/deathplease_

i have a feeling this will be drastically different to what some people her see as emo.

my myspace is here, again im normally described as emo, or scene
(he says sitting at home dying his hair for the 2nd time this month)

www.myspace.co.uk/foreverdarkened

and socially reject peop, i dont think your turning emo, as most of your bands are still either ska or punk, if anything your turning scene which is the majority of "emo people" these days as most are not depressed or striaght edge despite that being a punk movement, and emo having its roots in punk, perhaps your just a symbol of the transition?

if your crying now i said that though you may be emo lol

are you an emo blessed christopher?

Maybe, I love irony

Just for future reference, where would you classify the scum that is Green Day?

Green Day are Neo-Punk. That is not to say Neo Nazis, because most Neo Nazis are in fact Punks. No they are Neo-Punks.
Green Day like to think that they're "punk" but are in reality just pop rock really, I don't really know how to say it.

If you are interested, I regard real Punk music as bands such as The Clash (Vintage Punk), Sham 69(Oi Punk), Crass, The Toy Dolls (comedy Punk with a little rock), The Dead Kennedys (many may disagree with me on this but I like them) etc etc. Punk really started as a British thing in the 70s, as did (good) Old Metal like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath etc.

A lot of people mistakenly think Blink 182, Good Charlotte (:mp5: ), Taking Back Sunday (:gundge: ) are Punk. These bands are really just pop rock with a little fake, EVIL, DEGRADED punk thrown in.

Just for future reference, where would you classify the scum that is Green Day?
Successful.

Pseudo-elitist footnote: ah well, the mainstream will never be able to take
And therein lies my point. Why is it so important that a large volume of people don't like the same music as you? Why is it the same band you'd talk up before they have that huge single you'll completely disown as a result of people actually buying their records? Call me back asswards, but if you spend so much time preaching about how awesome certain bands are, shouldn't you be EXCITED that other people start going "oh yeah, they are cool." What am I missing?:confused:

And therein lies my point. Why is it so important that a large volume of people don't like the same music as you? Why is it the same band you'd talk up before they have that huge single you'll completely disown as a result of people actually buying their records? Call me back asswards, but if you spend so much time preaching about how awesome certain bands are, shouldn't you be EXCITED that other people start going "oh yeah, they are cool." What am I missing?:confused:

I know how you feel. But when people start saying that they first discovered the band after you told them about it, then you have the right to get pissed off.

And therein lies my point. Why is it so important that a large volume of people don't like the same music as you? Why is it the same band you'd talk up before they have that huge single you'll completely disown as a result of people actually buying their records? Call me back asswards, but if you spend so much time preaching about how awesome certain bands are, shouldn't you be EXCITED that other people start going "oh yeah, they are cool." What am I missing?:confused:

Nah: I don't mind bands becoming accepted and successful: what irritates me is when they are used as the blueprint for a hundred corporate-guided clones with little or no ingenuity or inventiveness of their own. This is unfortunately the way the music industry works. The sound which was once unique to a band or scene then becomes the model for a multitude of watered down attempts to recapture the same spark that the innovators possessed. That's what irks me: what once stood alone becomes drowned in a sea of pale imitations.

Nah: I don't mind bands becoming accepted and successful: what irritates me is when they are used as the blueprint for a hundred corporate-guided clones with little or no ingenuity or inventiveness of their own. The sound which was once unique to a band or scene then becomes the model for a multitude of watered down attempts to recapture the same spark that the innovators possessed. That's what irks me: what once stood alone becomes drowned in a sea of imitators.

i.e. Ninety-nine percent of everything is shit.

i.e. Ninety-nine percent of everything is shit.

Sturgeon's Law.

Uh...my perception of emo was just that they wear black a lot, and listen to depressing songs a lot. That's pretty simple, but it's how I always thought. Nothing against amos though, to each their own. :) Plus my perception is undoubtedly wrong. :p

Look up "emo song" on google and listen to it.

Also, look up the song "Untitled (How Could this happen to me?)" by Simple Plan. Then add black eyeliner, transsexualism (except emos are one step below trannies), and an upper middle class background and you have an emo kid.

Uh...my perception of emo was just that they wear black a lot, and listen to depressing songs a lot.

Are nuns emo?

Are nuns emo?

Good point.

I'm going to ask my local sister if she like MCR when I see her for Easter.

Referees are definitely emo.

:headbang: Mostly emo to me is from what I hear people who listen to bands like Greenday and others I dont kno of. I also heard emo people cut them selves ( I beleve not sure) and I kno they hate their life and want to die so calling some one emo is a insult mostly.

Green Day is by no means "Emo", even with the release of American Idiot, they are still firmly in the punk genre.

Damn, that sucks. Well, at least I know not to bother going to China.


From what I can gather, even though gwai lou literally means "devil/ghost/spirit man", it's meaning these days is really more akin to foriegn fellow.

It's not until you hear baak gui, that you know you're being insulted.

Black people are usually just haak gui. Very rude.

Emo is crappy music based on the work os staind and a handfull of lesser known acts that just whine and cry. Its the new Cure or Morrisey with a little goth thrown in for "color"

I'll give you an example of emo. Simple plan.

This (http://www.emorangers.com/) is emo at it's funniest.

Can I go ahead and say All-American Rejects and Fall-Out Boy suck?

its what you get when you combine good indie music with good punk music, poop. some emo is good, but most of it is just intended to make money and make depressed kids feel even worse.

what ever happened to rich kids falling into opium dens drinking absinthe, taking Laudanum or smoking opium while listening to Berlioz

what ever happened to rich kids falling into opium dens drinking absinthe, taking Laudanum or smoking opium while listening to Berlioz
the 20th century.

Green Day is by no means "Emo", even with the release of American Idiot, they are still firmly in the punk genre.
eh...they don't even particularly lable themselves punk anymore.

For all street definitions, we turn to urbandictionary.com.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=emo

And, since no emo thread would be complete without these (and I hate Fall out boy with a mad violent passion):

Taa (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1651997757427874922&q=fall+out) daa (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7063184703391552486&q=fall+out) !!! (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1789471333657004435&q=fall+out) !!! (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8012135219179302819&q=fall+out) !!! (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4890324024926378754&q=fall+out)

And, since no emo thread would be complete without these (and I hate Fall out boy with a mad violent passion):

Taa (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1651997757427874922&q=fall+out) daa (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7063184703391552486&q=fall+out) !!! (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1789471333657004435&q=fall+out) !!! (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8012135219179302819&q=fall+out) !!! (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4890324024926378754&q=fall+out)
haha...okay, I like fallout boy, but those are always classic.

Q: What exactly is Emo?

A: This. (http://www.emooil.com/)

What exactly is Emo?
I dont know/I dont care..

But I Found their Web page for you.. (happy reading..and good luck)
http://www.emo-hannover.de/homepage_e?x=1

The problem there is taht you're either part of it when it happens, and listening to the releases and reading the zines as they come out or you have to wait till all the innovators turn forty, get podgy and sit down to write books about their salad days (all viewed through somewhat rose-tinted glasses, of course) - witness the recent increase in documentary sources covering the 80s hardcore scene. There is probably more information out there about it than there has been for twenty years.

Hey, Henry Garfield has bills to pay. :p

Can I go ahead and say All-American Rejects and Fall-Out Boy suck?

permission denied

...

"we're going down, down in an earlier round
and sugar, we're going down swinging
i'll be your number one with a bullet
a loaded god complex, cock it and pull it"

"swing, swing, swing
from the tangles of my heart
is crushed by a former love
can you help me find a way
to carry on again?"

:D

Can I go ahead and say All-American Rejects and Fall-Out Boy suck?

permission denied

...

"we're going down, down in an earlier round
and sugar, we're going down swinging
i'll be your number one with a bullet
a loaded god complex, cock it and pull it"

"swing, swing, swing
from the tangles of my heart
is crushed by a former love
can you help me find a way
to carry on again?"

:D

Emo is crappy music based on the work os staind and a handfull of lesser known acts that just whine and cry. Its the new Cure or Morrisey with a little goth thrown in for "color"

The Cure is goth, you tit.

Can I go ahead and say All-American Rejects and Fall-Out Boy suck?

Yes, yes you may. Additionally, I am compelled to remind, they're not emo.

Q: What exactly is Emo?

A: This. (http://www.emooil.com/)

Taken from the pimples of many thousands of ugly teenage emos.

I got a question. Let's say there is a person who dress like an emo, but has real problems, like dysfunctional family, etc. Would he still be emo?

:headbang: All the students I teach refer to each other as emo, sometimes as an insult. I want to know what emo is. I'm curious, and can't be bothered doing a google search myself.

a bunch of whiney little brats...:headbang:

permission denied

...

"we're going down, down in an earlier round
and sugar, we're going down swinging
i'll be your number one with a bullet
a loaded god complex, cock it and pull it"

"swing, swing, swing
from the tangles of my heart
is crushed by a former love
can you help me find a way
to carry on again?"

:D


can i give you some cheese with that whine?

can i give you some cheese with that whine?


hold me/thrill me/kiss me....not cut your wrists cause daddy got you a jag instead of a benz.:cool:

hold me/thrill me/kiss me....not cut your wrists cause daddy got you a jag instead of a benz.:cool:

LOL!