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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.
"Hey Emos, you're never going to get a date if you keep wearing that same black hoodie every day."
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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.
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.
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A word used to describe someone who typically listens to rock music, wears all black, and usually has black hair.
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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.
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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.
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The next generation of mass marketed personality. Like all those fads before it, the naive audience too swept up in temporary acceptance, beleive will last forever. No fad ever maintains its "identity" past the time it takes for one to grow up and look back on childhood pictures and see what a tool they were. Anyone who beleives emo is anything more than a marketing device is too ignorant to search for their real identity. As of late, the "technology generation" has subconciously accepted their place as a demographic, and willingly accept the exploitation and leadership by psuedo music artists and fasion designers.
Bobby: Me and my girlfriend broke up, i think im going to kill myself in a wild, dramatic car accident, if only my eyes weren't too fogged with tears.
Grown-up: You want something to cry about, try being $300 in debt, and $500 behind on cable/gas/electric bills. All the while being asked for dollars and ciggarettes by some urban trash on the way to your apartment.
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Emo is a fashion for young white people Bought on by Low Self Esteem.
Teenagers sometimes get low self esteem, and they don't understand why, Because it is Sub Conscious. Instead of figuring out how to Love Themselves again, and be happy, They cover themselves in a Modern, Young Goth Fashion. They hang with people who have the same self esteem issue, Thinking they are the only people who "Understand" them,
They don't even understand themselves.
Emos don't want you judging them (Even though they demand perfection with their make up and hair, Spending hours in the mirror making it look perfect.)
It's hard to not judge an Emo, When they are labeling themselves,
And when they want to be "Individuals", Even though they all listen to the same music, They all dress the same, Do their hair the same and talk the same way.
And when they want to be "Non Conformists", even though they all act the same way, They Non Conform by Wearing Black and Make Up, But When It Becomes The Point of a Fashion, Then you're conforming all over again.
When You "Judge" an Emo, They are hurt on the inside, And they feel that if they wear black, That can somehow protect them from being labeled, But nobody is easier to label than an Emo
"I'm an Emo, I'm not a boy, I'm not a person, I'm an Emo, so I'm judging myself but you mustn't judge me.
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