A recent and relatively inflammatory conversation with an extremely stubborn friend of mine the other day resulted in my addressing a serious question. Why do normal kids hate Emo music?
Let me set the scene straight away. I am NOT an Emo in my own mind. I guess it depends on what each individual classifies Emo, but I don't cut myself or wear eyeliner or all black or whatever. Sure I get upset, but don't all teenagers? About as Emo as I get is my taste in music.
So I'm idling on MSN while writing an essay and some Taking Back Sunday or Brand New song or something like that pops up on my iTunes and immediately this friend of mine begins ripping into me for my choice of aural pleasure
.
While I'm in assessment mode I guess I'll structure this logically. There are practically three schools of thought when it comes to Emo music and the term Emo in general. Firstly you have your 'Town Hall Steps' Emo kids who mope around in way too much eyeliner, cutting themselves and taking all sorts of literal meaning out of Emo songs. Secondly there are the 'Normal' kids who think Emos are faggots, that their music lacks all sorts of lyrical substance and is a direct message with typical melodic shapes that attract and exploit teenagers with raging hormones for profit. Thirdly, which is where I sit, there are the kids who wear whatever they want and aren't bound by the stereotypes that are sadly associated with the music, don't get depressed 100% of the time and derive their own meanings from the songs.
My job for my friend was to convince him that the 1st type of Emo Music listener and the 3rd type of Emo Music listener were two different people, and that it wasn't fair to judge the music purely on the image the 1st type presents. I've noticed that alot of the attitudes towards the music from the 2nd type are based on ignorance. People look at Emos and are instantly repelled. The whole trend with Emo as a concept is to be sad all the time and revel in that sadness (usually for attention). Everybody hates attention seekers right? I think its important for people to not judge the music purely on what they see at Town Hall, however I can easily see why people would. Also the directness of popular (and as much as it pains me to say this...) Emo bands like Simple Plan, with words like "I'm sorry I can't be perfect" doesn't help.
The music in itself is relatively simple, and is derived from Punk Rock and Grunge. Obviously, depending on the song, this varies, but its generally the case. The vocal melody/ies are rather complex and there's often more to the lyrical content than meets the stereotypical eye. The statement that Emo musicians are talentless frauds aimed at exploitation of teenagers is much more than often not the case, and looking at most genuine Emo bands you'll find they rarely dress like the 1st type of Emo.
After reading his statements such as:
I ask him (and you...if you're still not convinced) whether it would be fair for me to base my entire opinion of Nirvana upon what I see of 14 year old girls with manicures, streaks in their hair and Nirvana posters in their bedrooms. I think not.
Next time you make a broad, general statement of Emo music, think that there are people other than shitty Town Hall Steps Emos who listen to it, and get something out of it rather than just "I want to cut myself and die".
Let me set the scene straight away. I am NOT an Emo in my own mind. I guess it depends on what each individual classifies Emo, but I don't cut myself or wear eyeliner or all black or whatever. Sure I get upset, but don't all teenagers? About as Emo as I get is my taste in music.
So I'm idling on MSN while writing an essay and some Taking Back Sunday or Brand New song or something like that pops up on my iTunes and immediately this friend of mine begins ripping into me for my choice of aural pleasure
.While I'm in assessment mode I guess I'll structure this logically. There are practically three schools of thought when it comes to Emo music and the term Emo in general. Firstly you have your 'Town Hall Steps' Emo kids who mope around in way too much eyeliner, cutting themselves and taking all sorts of literal meaning out of Emo songs. Secondly there are the 'Normal' kids who think Emos are faggots, that their music lacks all sorts of lyrical substance and is a direct message with typical melodic shapes that attract and exploit teenagers with raging hormones for profit. Thirdly, which is where I sit, there are the kids who wear whatever they want and aren't bound by the stereotypes that are sadly associated with the music, don't get depressed 100% of the time and derive their own meanings from the songs.
My job for my friend was to convince him that the 1st type of Emo Music listener and the 3rd type of Emo Music listener were two different people, and that it wasn't fair to judge the music purely on the image the 1st type presents. I've noticed that alot of the attitudes towards the music from the 2nd type are based on ignorance. People look at Emos and are instantly repelled. The whole trend with Emo as a concept is to be sad all the time and revel in that sadness (usually for attention). Everybody hates attention seekers right? I think its important for people to not judge the music purely on what they see at Town Hall, however I can easily see why people would. Also the directness of popular (and as much as it pains me to say this...) Emo bands like Simple Plan, with words like "I'm sorry I can't be perfect" doesn't help.
The music in itself is relatively simple, and is derived from Punk Rock and Grunge. Obviously, depending on the song, this varies, but its generally the case. The vocal melody/ies are rather complex and there's often more to the lyrical content than meets the stereotypical eye. The statement that Emo musicians are talentless frauds aimed at exploitation of teenagers is much more than often not the case, and looking at most genuine Emo bands you'll find they rarely dress like the 1st type of Emo.
After reading his statements such as:
- "Its like punk but without the manliness"
- "Its self absorbed"
- "theres no lyrical substance or lyical analysis involved"
- "yeah, and im talking like they don't have any talent, and that they are exploiting the feelings of a generation"
- "Of course all music is about reaching out, but emo is about reaching out in the most simplistic of ways"
I ask him (and you...if you're still not convinced) whether it would be fair for me to base my entire opinion of Nirvana upon what I see of 14 year old girls with manicures, streaks in their hair and Nirvana posters in their bedrooms. I think not.
Next time you make a broad, general statement of Emo music, think that there are people other than shitty Town Hall Steps Emos who listen to it, and get something out of it rather than just "I want to cut myself and die".
