could you guys define emo for me? i don't really get the difference at all between emo and punk bands.

well, emo stands for "emtional" or something like that, lol, my friend said that taking back sunday was a good example if that helps... maybe emo means that they sing about the more emotional stuff, dating, relationships, that kind of thing.

No one knows what in the heck emo is anymore...I could try and go into a history of what it used to be...but it's all too complicated now. Just assume anything that sort of seems kinda rock kinda punk is todays definition of emo (ie. taking back sunday, yellowcard, slingshot 57, etc.).

no no no. Yellowcard is definitely a punk band. Emo does indeed stand for emotional, but it usually has a high tenor vocalist. Ever heard of further seems forever, cool hand luke, dashboard confessional, the juliana theory? Those are all emo bands.


p.s. The bands that I listed I love!

ohhh okay...sweet man...i think i'm slowly getting it now...

lol! Yellowcard...punk...pfft! You're forgetting wounded, emo means nothing now-a-days. It's changed meaning so many times, everyone has a different definition. But Yellowcard is NOT punk...(ie. Good Charlotte, Blink 182, Simple Plan - punk, Yellowcard - not punk)

lol! Yellowcard...punk...pfft! You're forgetting wounded, emo means nothing now-a-days. It's changed meaning so many times, everyone has a different definition. But Yellowcard is NOT punk...(ie. Good Charlotte, Blink 182, Simple Plan - punk, Yellowcard - not punk)


how is yellowcard not punk if all those bands you just listed ARE punk?? oh man now i'm just confused all over again...

You kiddin? Yellowcard doesn't sound anything like Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, or Blink 182! Punk has this certain sound, and these whiney vocals, etc. Yellowcard doesn't have that particular sound. They just seem more or less light'ish rock...with a violin. Oh well, this isn't a debate on whether yellowcard is or is not punk. IMO, today's general opinion of what emo is is what yellowcard is, partially. Sort of rock/emo/alternative maybe.

Good Charlotte, Blink 182, Simple Plan - punk

Actually, I wouldn't call THEM punk either. Punk is now such an obsolete term. If anything, those three bands would be considered a pop-punk type of rock, not sheerly punk. Green Day still has the punk ideology on their side though, but they've branched out as well.

Let me see if I can explain this at all. Considering I sort of bear the label of "emo kid." [see website.]

Emo is sort of like Punk in the way that the emotions and beliefs behind the music are more important than the actual music. Emo.. sort of... just really pours out feelings. A lot of the time it deals with relationships, but just feelings in general, really. And "emo kids" are the ones that are super sensitive and cry a lot. Basically.

i agree with you on that statment riz.

I do too. Punk doesn't really exist in the mainstream. It never really has. With the exception of Green Day and Bad Religion. Good Charlotte is about as punk rock as my Britney Spears tshirt.

I do too. Punk doesn't really exist in the mainstream. It never really has. With the exception of Green Day and Bad Religion. Good Charlotte is about as punk rock as my Britney Spears tshirt.

amen fire-inside.

how is yellowcard not punk if all those bands you just listed ARE punk?? oh man now i'm just confused all over again...

When you're thinking of genres it's best to look at where they originated. Genres nowadays are so mixed up. I hate going in my iPod and seeing Marilyn Manson under Blues or even My Chemical Romance under 'Hardcore Punk' or 'General Metal'.

According to Rachel's definition of an emo kid, I'd have to say that sounds like me. :(

That's okay Morgan, I'd like some company in the self pity club.

I do too. Punk doesn't really exist in the mainstream. It never really has. With the exception of Green Day and Bad Religion. Good Charlotte is about as punk rock as my Britney Spears tshirt.

Bad Religion, forgot that one, and I even have a cd...I don't know what you'd call Good Charlotte of not punk, or, at least, "highly influenced by" - punk.

Sure, influenced by, but then what musician isn't nowadays. If you want to call them any kind of punk, they fall to the wayside with [in my opinion, terrible]bands like Sum 41 and Simple Plan in the POP-punk category.

Allmusic.com can't even define Emo very clearly... They just leave you with "Emo is short for emotional." I just ignore the term.

I don't listen to much punk so I'll just stay out of that conversation.

Ever heard of further seems forever, cool hand luke, dashboard confessional, the juliana theory? Those are all emo bands.


p.s. The bands that I listed I love!


cool hand luke = incredibly awesome.

just had to throw that in there.

I actually hate Sum 41 and Simple Plan, personally, though I do enjoy Good Charlotte. But for the topic, I once read a comprehensive history of emo on the net when I was very unclear on what in the heck was going on with that 'genre'...if only I could find that again...

yeah man if you ever do find it sometime soon, inform me.

cool hand luke = incredibly awesome.

just had to throw that in there.

I totally agree with this comment, great band...
and as for emo, dont worry about it the entire system is messed up and last I heard they changes emo bands such as yellowcard and that to bands like good charlette the term emo is moving around and it confusses me just like everyone else on this earth.

I found this emo website before. It was all about emo 'fashion' and real emo 'music'. I'm not sure if it was a joke or not, but some of the bands might be interesting - never heard any of them before. (I'll find the site if you want it)

I stole someone's LJ icon. It's just right.

http://www.livejournal.com/userpic/25075915/1377919

hey yeah hit me up with the site skelfy, i'd like to check it out. thanks man.

Here is the emo site: http://www.fourfa.com/

Yeah, some people call me an emo kid. Oh well. I've been called other things before, like goth, hardcore, punk, whatever.

None of which are true. I'm just so cool I surpass all labels.

edit: That's a pretty cool icon Rachel. Although I bought The Cure's new album - I wasn't impressed. Which is a shame - I love R.S.'s voice. Maybe I should start from the beginning.

LATER edit: I love Dag Nasty and I realized that they categorize them as emo. :-\ SO, you definitely need to check out Dag Nasty's Can I Say and Wig Out at Denkos.

I haven't heard the new Cure album, but when I got into them a couple years ago, I grabbed Staring at the Sea and Galore. They're both just like a collection of the singles mostly. They've got all the familiar ones: Friday I'm in Love, Love Song, Boys Don't Cry, Just Like Heaven. I'd recommend those.

...and now comes more and more confusion with the invention of such genres as "screamo" and such...beats me...music is music...

Here is the emo site: http://www.fourfa.com/


hey thanks, this site is SO helpful!!

Here is the emo site: http://www.fourfa.com/


Hahahaha...doesn't anyone else find this site hilarious, or is just my cruel, mean self? hehe...(I mean, don't get me wrong, I LOVE Emo, hehe...)

hey man i think it's sweet (for all the confused young'ns like myself)...but yeah i do have to agree that it is quite hilarious...i'm loving the hate mail most.

EDIT: i'm talking about the website. i think it's like www.fourca.com or something like that.

??? *looks confused*

I'm off. Bye!

I don't care what the definition of Emo is, all i know is that Emery and Subseven fall into that category, and they ROCK!

God bless, Alien

indeed, emo is a very vague term. But it is really easy to know once you actually listen to an emo band.

yeah i guess so...so hey can you kiddos tell me of some more emo bands, just to make sure i'm still on the right track? oh and tell me both christian and non-christian stuff, cause i'm not sure i know of a whole lot of christian emo bands.

Okay, being very broad about who I list as emo here.

Christian:
Further Seems Forever
Brand New
Fine China
twothirtyeight

Not:
The Cure
The Smiths
Morrissey
Echo and the Bunnymen
Snow Patrol
Matchbook Romance
Iron and Wine
Bright Eyes
Dashboard Confessional

I also have a lot of "screamo" which is stuff like The Used, Thrice, Thursday, My Chemical Romance etc.

brand new is christian??? wow news to me.

is something corporate emo?

Well, I don't know if they are. They're on Tooth and Nail which is generally considered a Christian label. *shrugs*

I don't know much about Something Corporate, so I couldn't really tell you.

yeah i dunno man...tooth and nail doesn't really care about the artists they sign...i know that the juliana theory isn't christian, they just have a belief that if you have "love" you will go somewhere nice. further seems forever used to have some weird views on life too...so yeah i'm quite sure brand new isn't christian...

I don't really care if they are or not. They have amazing music and I freaking love it.

nah i probably wouldn't care either if i liked them...but i'm not so much a fan, but then again i haven't heard a lot of their stuff.

yeah, the list above was good, except the person left out a couple christian emo bands that are frigging awesome: The Juliana Theory and Cool Hand Luke

yeah i dunno man...tooth and nail doesn't really care about the artists they sign...i know that the juliana theory isn't christian, they just have a belief that if you have "love" you will go somewhere nice. further seems forever used to have some weird views on life too...so yeah i'm quite sure brand new isn't christian...


huh... I have never heard that about Juliana Theory. Is it true, or just your opinion?

no one of my friends told me that...i probably wouldnt have believed him except he's REALLY educated in stuff like that...like little known facts about bands and stuff like that...it's most definetly not my opinion, but yeah i've never really know the juliana theory to be all that christian anyways...unless you can correct me. i mean i havent really heard any songs that reflect christianity in any way at all. but please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong, i mean i've never been a big huge juliana theory fan, although i do think they're quite good.

The Juliana Theory is Christian. But only God can truly tell. The majority of people that I talk to say TJT is Christian.

I forget which one it is... but there is a song on "Emotion is Dead" that talks about god directly in a positive way, so I'm thinking that they are christian. They are also on a christian label

yeah i'm sure i'm wrong...but still, don't ever assume that just because they're on a christian label that they're christian...tooth and nail is very lax about who they sign, and they don't really care that much if they're christian or not, as long as they're good people...what about halo friendlies? they never mention God at all...it's very clear that they aren't christian. and mxpx too, they've been around for a long time and i never hear them mention God in their music or otherwise. sure, there are good christian bands signed under tooth and nail, but there are also ones that aren't christian, people just have to open their eyes and realize it for themselves.

by the way, i found this on the juliana theory site on their bio...i dunno if you interpret it as something else, but i see it as them being non-christian...their lead singer Brett Detar said this regarding how they thought of a theme for their new album:
"I started thinking about how the drive for love and the desire for love are the inspiration for everything in the world, both positive and negative," he explains. "I started equating this idea to all kinds of things -why would someone kill, why people become addicted to things, why people turn to religion. Love or the search for love seems like the simple, underlying reason for everything"

i bet i'm way off on this, but my guess was just that they view love as being above everything else. the reason i think this is because they just don't even mention God at all, not just in that quote, but not in the rest of the bio either.

oh, and this doesn't mean i don't like the juliana theory...i think they're so amazing, i just don't think they are a genuine christian band.

Well, the Juliana Theory always seemed ambiguous to me. I mean, they are a great band for anyone looking into some solid emo, seeing as their lyrics are "clean" (and I'm basing this off of the fact that I own 'Emotion is Dead' and 'Understand the Dream is Over.' I do not own 'Love.').

Well, the Juliana Theory always seemed ambiguous to me. I mean, they are a great band for anyone looking into some solid emo, seeing as their lyrics are "clean" (and I'm basing this off of the fact that I own 'Emotion is Dead' and 'Understand this is a Dream.' I do not own 'Love.').