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This counterculture of music that derives its roots from emo music is often a tight-knit musical community, due to the nature of the lyrics and connotation that comes with a label like screamo. An aggressive offshoot of emo, screamo still keeps to the emotional tone of emo music but uses more screaming and distortion, leaning more towards hardcore than punk or indie. First developed in 1991, many of the first musical leaders of the genre saw themselves as political, and the lyrics reflectived that. Some bands saw themselves with theoretical inspiration, like Nietschze, backing their lyrics and emotions. The lyrics from screamo bands are often screamed or spoken over metal or progressive riffs, the lyrics being pure emotion. To that degree, some might argue that the typically-labeled hardcore band Hatebreed might qualify as screamo, with their hardcore riffs and screamed emotion.
Some of the early bands, like Circle Takes The Square, Orchid and The Blood Brothers, ultimately paved the way for modern screamo bands such as Thursday and Alexisonfire, which take a slower type of style that seems to be primarily borrowed from alternative rock. Ballads are not uncommon in screamo bands, and there is more focus on harmony and resonance and less on dissonant chords and electronic sounds.
While many people will be tempted to criticize screamo as being anything but emotional, they need to ultimately remember that emo originally evolved from hardcore rock and punk, and that screamo is basically playing the “old school” style of emo rock, or emocore. While some say that screamo can be considered a more pretentious style of music, that’s a point that inevitably arguable.
Going one step further, some emo and scene kids have taken to labeling bands as screamocore, which would be a blend of emo, screamo and hardcore. Bands like Evergreen Terrace, Underoath and Escaping Memory have been especially prone to garnering this label, which seems to have started somewhere in the Midwest part of the United States.
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There are some things that are always characteristically considered part of the emo genre and culture - skinny girl jeans and pants, crazy hair, weird shoes and band-tshirts. But there are some trends that are emerging among the emo scene that are more of an accessory to the style.
Among women, hair accessories are really a hot item, from funky headbands to little-kid clips and bows. If you can add a skull and crossbones somewhere on the accessory, all the better. Any hair item in bright red, black and white or pink is almost a sure bet, because they go with so many of the emo culture colors. Rubber bracelets are also hot right now, in black, silver, purple or red. The more the better, since they’re meant to be worn in multiples to begin with.
Messenger bags or backpacks are also becoming increasingly popular, and the more pins and patches you can fit on, the better off you’ll be. Since emo culture tends towards darker colors, bags in black, red, pink or olive green are an in item, and are usually decorated with items from emo bands or things that reflect the culture, like tattoos. Band shirts are a really essential part of the emo wardrobe, and you can never have too many. Pair a band t-shirt with skinny jeans and Chucks or any brands of skate shoes, and youve got the everyday emo outfit. Complete with hair bows, lots of makeup (if you’re a woman), emo hairstyle and jewelry, and you’re off to face the day as an emo kid.
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Russia started working on legislation last year that will make it illegal to be an emo in their country. They want to regulate websites that promote the emo culture and are wanting to ban emo and goth culture clothing in schools. Fueling this leglislative action is a fear that the dangerous trend of emo culture provides a negative impact and glorifies suicide and anti-social behavior. Masses of emo kids protested this outrageous band, and were backed by Russian emo band MAIO, which said that “expressing psychological emotions is not forbidden by law.”
Early last year, a wave of violence against emo kids was spreading across Mexico and was allegedly coming from hardcore, metal and punk kids that didn’t like the look or attitude of emo kids. About 800 people joined arms against emo fans which resulted in many violent attacks, and later in 2008, the same thing happened in Mexico City. Both times, it was reported that the emo fans marched peacepully down the street amid the attacks. The same year, Chile broadcast an assault on emos by skinheads who didn’t care for their music or attitude, as well.
In keeping with the negative connotation that comes from the emo subculture, a teenage girl in the UK killed herself last year by hanging herself from her bunkbed with a tie, believing that her death would impress followers of the emo movement in the UK. Thought to be a bright, fun-loving girl on the outside, the girl was apparently harboring an emotional nature inside, even going so far as to cut her wrists. None of the girl’s teachers had any issues with her in school, and her parents were oblivious to the inner turmoil of their daughter until she died. The teenager, 13, left a suicide note on her social networking page, Bebo, using the screen name “Living Disaster.”
In 2007, a news channel in Salt Lake City, Utah ran a program about emo culture that linked it to suicide, depression, cutting and self-mutilation. A reporter said that emo culture is terrorize the youth of Utah, and romanticizes death. While most of the reports were completely unfounded, it suceeded it scaring many parents in the Utah area.
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Emo hair is a big part of the emo culture, and that’s a big indicator of what sets someone apart as being part of the emo world. For men, bangs are a big part of the hairstyle, which means they’re usually long and sweeping, coming from hair that’s generally got a deep part on one side - it’s unusual to see an emo boy with emo hair that’s parted down the middle of is super short anymore.
Hair bangs can be super spiky, trailing down the side of the face, or spiky in front of the eyes. Or, they can sweep across the forehead and eyes, starting from the deep part on the opposite side. Hair can also be super spiky in the back and longer in the front with the same spiky bangs, or spiky and short on one side of the head and longer on the other, with either the sweeping side part bangs or the spiky variety. Color for this type of emo hairstyle tends to be black only, although highlights have become popular even among the men of the emo culture. Blonde highlights are still a good choice, or dark brown hair with blonde or red highlights. If the emo girl hair is blonde, black or dark brown highlights are becoming increasingly popular, too. The haircut is most often asymmetrical and uneven, with short choppy layers and texture.
And that’s just for the men, although hairstyles for emo women are quite similar, as far as the bangs and uneven cut go. A popular look for emo girls is to have long even bangs that go straight across the forehead and are one solid color, while the rest of the hair is another, like black bangs and blonde hair. Bangs are still a prominent feature for girls, and they still tend to the long and sweeping or short and spiky, like with the men. Long pieces of uneven hair that frame the face are almost a must-have for any emo hairstyle, and that the rest is messy and looks uncared-for is a given.
Since emo hairstyles isn’t one of exact science, you don’t really need a professional hairdresser to help you achieve the style you want, or even the cut you really desire. You can even cut the hair yourself, or have a friend do it for you. Buzz it short in the back but have it long and spiky in the front, or leave it long in the front or all over but add short, choppy layers to give the hair depth and messiness. Color it black or streak it with maroon or pink highlights, or razor it on the ends for a spiky, ragged look. The good thing about the style of emo haircuts is that they can be customized to reflect the wearer’s personality in a bunch of different ways, so there’s no right or wrong way to style an emo haircut.
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Banyak temen kita yang hobi musik niat banget bikin band emo. Genre (kalo boleh disebut sebuah genre) itu memang lagi rame belakangan ini. Coba simak, lagu-lagu dari Dashboard Confessional, Finch, atau My Chemical Romance (MCR) sering banget diputar di radio.
Nah, nggak salah dong kalo sebagian dari kita atau temen kita lantas pengen ikutan mainin emo? Toh ngeband kan hak asasi semua manusia (apa sih?).
Tapi, supaya nggak tanggung, mending kita tahu dulu beberapa hal sebelum bikin band emo. Biar nggak cupu dan nggak melenceng.
1. Cari personil
Tanyain dulu background musik mereka. Suka denger musik apa? Kalo mereka suka dengerin jazz mending nggak usah diajak. Nggak nyambung soalnya. Terus kalo bisa skill musiknya setara semua. Biar gampang dan nyambung. Kan nggak lucu kalo ada salah satu personil masih basic banget skill-nya.
Terus kalo bisa masing-masing personil punya visi yang nyambung. Ini bisa diliat dari referensi yang dikulik. Kalo ada yang dengerin punk dengan segala turunannya bisa ditarik tuh. Secara akar musik emo bermula dari punk dan hardcore punk.
2. Perkaya referensi musik
Band emo bukan cuma Dashboard Confessional, Finch atau MCR doang. Nih musik nggak ujug-ujug nongol ke muka bumi. Ada evolusinya. Nah supaya asik, mending kita perkaya referensi musik. Emang rada susah nyari musik-musik emo awal. Soalnya band-band yang ikut melahirkan musik ini masuk kategori indie. Karena itu distribusinya terbatas.
Ada beberapa nama yang dikenal sebagai pengusung emo awal (emocore). Misalnya, Rites of Spring, Fugazi, Jawbreaker, atau Fuel. Ciri khasnya adalah: personil band-band ini “mantan” pengusung hardcore punk. Kemudian berevolusi menjadi band pengusung rock dengan orientasi gitar, tempo lagu sedang, dan vokal gaya punk.
Maju dikit, kita bergerak ke style emo. Di sini ada kelompok seperti Shotmaker, Moss Icon, the Hated, Silver Bearings, Native Nod, Merel, Hoover, Evergreen, Navio Forge, Still Life, Shotmaker, Policy of Three, Noneleftstanding, Embassy, Ordination of Aaron, Floodgate atau Four Hundred Years.
3. Pake gear khusus
Beberapa band emo pada fase awal perkembangannya banyak yang memakai alat-alat berkaraketeristik khusus. Kayak gitar Gibson Les Paul, SG, dan amplifier Marshall JCM-800. Ini penting karena sound yang keluar dari alat-alat ini punya signature sound yang cocok banget buat musik emo. Apakah berarti kalo nggak ada alat-alat tersebut kita nggak jadi main musik emo? Ya nggak juga sih. Alat-alat itu cuma bikin style dan emosi yang keluar jadi pol. Kalo punyanya gitar Fender atau Peavey misalnya ya nggak apa-apa juga.
4. Belajar ekspresif
Ekspresif? Ya, betul. Emo kan berasal dari kata “emotional”. Emo adalah sebuah kata yang mewakili berbagai macam gaya turunan punk rock dengan tingkat emosi tinggi. Jadi kalo mau main musik emo, emosi harus dikedepankan. Bukan marah-marah ya, tapi lebih ke penjiwaan yang dalam.
Sekadar contoh aja nih, musik yang keluar bakal lebih ultra-soft, raungan gitar SG atau Gibson, gaya bernyanyi berbisik dan sesekali berteriak. Untuk gitar salah satu gaya yang selalu muncul adalah octave chord.
Kord oktaf tuh kalo di gitar kira-kira kayak begini. Main kord A flat. Satu nada A di fret 5 senar 6 bakal ditemani satu nada A di fret 7 senar 4. Nah itu kord oktaf namanya. Kord oktaf bakal bikin pitcht yang tinggi saat sound gitarnya keluar serta sangat kaya tekstur. Itu sebab gitar Gibson SG plus Marshall JCM-800 combo sering dipake anak-anak emo.
Semuanya ini nggak maksimal kalo penjiwaaan yang keluar dari masing-masing personil cetek. Esensi emo baru keluar kalo band kita mengeluarkan semua emosi yang ada ke dalam musik dan lagu.
5. Bikin lirik yang personal
Salah satu ciri emo yang lain adalah lirik lagu yang sangat personal dan dalam artinya. Nggak harus soal kondisi sosial, kondisi pribadi juga sah-sah aja. Syaratnya cuma satu: emosi kita bener-bener tercurah di sini. Meski kesannya egois, esensi lirik musik emo adalah cerita yang erat banget hubungannya sama kita.
Nah, kalo mau bikin lagu sendiri, pastiin tuh lirik lagu yang kita besut dalem maknanya buat kita. Yang pada akhirnya bikin orang yang denger ikut larut sama cerita lagu. Kita mungkin pernah membatin saat denger sebuah lagu: “Wah nih lagu gue banget nih liriknya!” Nah efek itu yang dicari.
7. Bergaya Emo
Nggak lengkap rasanya kalo mainin emo tapi nggak bergaya emo. Untuk bergaya emo ada beberapa hal yang kudu diperhatiin.
* Kepala. Kalo punya rambut lurus, rambut harus hitam (nggak boleh dicat pirang) di potong lurus disisir menyimpang ke samping lewat jidat. Terus di bagian kuping potong yang tinggi. Sedikit spike juga boleh tuh. Kalo rambut keriting mending dibotakin aja.
* Pake tato bisa jadi pilihan.
* Kalo pake kacamata pastiin frame-nya dari berwarna hitam. Kalo nggak punya, cari aja frame hitam yang tebal. Inget aja kacamata yang dipake River Cuomo-nya Weezer.
* T-shirt warna gelap yang rada kecil. Kalo perlu beli yang buat anak-anak.
* Pake jaket denim corduray
* Cardigan yang rada sempit atau V-neck sweater
* Kalo bernyali pake make-up juga boleh.
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Emo (pronounced /ˈiːmoʊ/) is a style of rock music typically characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore" and pioneered by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace. As the style was echoed by contemporary American punk rock bands, its sound and meaning shifted and changed, blending with pop punk and indie rock and encapsulated in the early 1990s by groups such as Jawbreaker and Sunny Day Real Estate. By the mid 1990s numerous emo acts emerged from the Midwestern and Central United States, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the style.
Emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s with the platinum-selling success of Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional and the emergence of the subgenre "screamo". In recent years the term "emo" has been applied by critics and journalists to a variety of artists, including multiplatinum acts such as Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance and disparate groups such as Coheed and Cambria and Panic at the Disco.
In addition to music, "emo" is often used more generally to signify a particular relationship between fans and artists, and to describe related aspects of fashion, culture, and behavior.
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