There are many subcultures across society, which are often identified most easily by the related music and fashion, and these include punks, goths and emos. Because these subcultures often evolved from similar beginnings there are bound to be some crossovers, and that's why you can get smaller groups within each one, such as emo punks. To put the word punk to anything means literally to be louder, brasher and more aggressive about everything, so emo punk represents the more rebellious, hardcore side to the emo culture.

The emo culture originally sprang from punk roots, and in the beginning the term was used to describe a more emotionally charged subgenre of hardcore punk in 1980s, usually referred to as 'emocore' with bands like Rites of Spring, Embrace and Moss Icon. In the mid 1990s the term emo become more associated with Indie rock, with bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, which was more melodic and less frenzied than punk rock and emocore. As emo moved into the late 1990's it become more and more accessible to the mainstream, with bands like Weezer producing globally successful albums, and also Deep Elm Records releasing the first instalment in what was to be the defining emo compilation series in the world, the Emo Diaries. In the new millennium emo began to become more and more popular, and artists like Chris Carrabba led the new move towards emo punk pop, a mix of melodic, thought provoking pop and catchy, jangling modern rock tunes. Many people who supported the more independent and less mainstream emo music of the 1980's and 90's resented this new move towards popularity, resulting in a serious rift in the genre and it is generally thought by these purveyors of authentic emo that the new emo punk pop sounds are a commercial sell out, with copy cat bands generated purely to make money. Fall Out Boy and Blink 182 hover on the edge of this debate, with their roots firmly in their emocore, underground backgrounds, but with new worldwide commercial success no doubt putting pressure on their creative direction. Fall Out Boy's recent releases have followed the emo punk pop vibe firmly with thoughtful and catchy rock/pop tunes, but the wider variety of influences in their most recent work (such as collaborations with R&B stars like Kanye West) has led some to question the direction the band are heading in, which wasn't helped but a recent cover of the king of commercial music Michael Jackson's 'Beat It', that had many serious emo types frowning deeply under their stylish fringes.

So emo punk is in part a revival of the emocore vibe of the 1980s, and in general describes the more energetic and rebellious section of the youthful emo scene. Basically those emo punks are those who are not content just to sit and home and listen to records and talk about music, but who want to get out there and be an active part of culture and society.


Emocore has been subject of much debate since it first appeared. So...emo is a genre of rock music. At first, the term was used to describe a subgenre of hardcore punk in the '80s. Later, 'emocore' was used to describe the DC scene and regional scenes related.


› What is emo music
Emocore has been subject of much debate since it first appeared. So...emo is a genre of rock music. At first, the term was used to describe a subgenre of hardcore punk in the '80s. Later, 'emocore' was used to describe the DC scene and regional scenes related.



The biggest names of the period are Fire Party, Rites of Spring, One Last Wish, Embrace, Beefeater, Gray Matter, and Moss Icon.

The first wave of emo began to fade after the breakups of most of the involved bands in the early 1990s. In the mid '90s, 'emo' began to reflect the indie scene that followed the influences of Fugazi. Bands like 'Texas is the reason' and 'Sunny Day Real Estate' introduced a more indie rock style of emo, less violent than it's predecessor. "Indie emo" survived until the late '90s. As the remaining indie emo bands entered the mainstream, newer bands began to emulate the more mainstream style, creating a style of music that has now earned the moniker emo within popular culture.

Whereas, even in the past, the term emo was used to identify a wide variety of bands, the breadth of bands listed under today's

emo is even more vast, leaving the term "emo" as more of a loose identifier than as a specific genre of music.