"i want to get into emo but idk where to start" i got you bro.

history

• also known as "emotive hardcore" and often shortened to "emocore", this was the first type of emo music. it started in the washington d.c. hardcore punk scene in the mid 80s, and the first emocore band is considered to be rites of spring with their self-titled album from 1985.
• its name was coined by the skateboarding magazine "thrasher" in 1985, which also covered alternative music. thrasher used this term to refer to more melodic and dramatic hardcore bands, and in the article it was mentioned they named three bands: embrace, rites of spring and beefeater.
• here we can't see any hints of emo clothes yet, they dressed in minimalist and comfortable clothes like the rest of the hardcore scene but rejected their toxic masculinity, which inspired more androgynous looks later.

• as the name suggests, this is a subgenre of hardcore punk, but it's usually much more melodic and chill than regular hardcore. in emocore we can often hear dramatic build-ups, a lot of contrast regarding to dynamics and expressive voices. emocore artists chose to focus their lyrics on more personal and introspective themes such as loneliness, failed love or suicidal ideation rather than talking about political issues like classic punk.

songs

1. for want of - rites of spring (1985)
   
2. money - embrace (1987)
   
3. i'm back sleeping, or fucking, or something - moss icon (1993)
   
4. burn no bridges - gray matter (1985)
   
5. trash funk - beefeater (1985)
   

• rites of spring - rites of spring (1985)
  
• can i say - dag nasty (1984)
  
• embrace - embrace (1987)
  
• food for thought - gray matter (1984)
  
• take it back - gray matter (1985)
  
• complete discography - moss icon (recorded in 1987-1994, released in 2012)
  
• 1986 - moss icon (recorded in 1986, released in 1999)
  
• la vache qui rit - rain (1990)
  

history

• screamo is an extreme subgenre of emo music started in the early 90s in san diego, california. most people consider heroin to be the first screamo band, releasing their first ep in 1991.
• ché café is a music venue in the university of california and the starting point of most pioneer screamo bands such as the already mentioned heroin, antioch arrow, swing kids and portraits of past. this sound quickly spread to the east coast, and influenced other bands like orchid, saetia and pageninetynine.
• this is the first time we start seeing a more "classic emo" look in the scene: at first screamo bands were labeled as spock rock because they used to wear black bowl cuts, similar to spock from start trek, which was a prototype for emo hair. they also used to dress in dark androgynous clothes and sometimes even paint their nails black.
• screamo has many subgenres: emoviolence (screamo + powerviolence, another extreme subgenre of punk), sass/white belt (screamo with more feminine voices and synths), post-screamo (screamo + post rock) or lofi/bedroom screamo (with bad audio quality, simple riffs and drums and uses synths sometimes).

• screamo takes the chaotic, emotional and dramatic sound of emocore and pushes it to the extreme. it's characterized by raw and loud screams, very short songs with fast tempo and abrupt changes in dynamics. we can also often hear melodic guitars with minimal drums and even clean voices sometimes.

songs

1. head cold - heroin (1997)
   
2. epilogue of a car crash - orchid (1999)
   
3. song two - i hate myself (1997)
   
4. i hate sports - i hate sex (2015)
   
5. in love with an apparition - pageninetynine (2001)
   

• circle thinking - i hate sex (2015)
• document #8 - pageninetynine (2001)
  
• frail hands - frail hands (2019)
  
• chaos is me - orchid (1999)
  
• ten songs - i hate myself (2000)
  
• to bring our own end - joshua fit for battle (2001)
  
• all ten - william bonney (2018)
  
• quiet, pull the strings! - suis la lune (2006)
  
• a collection of songs - kodan armada (2004)
  
• s/t - flowers taped to pens (2015)
  
• all is apologized for. all is forgiven - the saddest landscape (2008)
  

history

• midwest emo is another subgenre of emo that developed mainly in the midwest of the USA during the mid 90s. cap'n jazz, formed in 1989, is usually considered the first band in the genre although they didn't release anything until 1995. another pioneer in this sound is braid with their math rock-inspired emocore.
• the genre got to see some mainstream recognition in the late 90s and early 2000s with less hardcore-inspired bands like mineral, american football, sunny day real estate and chamberlain. sunny day real estate even got their song "seven" played on mtv, the biggest music channel of the 90s.
• later, bands like jimmy eat world and the promise ring brought the sound of midwest emo into a pop punk direction, which resulted in the later 2000s emo mainstream explosion.
• midwest emo also helped shape the emo style. its fans were stereotyped as nerdy, introverted and emotional and wore flannels, thick rimmed glasses, thrifted clothes and yarn vests. this inspired the "nerdy emo" trend of the 2000s, which also included thrifting and thick glasses.

• it takes emocore's sensitivity, melodies and cathartic buildups and puts them in a indie rock context, resulting in twinkly guitars, unconventional voice techniques, soft drums and often experimentation with different instruments such as tubas or trumpets.

songs

1. oh messy life - cap'n jazz (1995)
   
2. never meant - american football (1999)
   
3. in circles - sunny day real estate (1994)
   
4. parking lot - mineral (1997)
   
5. your deep rest - the hotelier (2014)
   

• analphabetapolothology - cap'n jazz (1998)
  
• american football - american football (1999)
  
• diary - sunny day real estate (1994)
  
• nothing feels good - the promise ring (1997)
  
• the power of failing - mineral (1997)
  
• home, like noplace is there - the hotelier (2014)
  
• something to write home about - the get up kids (1999)
  
• everything seems better now - vs self (2020)
  
• just got back from the discomfort we're alright - brave little abacus (2020)
  

history

• an evolution of hardcore punk which initially took influence from post-punk and alternative rock, which later evolved into the specific type of post-hardcore related to the emo subculture that we know today.
• it was started in the hardcore punk scene of the 80s, and the most influential band of this time is fugazi, made up by ex members of hardcore bands minor threat and rites of spring, but the type of post-hardcore that is associated with emo culture wouldn't develop until the late 90s.
• this specific sound was started in the suburbs of the south and east coast of the USA by bands such as thursday, thrice, from autumn to ashes, from first to last and the mainstream successful taking back sunday, who with their first studio album tell all your friends got into the billboard top 200 and helped shape the later emo pop sound.
• in the early 2000s a lot of bands started mixing the post-hardcore sound with metalcore, resulting in bands like underoath, emery or alesana. this is the time when emo culture was at its peak of popularity, in part thanks to bands like these promoting their music on the social media myspace.
• in the 2010s, its sound became cleaner and even closer to metalcore resulting in bands like pierce the veil, sleeping with sirens or falling in reverse. this style is also associated with the scene subculture.
• fashion wise, some bands within the scene really made their own look separated from punk for the first time. pioneers of this are eighteen visions, influencing later more popular bands like the used, afi or my chemical romance.

• early post-hardcore from the 80s differs a lot from what is known as post-hardcore in emo circles today. it used to be experimental hardcore punk that takes elements from alternative rock, post-punk and even jazz. 2000s post hardcore is caracterized by melodic yet aggressive guitar riffs, screaming and high pitched vocals. it doesn't feel as chaotic as screamo, but it doesn't come close to midwest emo or emocore either. in the later more metalcore-like bands, we can often hear breakdowns or synthetizers as well.

songs

1. waiting room - fugazi (1989)
   
2. accident prone - jawbreaker (1995)
   
3. cute without the 'e' (cut from the team) - taking back sunday (2002)
   
4. note to self - from first to last (2004)
   
5. the thespian - alesana (2010)
   

• alexisonfire - alexisonfire (2002)
  
• the artist in the ambulance - thrice (2003)
  
• a beautiful tragedy - death in december (2006)
• dear diary, my teen angst has a body count - from first to last (2004)
  
• dear you - jawbreaker (1995)
  
• the emptiness - alesana (2010)
  
• a flair for the dramatic - pierce the veil (2007)
  
• i brought you my bullets, you brought me your love - my chemical romance (2002)
  
• love is like suicide - a vain attempt (2007)
  
• the silence in black and white - hawthorne heights (2004)
  
• tell all your friends - taking back sunday (2002)
  
• the used - the used (2002)
• para ti con desprecio - pxndx (2005)
  
• you don't need this as bad as i do - unwanted superheroes (2004)
  
• somewhere at the bottom of the river between vega and altair - la dispute (2008)
  

history

• initially, emo pop referred to a specific type of midwest emo that sounded even cleaner and more accessible, without the unconventional instruments and melodies and sometimes taking influence from indie rock or pop punk. bands that fit into this description could be the get up kids, the promise ring and most importantly jimmy eat world, whose "bleed american" from 2001 skyrocketed emo into the mainstream. their main single "the middle" has become a 2000s pop punk anthem and emo was mostly an underground thing until they came around.
• jimmy eat world had legit emo roots although their sound is watered down, which resulted in any pop punk ish song being labeled as emo by the media, which is the origin of the term "mall emo". just like "emocore", mall emo started as a derogatory term to describe non emo bands who had the hot topic aesthetic, as well as its fans. some examples are my chemical romance, fall out boy, panic! at the disco or paramore. i would say the peak of this era was the release of my chemical romance's welcome to the black parade in 2006, which brought a lot of new people into emo culture.

• if you're kind of unfamiliar with emo, this is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think of it. it's pop punk presented in a more angsty way than the upbeat and unserious sound of bands like blink 182 or green day, with emotional lyrics about topics like heartbreak or mental health and dramatic guitars. you can even hear screams sometimes in the more harcore inspired bands like my chemical romance.

songs

1. the middle - jimmy eat world (2001)
   
2. dance, dance - fall out boy (2005)
   
3. i'm not okay (i promise) - my chemical romance (2004)
   
4. face down - the red jumpsuit apparatus (2006)
   
5. misery business - paramore (2007)
   

• three cheers for sweet revenge - my chemical romance (2004)
  
• from under the cork tree - fall out boy (2005)
  
• don't you fake it - the red jumpsuit apparatus (2006)
  
• sing the sorrow - afi (2003)
  
• bleed american - jimmy eat world (2001)
  

if you want to get deeper into the history of the genre so you're able to understand its roots, here are some artists that aren't emo but helped shape the genre:

minor threat

• their hardcore with emotional lyrics was the foundation of 80s emocore. also, guy picciotto (singer and guitarist of rites of spring) named them as one of his biggest influences. their frontman, ian mackaye, is one of the most important people in 80s emo, being a part of embrace and producing for one last wish.

• also founded by ian mackaye, this post-hardcore band was the template for later emo bands, being also named as an influence by popular non-emo artists such as nirvana, rage against the machine or the offspring.

•  they influenced most 2000s mall emo bands, and their second album "pinkerton"was extremely influential in 90s emo and popular among emo people with its emotional mood and introspective lyrics.

• an early 80s hardcore punk band whose melodic approach made it influential in emocore and post-hardcore, being cited as the main inspiration for rites of spring.