EMO LORE: BROKEN DOWN SO EVEN AN 11 YEAR OLD CAN UNDERSTAND IT EASILY.

late 1980s, washington dc is the birthplace 2 emotional hardcore/emocore, a music genre created after some punks wanted to give a more melodic and emotional aspect to hardcore punk. the term emocore was wiLDLY rejected by bands of the time tho; anyway: bands like rites of spring and embrace were precursors to the genre. but not only emocore was present at that time, more genres were also born from the need of making punk stuff more emotional: screamo (aka skramz, a joke term for the style) and emoviolence were also a thing. more notable bands of the time are saetia, moss icon, orchid and pageninetynine. emos at that time were way more punk looking considering where the genre came from, and the people that strictly follow it nowadays are known as either the classics, or DIY. theyre still active, but underground. they dont rlly like myspace emos tho..!!

(IMPORTANT NOTE: unlike many people think, the term emo did not come from the word "emotional", but actually from emotional hardcore/emocore. yes, the entire subculture is named after the music genre. ok continuing)

it remained a bit underground until bands inspired by the movement in the 1990s like taking back sunday, brand new and jimmy eat world started booming, making the scene more mainstream. the punkier look to emo fashion begins its shift here.

metalcore, midwest emo and post hardcore began making their appearances in the community in the very late 1990s to early 2000s; stuff like chiodos, saosin, american football, cap n' jazz, alesana and the devil wears prada were js popping up like pimples on a 15 year olds face. its from THIS TIMESTAMP that the fashion begins fully shifting: straightened swooped hair w sidebangs covering half your face, extremely tight fitting clothing and a whole lot of band merch were THE NEW FACE of emo. the people that follow this kind of fashion, (aka the most known one) are known as myspace emos, since it got popularized exactly there. hot topic was one of the first stores to capitalize on the emo craze and its still known today for STILL selling emo stuff besides the hot topic, modern stuff. get it.

then pop punk and pop rock started also getting WAY TOO FAMOUS in the community more into the late 2000s, p!atd, fob, all time low and paramore are great examples of bands that barely have anything 2 do with the og emocore but were still rocking their shit and getting very present in the scene. its also from this point that SCENE was starting to become a thing, where some kids wanted a more colorful and upbeat version of the myspace emo fashion. those were the ones that started the movement, and were considered posers by the people in the emo sub. it eventually got so big it became its own thing, and is not considered a poser sub anymore. ill prolly rant abt the scene subculture in a separate blog entry tho, so wait for it. ILL ONLY DO IT IF U WANT ME 2 OK!!

all these waves still are up to debate, SPECIALLY ONLINE. never seen so many fights abt what should be considered emo or not, what IS emo or not, why ptv and mcr should b considered poser bands and whatever whatever. emo is finally having its revival after years of being considered "dead" because of events like warped tour coming back w cooler stuff and less preds, when we were young fests and emofests in general getting more and more present, new bands, the classic ones making their comebacks and getting active again, etc etc. theres obviously also influence from tiktok and instagram, tho its sad that the version of emo people are mostly getting 2 see through those apps is so watered down, cheesy and weak. buuuut on a side note its good to know that at least majority of those who r ACTUALLY interested on the subculture are doing their research and getting their stuff right, otherwise DIE POSERS DIE!!!! /s

ok. this was a lot and i do hv 2 thank rae intricate on insta THOROUGHLY for a lot of simplified info so SHOUT OUT 2 HIM IM A BIG FAN. anyway, tysm for reading!! i hope this "little" rant of mine will b able 2 help u understand emo lore a bit more. not everynyan can work w huge album family trees n timelines, so i RLLY do hope this was helpful or at least a fun read for u. lemme know if i got anything wrong, or if u want me 2 break down scene lore n warped tour lore so even an 11 year old can understand as well!! kisses <3