This was put up as a chance to laugh at some of the sillier stuff Emo-kids do in order to not look like all the Green Day/Rancid and Strife/Hatebreed clones out there.
Emo is a slang term derived from the word "emotional", used as a misnomer to describe a range of fashion styles and attitudes affiliated with emo music. The term is also used negatively to describe a general state of unhappiness or melancholy (as in "to feel emo"). Emo is also used as a noun, often pejoratively, to identify a member of the "emo scene" or someone viewed as fitting the "emo" stereotype.
Genre of softcore punk music that integrates unenthusiastic melodramatic 17 year olds who do not smile, high pitched overwrought lyrics and inaudible guitar rifts with tight wool sweaters, tighter jeans, itchy scarfs (even in the summer), ripped chucks with favorite bands signature, black square rimmed glasses and ebony greasy unwashed hair that is required to cover at least 3/5ths of the face at an angle.
An entire subculture of people (usually angsty teens) with a fake personality. The concept of Emo is actually a vicious cycle that never ends, to the utter failing of humanity and it goes something like this:
Girls say they like "sensitive guys" (lie)
Guy finds out, so he listens to faggy Emo music and dresses like a dork so chicks will see that he is sensitive and not afraid to express himself (lie). He dyes his hair black, wraps himself in a stupid looking scarf, develops an eating disorder and rants about how "nobody understands".
Now an Emo guy, he meets Emo chick and they start dating, talking about how their well-off suburban lifestyles are terrible and depressing (lie)
Emo guy is just too much of a wimpy guy. His penis is too small, he's too depressed to bathe, and has more mood swings than Emo chick, and he doesn't even have a menstrual cycle. Emo chick dumps him, saying "It's not you, it's me." (lie) as she drives off with Wayne, the school jock and captain of the football team.
Emo guy goes home and cries, proceeds to write a weak song and strum a single string on his acoustic guitar. Another Emo chick sees how he is so in touch with his feelings and the cycle continues.
This is the sad truth of the Emo lifestyle/music, and now that I look at how pathetic it really is, maybe the Emos DO have something to cry about!
Like a Goth, only much less dark and much more Harry Potter.
"Emo" is not short for "Emotional." "Emo" does not mean Taking Back Sunday and Dashboard Confessional, despite what MTV has lead you to believe in the last few years. "Emo" is not sidebangs, tight pants and male vocalists who sing like little girls about their failed relationships. "Emo" is not the use of diluted, meaningless metaphors and similes such as "My arms are like pinecones," and most definitely is not the rampant use of words such as "autumn", "heart", "knife", "bleeding", "leaves" and "razorblade."
I just thought I'd clear that up after all of these "definitions" in which I have encountered an unbelievable amount of people who try to pass off their blatantly false pretenses as fact, and are slowly infecting others with their high-horse, holier-than-thou bullshit. Because honestly, with your ridiculous definitions, Beethoven, George Gershwin and Britney Spears are/was "Emo bands."
Now, onto the real definition.
In the early 1990s there was a movement in the hardcore genre that came to be known as "Emotive Hardcore," spearheaded by Rites Of Spring. Harder-core-than-thou kids, who swore by Dischord Records a la Minor Threat, actually coined the term "Emo" as something of a put-down for the kids who really liked Rites Of Spring, Indian Summer and this new wave of "Emotive" Hardcore bands. That's right, "Emo" was once not something kids called themselves. The field exploded outwards from there - Level-Plane Records has always been the most famous Emo label. Acts like Yaphet Kotto, I Hate Myself, Saetia, Hot Cross, A Day In Black And White, Funeral Diner, I Would Set Myself On Fire For You, You And I and hosts of others came in the next decade. Most Emo bands have since broken up, but there's still the occasional hold-out (again, the majority of Level-Plane Records' roster has been a procession of Emo acts). Like most DIY hardcore/punk of the time, a majority found its way onto vinyl and not much else. Some people consider bands like Fugazi, and later Sunny Day Real Estate, a progression of Emo, but personally, I don't quite follow that philosophy.
Often, more recently, this gets intertwined with post-hardcore, and understandably so - that's nothing to make an issue of, since well shit, at least it's close.
Since the late 1990s, though, bands have been emerging in the vein of Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional and the thousands of their clones. As far as I can tell, some lazy journalist somewhere, writing an article about them, decided "Well, heck, no one knows what Emo is anyways, so I'll call these bands "Emo" - sounds more appealing than bubblegum pop rock..." and the spiral continued downwards into the current amalgomation of bands MTV has told everyone is "Emo."
Somehow, people decided that "Emo" meant "emotional," which is obviously wrong, as 99% of bands make music to illicit emotion, which would make "emotional" a completely all-encompassing genre from classical to opera to pop to rap.
Some pointers about Emo fashions (above simple, universal hardcore attire)
The Emo Romulan look - short, thick, greasy, dyed-black hair with bangs cut straight across the forehead and cut high over the ears. Someone from Time In Malta recently described to me the San Diego Crimson Curse scene as "Spock Rock."
Actually, any greasy dyed black hair. Bangs in front and spikes in back is very Emo too.
Horn-rim glasses or at least thick black frames.
Bald head, furry face (boys only). Goes especially well with horn-rims.
Heavy slacks, often too tight and short.
Thin, too-small polyester button-ups in dark colors or threadbare children's size t-shirts with random slogans. Button the collar if you got one.
Clunky black shoes.
Scarves
Gas station jackets. This has diffused a lot over the years though, it's no longer exclusive to Emo kids. Nowadays, you may want to select a nice corduroy denim jacket.
Also classic outerwear but quickly diffusing to normality: the famous Blue Peacoat.
