(Disclaimer: The man in this picture, guitarist Zacky Vengeance of
Avenged Sevenfold, is NOT from an emo band, but his style is very
similar to that of the stereotypical emo kid.)

We’ve all seen them. Walking down the street, on the bus, on campus, in our schools. They are practically everywhere you turn. Yeah I’m talking about those pale faced, made-up kids with all the piercings on the face and those big plugs in their ears. Walking around carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, they hide their gloomy blank star behind a swoop of hair covering one eye. They are usually seen wearing band t-shirts, super tight fitting pants and a nice pair of Converse or VANS sneakers to top off the look. But the question remains, where did they come from, and why are they here?

If you’re not too familiar with the term “Emo,” it shall be acquainted to you. Emo is, as summed up from the browsing of various websites, is someone who wears dark clothes, cut their wrists, is depressed all the time, and listens to very emotionally charging rock music. They are often depicted writing poetry about their pathetic, lonely, lives and how nobody understands them. Even though Emo as an adjective describes a type of person, the adjective had to come from somewhere. And that somewhere is here: Technically, the term emo describes a subgenre of hardcore punk rock that started in the Washington D.C. music scene. In later years, the term emocore, short for "emotional hardcore", was also used to describe the emotional performances of the bands in the Washington D.C. scene and some of the subsidiary regional scenes.

When it first began, emo music was made popular by its less chaotic and more melodic music, as opposed to many of the metal and hardcore rock bands of the time. The older emo bands remained until around the late 1990s, where most of the bands were broke up. And as the remaining emo bands entered the mainstream, newer bands began to emulate the mainstream style. As a result, the term "emo" became a vaguely defined identifier rather than a specific genre of music. Emo music came on the rock scene in the mid 1980s, and has completely warped from being a style of music to a music scene and has now become a way of life for many adolescents in today’s world.

Emo is an evolving and very intricate American youth subculture. Being characterized by feelings of vulnerability and willingness to express deep adolescent emotions, emo music (emotional music) can be described as heartfelt, and usually involves themes of despair, heartbreak, self loathing, and melancholy. Emo music draws from different genres of music, including indie, punk, rap, heavy metal, and pop, and includes bands such as My Chemical Romance, From First to Last (seen above), Hawthorne Heights, Coheed and Cambria, Taking Back Sunday, and The Used. For many teens across America, this subculture assists with identity formation, social interaction, and emotional involvement with themselves and others. Many of the teens involved in this movement express their feelings about the world and their experiences in life through music. Though this sub-cultural movement started in the 1980s, it has completely formed into but a shell of what it used to be. The term “emo” has now become the brunt of many jokes and stereotypes across the country.

Due to the appearance of self loathing and depression in the emo subculture, a common stereotype of an emo kid is that they complain about everything and always want to kill themselves. There are some emo kids that cut themselves “so they can feel alive,” (though that really still seems a bit weird), and have gained a common nickname of “cutters.” In recent years the popular media has associated emo with a stereotype that includes being emotional, sensitive, shy, introverted, or angsty. Emo is also associated with certain fashion. Tight jeans on both emo guys and girls are very common, along with long “fringe” bangs combed to one side of the face or over both eye, dyed black hair, tight fitting t-shirts (usually with band names or other designs), canvas or skate shoes (Chuck Taylor’s/Vans/Airwalks) which are often old and worn looking, and studded belts with belt buckles.

There are many criticisms that come whenever a new subculture arises, and the emo subculture is in no way exempt from this. When certain fashion trends and attitudes started to become associated with the term "emo", stereotypes emerged that created a specific target for criticism. In the early 2000s, this criticism was more or less light hearted and wasn’t really of any concern. But in the following years, the contempt increased dramatically. Male fans of emo found themselves hit with homosexual slurs, largely because of the style of dress popular within the "emo scene" and the ostensible displays of emotion common in the scene. Critics of modern emo have argued that there is an inclination toward increasingly generic and normalized style. As a result, many of the popular bands are trying to disassociate themselves from the “emo” label, and instead are adopting a new genre called “post-hardcore.”

Despite all of the criticisms and common stereotypes that the emo subculture is dealing with, they are still maintaining mainstream popularity. The media loves them, and angst ridden teenagers apparently love them. The emo scene has grown from a small sect that started in Washington, D.C. to mainstream scene that expands from the east to the west coast. Who new that it would become this popular? It wasn’t made for mainstream, it just so happened to fall in to popularity, and when things become popular, oh how they expand. Unfortunately, due to the negative connotation of the term “Emo,” and the disapproval of the term, the future of the genre remains a mystery.