What's 'emo?'

Well 'emo' music is emotional hardcore, but years ago it would just have been soft rock. I guess an 'emo' person is just someone who listens to 'emo' music and maybe dresses a bit dark. Not quite goth, I guess.

Emo kids are they kind of kids who are almost like goth except not for real. They talk about cutting and being depressed and whiny and nobody loves me although it's probably not true. Generally, they wear a lot of black and hot pink (even guys), dye their hair bleach blond and/or black and wear somewhat "preppy" clothes. Do some google image searches for emo and you'll see what I mean.

Man, why do people hate on emos so much? They're the one group everyone seems to want to kick the crap out of for no reason. I guess I can see why they're annoying, but seriously -- if you can't be mopey, morbid, and self-aggrandizing when you're sixteen, when can you get away with it?

I'm too old to be emo, but for some reason it really resonates with me.

I'm with you, donut, and I'm 27. Too much hate, people. Anyone who feels they should dress or act a certain way should have the freedom to do so, as long as they're not bothering somebody else with it. And not every emo whines or cuts.

I definitely don't hate emos, although the really bad ones can be annoying. As with anything, there's a whole spectrum of how emo you can be. Not everyone cuts and such. I even happen to like emo music (mainly what I listen to).

She wasn't bagging out emo's she was just explaining what they were. And did a pretty good job too.

You are really going to dislike me, the bad guys in my story are emo and the MC's have to find some way to stop the spread of the emo affliction.

(By the way, I don't actually hate emo's - I just thought it would be interesting to use them as the bad guys.)

Jeff

I get called "emo" almost daily. I guess it sort of varies in people's opinions.
More or less, here are some stereotypical qualities of emo kids:
-write poetry
-wear black, band t's, skinny jeans, Converse, etc. (guys wear girls' pants, as well)
-go to a lot of concerts
-love music (Dashboard Confessional, Jeffree Star, Alesana, etc., etc.)

Well, thanks to everybody. All this information was good to know -- but I feel even older and considerably more out of it. I've never heard of any of the bands mentioned in the last post! ;-)

I work on a university campus and have probably seen emos, just didn't know who they were.

.... and the boys wear the girls' pants, you say?

--schipperkoon

Yeah, most of them do wear girl pants. In 8th grade one boy explained that it was to protect themselves in skating. I won't go into any more detail than that since it would be inappropriate. LOL

I guess you could call me emo: I wear Converse 'cause they have a style I like, I used to be severely depressed (got sent to a counselor for two months after a parent-teacher conference, thought of seriously killing myself partly 'cause of my stuttering problem, etc. I don't love to talk about it since I'm not like that anymore.), and listen to indie rock bands like Modest Mouse, The Shins, The Decemberists and others like Muse, Breaking Benjamin, Klaxons, Kasabian, etc. But I never cut myself because I think it's stupid to do so. I mean, self-harm is just...yeah. Sounds dumb. Although I did try in 8th grade when I was depressed/suicidal, but didn't do it in the end.

I don't really know what the freak I am. I'm just weird and I accept that. XD Seriously, today at lunch everyone basically agreed that we were the weirdest table at lunch 'cause one of my friends screams everyday when someone pokes her and everyone stares at us. She also has the tendency to spit out food and drink when she laughs. Pretty gross when it lands on you. And some guy today when lunch ended said we were all freaks, including himself. ROFL

[/long post]

I understand the feeling old part. I also didn't recognise any of the bands mentioned in this thread.

What I do recognise is what Inflamed Muse said about the people (s)he eats lunch with. It sounds like my group of friends when I was in high school. We were considered freaks then. This was well before much was known about goths (here in Maine at least) and emo hadn't been coined yet.

I despise that people, especially todays teens, are being labeled as such things because of how they are percieved. I know it's always been that way, but some of the labels are getting quite harsh.

Many of my friends are goth, though I'm not. I'm still treated as a freak for having pink hair, dressing "strangely' and wearing cat ears almost every day. It's just who I am and I hate the labels that are thrust upon me for it. Also, my roommate is a raver, that doesn't mean he deeply into the drug scene. There are many "emo" kids in my small city, but I try to ignore the stereotype and look at the person under the makeup - male or female.

Ken

Just for clarification: I'm a she. =D Really has no importance to this thread, but I just felt like posting it. XD

*exits thread humming some random tune*

Here's an Urban Dictionary page about emos, I think it kind of puts everything people have been saying here together in a more organized fashion:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=emo

Hope that helps! ^_^

Okay, so yeah, I'm sometimes called emo even though I'm not because I love emo music. More specifically My Chemical Romance ( <3 ), The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, All-American Rejects, Fall Out Boy, AFI, etc. (Even though I don't think that AFI is classified as emo ever, people still seem to think that it is. Whatever.)

Emo guys generally wear really tight black girls' pants. They sit in the corner and write crappy poetry, crying their eyes out. And they like to slit their wrists. The world hates them. They wear makeup.

Fun.

Anyways, for your entertainment, I have provided the link to Adam and Andrew's site. Click on the Audio file "Emo Kid" for a hilarious song. A word of warning, I think they use the f-word (I don't remember), so you may want to watch out if you have young children. But it's still hilarious.

http://www.adamandandrew.com/media.php

(PS: Remember to choose the audio file, not the music video.)

It's just another stereotype. It's basically people who listen to emotional hardcore, but people have stretched it out to have a different meaning.

Labels are for soupcans, people.

Oh my god ... I'm emo and didn't even realize it ...

I guess I should keep on wearing my Smashing Pumpkins t-shirts ...

YEA!!

-Laura

They're modern emo. People cling to the earlier 2000s emo like it's the only thing. Fashions evolve and change.

'emo' = emotional people

They're kind of depressed, dark. Not goth but kind of similar.

Emo people are awesome. At least at my school they are. The guys normally have longish black hair that can by kinda over their face but not all greasy like the goths. They might be wearing eyeliner, they wear semi tight shirts that either have skateboard company names on them or band names or something like that. They wear girl pants. The girls wear skinny jeans (grey or black denim ones normally) band shirts, shirts with dinosaurs or other little kid type things, and often have shoulder length straightish hair that they put in a pony tail but they've also got bangs that kind of frame their face down to just past their chins that they leave out. They listen to good music, and most of them do not cut themselves.

I actually hate talking about groups of people with any term. I can't seem to bring myself to refer to a group of people as "preps" or "goths" or "emos" or anything else. Maybe I'm just too nice, not judgmental enough, I don't know, I look at it as a good thing. As far as music genres go, my usual way of describing "Emo Music" is this:
It's short for "emotional", therefore, the music is about feelings, people who like this music generally also like to talk about feelings. The way it was formed was as a combination of punk rock, grunge, and pop. In pop there is a lot of love talk and feelings talk, in punk and grunge the lyrics were a lot more political. The short version is that one day some people decided they liked the punk and grunge styles as well as the trends that came with them (darker clothes and all that), but would rather sing about love and feelings. Of course, the styles got a lot softer, more acoustic guitar and stuff, and generally a lot of talk about being sad.
Some people who related to this new style of music started trends by dressing differently, like being dark but also more feminine. Tight pants, makeup and nail polish on boys, a lot of pinks and blacks. It also became, in a way, trendy to be sad. To complain about your life and how no one understands you is generally known as angst, but instead of being angry about this and taking it out on the law, people were sad and took it out on themselves. They became known as Emo. Of course, not all people classified in this group are self mutilating. Most people who are either called emo or call themselves that would be more accurately called "trendy" or "scene kids".

Since I'm not generally one for grouping people together though it usually bugs me when people say things like "Wow, you're emo." It bugs me even more though when people decide that they are emo. I once had someone say to me "Yeah, I'm emo now. I cut my wrists and stuff." She was dead serious. I find that a little offensive, I happen to know people who are clinically depressed, bipolar and the like, I also happen to know that she is not. Anyway, people can classify themselves as whatever they want to, that's just my take on it.

This seemed answered pretty well but I do want to point out one thing.

Goth is not the black clothing, pale faced, type of person. That may have bcome a stereotype but I believe that the actul determinance of what is gothic has more to do with a mindset. There is also a distinct section of music and a type of architecture that is under the label of goth.

Oif, then you also have 'scene' which is not really emo but kind of similar. Both of them have the "moody teenager" myspace shots with the fringe-y hair in the face and they never look at the camera. But emos wear dark colors and sit in the corners slitting their wrists while scene kids wear dino t-shirts and big, beady necklaces and oversized plastic jewelry.

Anyways, that's what I was told.

Okay, lots of diffinitions of emo. Now, what would you call someone that wears black a lot but is almost always happy and hyper?

Someone whose favorite color just happens to be black..?

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LOL, you almost basically described one of my friends, I think. She'll wear black shirts sometimes/black pants, but she's almost always happy and/or hyper. I don't know what you would label that person as, although, as I said earlier in this thread, we call ourselves freaks, but in a good way. XD ...If that makes any sense, that is.

And I also hate it when people call themselves emo and they cut their wrists and stuff when clearly you can tell that they are faking it. I was clinically depressed two years ago and I never talked about it at all. I just drew within myself and became close to mute, even around my best friends. I still don't love talking about it and only a few people know how far I almost went. (Two former teachers and one friend out of the countless people who I know.)

One of those kids who is obsessed with the term hyper. ;)

I've noticed a whole subset of teens who are obsessed with the idea of being "hyper" all the time. They're just being teens, that's all.

From the mouth of my 17 yr Daughter who goes to Public School in NC: Labels are for soup.
BEST MOVIEs to assist you with labels : Highschool Musical; MEAN GIRLS ; and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen

Short List this is what other kids mean when they say:

Emo = emotional distraught teenager - whines about the world is against them, listens to alternative rock music
Goth = Vampire wannabes, pale, black lipsticks, heavy eyeliner, alt rock, heavy metal, punk music
Preps = Wannabe Celebs; want the best things, grades, listen to POP music, trendy clothes caught up in "what others think"
Jocks = big time sports kids
Nerds = well, nerds
Geek/Gamer = plays mondo video games into anything scifi
Arties= Artsy fartsy types listen to whatever the mood strikes
Band Geeks ummm, well in the band - marching etc...
ROTC

I like my daughters response made me proud...Labels are for SOUP! Ha
Proud MaMa
BJ

I have to politely disagree with your idea of what Goths are. Most of them are not vampire wannabes.

Many of my friends are goth, including my boyfriend. Some of them dye their hair black, most wear a lot of black eyeliner - including the guys when going out to clubs (borrowed my boyfriend's eyeliner to go to the TGIO Party because I forgot mine) - and some wear black lipstick when going out to clubs. They are not all pale or even care about the pale thing. Heck, we live in Maine, it's hard not to be pale unless you really work at tanning!

They also listen to Goth music. What that is, I coulnd't really tell you. I know it when I hear it at the Goth club, but other than that.

I only have two friends who has fake fangs and I haven't seen either of them wear them more than twice, usually around Halloween.

I also find it interesting that all of my Goth friends are gamer geeks. Yes, they sometimes play Vampire The Masquerade (both on the computer and tabletop), but most of the time it's other Whitewolf games or D&D. Meaning most of them are RPG tabletop gamers.

The best person to talk about Goths is Eelkat. She's been Goth most of her life and is what would be considered and old time Goth (not a shot at your age).

Ken

From a teenager's perspective, emos are generally pessimistic and mysterious. In some ways, it's similar to being Gothic. Emos may physically have long bangs and cut their wrists...you know- knives. Being emo is really being emotinal and taking it to the extreme level. I really don't know where the term comes from. It's a fairly new stereotype, actually, or as far as I know.

Someone who is happy, hyper, and wears black? You could call them a gamer, I guess. I know a lot of people like that, but generally they're just called Animae buffs because they love Animae and want to go to Japan someday.

This is how I see it:

Goth = someone in a cult-like group

Emo = someone who likes the color black and wears it because they like it. And they can.

Gamer = someone who is obsessed with playing computer games, role-playing games, etc.

I agree -- labels are for soupcans. I hang out with people you would call emo just by looking at them and none of them are depressed, talk about death or suicide, cut themselves, write poetry, etc. They do love music. They do wear black. And yes, some of the boys wear girls pants. But they are all hyper, happy, and fun. People just put stereotypes(I'm sure I spelt that wrong) on them because they're different.

Get over it, already! They're not trying to take over teh world! They are people with emotions. If Emo = emotional people, wouldn't every teenager be an emo?

I loathe stereotypes.

~Rachael