As far as the ’emo look’ was concerned: black eyeliner, skin-tight jeans, black and red hair dye became the most relevant signifiers of the genre. Paramore, Panic! At the Disco and My Chemical Romance became the propellers of the ‘movement’. In the mid-2000s, with the aid of Myspace, Emo transformed into something much bigger than a music genre - it became a counter-culture. By that time, Pop-Punk and emo became “inexorably intertwined”, and bands such as Jimmy Eat World and Brand New mingled their personal lyricism with punk melodies that had a more mainstream structure.
Nonetheless, it wasn’t until the 2000s that emo exploded and became more than a genre. The genre went through a plentiful amount of changes, and it is considered to have had three waves. Rites of Spring are often called the ‘fathers of emo’, due to their personal and meta lyricism. According to a piece by NME, the genre stemmed from the 1980’s hardcore-punk scene, and it’s frequently traced back to the band Rites of Spring. However, the most common answer is that it originated in Washington DC in the ’80s. There isn’t a right timestamp regarding the origins of emo. And yes, remembering some aspects of it still makes me cringe with embarrassment, but I wouldn’t change the way the genre shaped me during my formative years for anything in the world. One’s emo ‘phase’ is usually the laughing stock of parties and numerous social gatherings. I’ve pretty much lost contact with the majority of the people I used to interact with online, however, the sense of community that was born out of a collective appreciation for a band was a solid anchor at a time of extreme self-doubt. We created a rather solid community, and I looked up to get home fast enough to share what happened throughout my days. Online, I found a group of people that enjoyed Paramore as much as I did and, at a distance, we spoke to each other about our feelings, our hopes and our dreams. A female-fronted band in which all members were unapologetically themselves, singing and playing songs about the struggles of adolescence from a feminine perspective? I was hooked. I owe a lot of my strength to the genre.”Īlthough all the bands I have mentioned impacted me in some way, Paramore was the one that resonated with me the most. “Without the messages those songs brought, I don’t know if I would be where I am today. Their lyrics conveyed the words I was unable to express and going through hardships became slightly easier. They made me feel understood and accompanied. These bands reached me in a way no-one had ever done before. From Paramore to My Chemical Romance, to You Me At Six and Panic! At the Disco, amongst many others. By that time, I discovered emo/pop-punk music. Finding who I was as a teenager was harder than I expected and my headspace got greyer and greyer as time went by. When I was 13, I started developing depression and anxiety. I have always battled with my mental health, but as a teenager, the walls of my bedroom shrank, and hopelessness knocked on my door. Music was my refuge during a difficult period of my life. In a way, I know I am not as alone as I think I am. I believe I can dig me out of this black hole I currently find myself in. I feel I am not as worthless as everyone at school made me think I was. Hayley Williams, Paramore‘s lead singer, sings:įor a moment, I believe them. I plug my earphones and take the gentle breeze in Today has been a particularly difficult day: ‘you’re fat and ugly’, ‘you’re a mermaid! Half human, half whale’ - Kids will be kids, right? But one’s never prepared to hear such things, especially at such a young age. My walk home is rather short, but I tend to choose the longest path to clear out my head. I am 14 years-old, coming back from a long day at school.
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