Emo

Emo is a genre derived from punk/hardcore punk. It is well defined and has quite a devoted following on /mu/. If this is your idea of emo, you're sorely wrong. The actual artists and fans of emo look more like this and this.

Some well known entry-level emo bands include: The artists one will find most often in any emo sharethread (and the best place to start) include:
 * Brand New
 * Taking Back Sunday
 * Rites of Spring
 * Sunny Day Real Estate
 * American Football
 * Cap'n Jazz
 * Snowing
 * Dads
 * Algernon Cadwallader

Emo Origins
There is general agreement that the origins of Emo grew out of the Washington, D.C. area Hardcore Punk scene, as former punk rockers looked for new forms of expression and formed the bands Rites of Spring and Embrace. The scene quickly spread to California, then across the landscape. The early Emo scene (1984-1989) sound featured mid-tempo, rock based guitar with an occassional flourish riff, and punk vocals that were sung rather than yelled. Emo was at this point still largely underground.

A second wave of emo bands like Moss Icon emerged around the turn of the decade, and introduced new elements to the sound. The quiet/loud dynamic became popular, as well as catchy riff based songs featuring octave chords, pop song structure, and more mainstream, clean vocals. It could be argued that the genre's first breakout band was Sunny Day Real Estate, and this style of Emo is what has stuck in many people's heads as definitive of the style, although during this same period bands like Mohinder were playing a more abrasive, punkish Emo featuring staccato, distortion-wracked music over screamed vocals. A divergence was already apparent.

From the mid-90s onward, this style of indie/post-rock-leaning Emo remained the larger sect, and spawned armies of like-minded bands. Though far removed from its roots, this incarnation has expanded the Emo fanbase into a major demographic as groups like The Get Up Kids and Dashboard Confessional carry the style toward the pop commercialism that its originators detested.

Emo at its core
Since its origination in the mid-80s, Emo has undergone many changes both stylistically and in the public perception of what exactly the term means. To attempt to nail down a singular standard for all Emo here would be folly, as no such thing exists. The unifying factor that makes emo (short for emotional) what it is, is a determination to use deeply personal and sincerely expressed feelings the central theme, whether that be through furious anger and personal climax or by heartfelt confession and poetic crooning.

First Wave / Emocore / Screamo
Emocore is a style of Post-Hardcore that emerged primarily in Washington D.C. in the summer of 1985, as a reaction against the by then stagnant Hardcore Punk scene. Most of the bands were composed of former hardcore musicians, and they used that genre as a basis for the new emocore sound. The shouted vocals and fast distorted guitars of hardcore punk were set to midtempo songs that focused more on melodies and dynamics than aggression and speed, and the lyrics were often introverted and emotional which had previously been uncommon in the punk rock scene. Emocore led to the creation of...

Screamo is an intense offshoot of Emo that began in the early 1990s. It merges the emotional lyrics and melodicism of Emo with the intensity, aggression and speed of Hardcore Punk. Songs tend to be short in length but complex in structure, often featuring many changes in tempo and rhythm. As such, the style shares some similarities with Powerviolence, another hardcore punk subgenre that developed around the same time.

Influential bands: Embrace, Rites of Spring, Dag nasty, Saetia, Orchid, Pg. 99

Second Wave / Midwest Emo
The music tends toward alternating loud and soft dynamics; off-key, strained or "whiny" vocals with little screaming; and "twinkly" arpeggiated guitar parts. The genre's name stems from its high prevalence in cities such as Chicago, Madison, Kansas City and Cleveland, but the style is in no way limited to the Midwest, as exemplified by Sunny Day Real Estate and Texas is the Reason.

Influential bands: American Football, Sunny Day Real Estate, Jimmy Eat World, Texas Is The Reason

Third Wave / Emo-Pop
Emo-pop is a style of music that had its origins in the Midwest Emo movement of the 1990s. emo-pop took the sentimental crooning of Emo and crafted it into a sound with more mainstream appeal. As a result, the songs are more pop-oriented than those of earlier movements associated with emo, utilizing such elements as high production values, reliance on hooks, simple structures, and high-pitched melodies and singing. The simplistic and youthful nature of Pop Punk also played a huge role in crafting the sound of emo-pop. In addition, the genre distances itself from the hardcore-based Emocore movement of the 1980s, both musically and philosophically. Lyrics tend to be confessional in nature, often delving into topics such as heartbreak and love.

Influential bands: Jimmy Eat World, The Get Up Kids, Taking Back Sunday, The Promise Ring

Snowing
A combination of math, twinkly, and midwestern emo with shouted vocals. Snowing has gained a massive cult following in the emo community. Probably the best thing about Snowing is that they released all their music for free. Their demo tape "Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit" is only 5 songs. They released an LP entitled I Could Do Anything I Wanted If I Wanted. Snowing broke up in 2011 and played their final show in a church.

Brand New
Starting out as a pop-punk rival band of Taking Back Sunday, Brand New has great prominence in both the emo and alternative rock scene. Lyrically driven, with amazing song composition in their later albums. Commonly mistaken as a mainstream band, Brand New has been on the fringe, living in the shadows of the associated act Taking Back Sunday. They've received a large cult following in the online music scene. Highlights include the more pop oriented "Deja Entendu", and rock oriented "The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me"