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How to . . . be an 'emo'
ur entertainments reporter tries out a new activity. This time, Ian Ray unravels the mystery of the youth trend "emo", and offers an anthropological view as to why so many teenagers go around looking like the picture of Ian.
ur entertainments reporter tries out a new activity. This time, Ian Ray unravels the mystery of the youth trend "emo", and offers an anthropological view as to why so many teenagers go around looking like the picture of Ian.FOR some time now there has been a term that has been thrown at young people and bands alike, a label that is shrouded in mystery for anyone over 20 years of age: emo.
But just what does this term mean? Is it a kind of music or a tribe of teenagers? And wasn't Emo that pretend bird that Rod Hull used to goose Michael Parkinson with?
The interesting thing about emo – already a somewhat dated label – is that if you were to go to a concert and ask the youngsters with their jeans halfway down their backsides and their hair stuck to one side of their face exactly what it is, they might not know either. The use of the term is often fluid and unspecific, and the kids that find themselves the target of the term usually hate it (that shouldn't stop anyone calling them it, though).
Like most youth movements or trends, emo is a total mystery to the parents of its exponents, and rightly so – youth culture loses some of its kick when dad is in on the action, and so the emo child positively courts the disapproval of the parent figure.
The term found its origins in the USA in the '80s, when a loosely-related group of bands were given the label "emotional hardcore". Their style of music was picked up by the likes of Husker Du and Fugazi, who in turn, influenced our current crop of emo outfits – most of whom hate the label (Jimmy Eat World, Panic! at the Disco, My Chemical Romance).
Much of the appeal of these bands to the teenage ear lies in the original definition of "emotional hardcore", with the emphasis very much on the word "emotional". Few of us remember our teenage years as an enriching journey towards maturity, and instead appreciate them for the harrowing descent into emotional turmoil they were, so it seems logical that young people will look for music of this type.
Just as I found solace in the dad-upsetting scream and explosive guitars of Nirvana and Soundgarden, the next generation of teenagers have found their own laureates in Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, or pin-up Pete Wentz of Fallout Boy.
Self-expression and introspection are very much the order of the day with these artists. Dashboard Confessional – aka Chris Carrabba – makes use of diary-like lyrics, and an appreciation of sometimes mawkish sentiment is very much a must for those intending to become emo kids.
The scene often attracts the more sensitive kids at school, reinforcing the athlete/aesthete divide that persists in sixth form blocks across the land.
A ton of bands have had the emo label applied to their music, and for many years the term was particularly irksome to rock journalists who fetishise specific categorisation.The broadness of the term had an interesting result in that at some unspecified point, the kids who were into this music went from being described as "into emo" to simply "emos".
I can remember seeing a young man with dyed black hair and a touch of eyeliner getting a bit of grief at a gig once, and one of my mates saying "it's pretty unfair picking on an emo like that", a comment that offers a revealing insight into the way the young emo male is perceived in society – he is emotional and weak.
There are recognisable fashions to this group of people. At his most stereotypical, the emo has dyed black hair, with optional subversive red streaks. The hair is characterised by a fringe, with extra points for those that cover at least one eye. Black outfits are mandatory, but monochromatic attire can be lifted with an inexpensive studded belt or the odd badge here and there.
Tight jeans allow for the pipe cleaner legs effect, and again, the message is accessorise, accessorise. Chains can work wonders with a pair of lifeless strides.
So there you have it. I hope I have given you, dear reader, an insight into this mysterious strand of youth culture.
The truth of the whole "scene" – if it really is one – is that the the clothes and music change from generation to generation, but teenagers will always find their own methods of breaking away from their parents and school and finding their own identity.
And it's always helpful if in doing so, they won't stand out too much from the other kids.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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