By now every high school teen has heard the term ‘emo’ at least once, or has heard a song from the genre -- knowingly or in the background. This word has come to mean much more than a type of music: it is being used as an insult nationwide among adolescents, taking place of degrading words like ‘pansy’ or ‘gay’ and also represents a style of dress that includes tight clothes, lots of black, choppy haircuts, horned rimmed glasses and the like. So why has this vague, three letter word come to mean so many things, or better yet, where does the tag originate from and what bands are associated with its origins?

‘Emo’ was first used to describe a style of music being played during the mid-80s in Washington DC that had branched off the local hardcore scene. Rites of Spring and Embrace, two bands that had formed to counter the violent hardcore shows, single-handedly started the genre by singing about relationships, becoming emotionally ‘moved’ on-stage, pushing their voice to the limit and smashing equipment. Members of these two bands formed Fugazi two-and-a-half years later, and the ‘D.C. scene,’ as it became known, grew to include a half-dozen or so other groups. This scene took root in other places such as San Diego, but went relatively ignored and sounded fairly similar to the punk groups of the time.

The first ‘emo’ sound dissolved around 1994, the year Sunny Day Real Estate released its debut, “Diary,” the staple in the second generation of ‘emo.’ Being signed on Sub Pop, the same label as the popular Nirvana, Sunny Day received nationwide recognition; however, Sunny Day and other bands like The Promise Ring and The Appleseed Cast did not like this rising popularity and eventually changed their sound, returning underground. During the ‘90s, many different sounds of ‘emo’ emerged—Jade Tree Records, Saddle Creek, Crank Records and Big Wheel Recreation are testimonies to this. These different sounds, all centered on the emotion of the lead singer and his or her lyrics, should have evolved into their own distinct strands, but that’s not exactly what happened.

The second generation went nearly extinct by the end of the ‘90s, and the tag was carried on by Jimmy Eat World, a band of the second generation, that started to become more radio-friendly at the time. This third wave, circa 2000, made a change, rather, addition to the genre: the scream. The genre ‘screamo’ existed in the ‘90s, but was never considered strictly ‘emo’ because there was no emotional singing -- only screaming. In this third generation, any band that both sings and screams or sings open-diary-type lyrics can be considered part of the genre, whether the band likes it or not. Forget the physically trying and emotionally tied singing styles, bands that consider themselves ‘emo’ separate their distress to strictly screams and then try to sing as best they can when not ruining their vocal chords. Other bands that don’t scream, however, like Death Cab for Cutie and Bright Eyes, have been unwillingly tagged with this term. In short, if you’re not country, rap or pop, you must be ‘emo.’