First wave (1985–1994)

In 1985 in Washington, D.C., Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, veterans of the DC
hardcore music scene, took their music in a more personal direction with a far greater
sense of experimentation, bringing forth MacKaye's Embrace and Picciotto's Rites of
Spring. The style of music developed by Embrace and Rites of Spring soon became its
own sound. As a result of the renewed spirit of experimentation and musical innovation
that developed the new scene, the summer of 1985 soon came to be known in the scene as
"Revolution Summer".[7]

Where the term emo actually originated is uncertain: the earliest print citation found so
far appears in 1997,[8] although some claim that members of Rites of Spring mentioned in
a 1985 Flipside Magazine interview that some of their fans had started using the term to
describe their music.[citation needed]

Within a short time, the D.C. emo sound began to influence other bands such as Moss
Icon, Nation of Ulysses, Dag Nasty, Soulside, Shudder to Think, Fire Party, Marginal
Man, Foundation and Gray Matter, many of which were released on MacKaye's Dischord
Records.

At the same time, in the New York/New Jersey area, bands such as Native Nod, Policy of
3, Rye Coalition, and Quicksand[9] were feeling the same impulse. Many of these bands
were involved with the ABC No Rio club scene in New York, itself a response to the
violence and stagnation in the scene and with the bands that played at CBGBs, the only
other small venue for hardcore in New York at the time.

Following the disbanding of Embrace in 1986, MacKaye established the influential group
Fugazi, and was soon joined by Picciotto. While Fugazi itself is not typically categorized
as emo, the band's music is cited as an influence by popular second-wave bands such as
Sunny Day Real Estate,[10] Far,[11] Braid,[12] and Jimmy Eat World.[13]

Second wave (1994–2000)

As Fugazi and the Dischord Records scene became increasingly popular in the indie
underground of the early 1990s, new bands began to spring up.

Diary was released by Sunny Day Real Estate in 1994. The band performed on TV
shows, including The Jon Stewart Show.

Inspired by Fugazi and Sunny Day Real Estate, Jimmy Eat World released the album
Static Prevails in 1996 on Capitol Records.

A Cornerstone of the late-Nineties emo movement was Weezer's 1996 album Pinkerton,
which was to be considered one of the defining emo records of the 90s and was said to
have introduced emo to a larger and more mainstream audience.[14][15]
In 1997, Deep Elm Records released the first installment in a series of compilations
called Emo Diaries, featuring tracks from Jimmy Eat World, Samiam, and Jejune.

Mainstream emo (2000–present)

While Jimmy Eat World had played emocore-style music early in their career, by the
time of the release of their 2001 album Bleed American, the band had downplayed its
emo influences, releasing more pop-oriented singles such as "The Middle" and
"Sweetness". Newer bands that sounded like Jimmy Eat World (and, in some cases, like
the more melodic emo bands of the late 90s) were soon included in the genre.[16]

2003 saw the success of Chris Carrabba, the former singer of emo band Further Seems
Forever, and his project Dashboard Confessional. Carraba found himself part of the
emerging "popular" emo scene. Carrabba's music featured lyrics founded in deep diary-
like outpourings of emotion. While certainly emotional, the new "emo" had a far greater
appeal amongst adolescents than its earlier incarnations.[17]

At the same time, use of the term "emo" expanded beyond the musical genre, which
added to the confusion surrounding the term. The word "emo" became associated with
open displays of strong emotion. Common fashion styles and attitudes that were
becoming idiomatic of fans of similar "emo" bands also began to be referred to as "emo."
As a result, bands that were loosely associated with "emo" trends or simply demonstrated
emotion began to be referred to as emo.[18]

In a strange twist, screamo, a more aggressive sub-genre of emo that began in the early
90s, also had a reformulation of sound and has found greater popularity in recent years
through bands such as Glassjaw.[19]

The difficulty in defining "emo" as a genre may have started at the very beginning. In a
2003 interview by Mark Prindle, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi and Rites of Spring was asked
how he felt about "being the creator of the emo genre." He responded:

I don't recognize that attribution. I've never recognized "emo" as a genre of music. I
always thought it was the most retarded term ever. I know there is this generic
commonplace that every band that gets labeled with that term hates it. They feel
scandalized by it. But honestly, I just thought that all the bands I played in were punk
rock bands. The reason I think it's so stupid is that—what, like the Bad Brains weren't
emotional? What—they were robots or something? It just doesn't make any sense to me.

—Mark Prindle,  "Interview with Guy Picciotto". MarkPrindle.com (2003).

Fashion and stereotype

Long fringe (bangs) brushed to one side.

Today emo is commonly tied to both music and fashion as well as an inspiration toward
the emo subculture,[20] and the term "emo" is sometimes stereotyped with tight jeans on
males and females alike, long fringe (bangs) brushed to one side of the face or over one
or both eyes, dyed black, straight hair, tight t-shirts (sometimes short sleeved) which
often bear the names of emo bands (or other designer shirts), studded belts, belt buckles,
canvas sneakers or skate shoes or other black shoes and thick, black horn-rimmed
glasses.[21][22][23] This fashion has at times been characterized as a fad.[24]

Another example of hair characteristic of emo.

In recent years the popular media have associated emo with a stereotype that includes
being emotional, sensitive, shy, introverted, or angsty.[25][26][27] It is also associated with
depression, self-injury, and suicide.[28][29]

Backlash
Warped Tour founder, Kevin Lyman stated that he believes there is an emo backlash
saying that he sees "I hate emo" t-shirts and that there was hostility among bands on the
tour towards emo groups.[30]

In 2008, Time Magazine reported that "anti-emo" groups attacked teenagers in Mexico
City, Querétaro, and Tijuana.[31][32] One of Mexico's foremost critics of emo was Kristoff,
a music presenter on the popular TV channel Telehit.
Gerard Way, the lead singer of My Chemical Romance stated in an interview "emo is a
pile of shit", and that his "band was never emo".[33] Panic at the Disco also stated in an
interview with NME: "emo is bullshit."[34] These two bands, however, tend to be
classified as emo.

Fans of emo are criticized[who?] for purported displays of emotion common in the scene.
Complaints claimed that emotions were expressed in an histrionic manner.[35]

Justin Jacobs has criticised emo music of the early 2000s, arguing it became boring and
generic.[36]

Emo music has been blamed for the suicide by hanging of Hannah Bond by both the
coroner at the inquest into her death and her mother, Heather Bond, after it was claimed
that emo music glamorized suicide and her apparent obsession with My Chemical
Romance was said to be linked to her suicide. The inquest heard that she was part of an
Internet "emo" cult [37] and her Bebo page contained an image of an 'emo girl' with bloody
wrists.[38] It also heard that she had discussed the "glamour" of hanging online[37] and had
explained to her parents that her self harming was an "emo initiation ceremony".[38]
Heather Bond criticised emo fashion, saying: "There are 'emo' websites that show pink
teddies hanging themselves." After the verdict was reported in NME, fans of emo music
contacted the magazine to defend against accusations that it promotes self harm and
suicide.[39]

In Russia, a law has been presented at the Duma to regulate emo websites and forbid emo
style at schools and government buildings, for fears of emo being a "dangerous teen
trend" promoting anti-social behaviour, depression, social withdrawal and even suicide.
[40][41]