Emo

"Emo means different things to different people. Actually, that's a massive understatement. Emo seems soley to mean different things to different people − like pig latin or books by Thomas Pynchon, confusion is one of its hallmark traits. [...] The word has survived and flourished in three decades, two milleniums, and two Bush administrations. It's older than four baseball teams, six basketball teams, four football teams, and two soccer leagues. It's older than five former Yugoslav republics, the last seven national spelling champions, and Avril Lavigne. It's older than most of its fans. It's been a source of pride, a target of derision, a mark of confusion, and a sign of the times. It's been the next big thing twice, [and] the current big thing once. And yet, not only can no one agree on what it means, there is not now, nor has there ever been, a single major band that admits to being emo. Not one. That's pretty impressive, and contentious. And ridiculous. Good thing too − because so is emo."

"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."

"The one fact that no one seems to debate − or at least debate that loudly − is that emo emerged from hardcore."

"Emo is not supposed to hold up. You get older and maybe you feel the same, but the same just feels different."

"It's safe to say emo music today is barely a shadow of what it once was. Nobody today thinks about the DIY hardcore punk element that the genre was founded on. Now when you hear emo you think Hot Topic, you think whiny pre-teens, and you think terrible sellout radio tunes. Most people either hate or love the genre of emo based on the era they grew up in. Lovers of the first wave generally hate the 1990's second wave, listeners from the 90's generally hate the 2000's era, and people who grew up through the 3rd wave now realize what crappy music they were listening too. Whether you love it or hate it, you might as well laugh at it."