My emo theory...

[thickasabrick]

Does anyone think that emo music, which usually expresses feelings of sadness and talks about lifes problems, is just the newer form of blues?

is that not what blues music was originally all about? all the black people singing about their problems being black and poor and other such things, eventually white people started singing the blues, although they didn't have as much to complain about. eventually the situation bettered a little for black people, slavery was gone, laws were made, so they didn't have as much reason to sing the blues.

so after a few decades, no one really needs to sing the blues, black people aren't looked down upon nearly as much, white people never had a reason for the blues...people need to find other ways to express their unhappy emotions.
suddenly Kurt Cobain started signing the blues, although not in the original true blues way, it was a new form of blues. it took rock n roll, which was a genre born out of blues, and turned it into grunge. when grunge died off, true rock music wasn't around much, there was a lot of pop music, a lot of metal but no true rock. eventually emo showed up, which had the same ideas that the old blues guys sang about, kurt cobain sang about, it was just in a new style.

so basically if you make fun of someone for "being emo", you are making fun of the blues, which is the basis for a lot of rock and roll music. and no one has the right to make fun of someone for "being rock and roll".


did that make sense to anyone cuz it kind of just happened spur of the moment.

[oXsuzyshinnXo]

Yeah that made sense..but blues has a jazz kind of mellow tone on it's guitar, and emo is more rock I guess you could say. I don't know where I'm getting at really but I get what you're talking about. I partially agree...
And emo people are awesome.

[Iai]

I think you really didn't think this through. Either that, or you know very little about the blues.

[DemBonez]

Originally Posted by thickasabrick

did that make sense to anyone cuz it kind of just happened spur of the moment.

No. Saying "I hate emo music" has no correlation to blues music at all. General theme may be the same, but that's where the comparasions stop. A blues song can be happy, yet the style that it is played is still part of the blues. The meaning behind the song doesn't classify it's genre, it's how the song is structured. The gypsys in Europe have been writing music with these sad themes for hundreds of years, but their music hardly has anything to do with the blues.

Emo could be modern society's form of complaining. I see nothing resembling the blues at all in the emo music I have heard, and to say it is a "newer form of blues" doesn't work for me. The blues is still kicking, although you made it sound like some lost art. Your whole statement about people's reasons for the blues is asinine. Everyone is different, the most obscure people can have the most obscure reasons to feel whatever they do.

[deejuks2]

i hate emo people. they can't ever seem to have any sort of fun

[Reaganista]

emo is a post-hardcore genre.

[DFelon204409]

You are all so ignorant. Emo has been around since 1984, long before grunge was ever formed. On top of that emo isn't all about complaining. In fact most of it is extremely introspective and poetic as opposed to the straight forward, frank cynicism of the blues or the toned down Gen X values of grunge. Emo is ornate and extremely different than what you're pinning it down as.

[DemBonez]

Green River was around in the mid-80's ('85 being their first album) so I doubt emo was long before grunge. You either have to generalize them all or none of them, can't just paint it in the way you want to.

[Jimbo3181]

Even if emo dates as far back as '84, how can you say that the direction it's heading in is very good? I can't stand the music that's labeled "emo" or "screamo" or "hardcore". It can be interesting if the artists actually know something about music, but it seems these days that if you give someone a guitar and say to them "here, write a song" it's automatically considered planned out, knowledgeable music.

That's what I think, anyways.

[DFelon204409]

Originally Posted by Jimbo3181

Even if emo dates as far back as '84, how can you say that the direction it's heading in is very good? I can't stand the music that's labeled "emo" or "screamo" or "hardcore". It can be interesting if the artists actually know something about music, but it seems these days that if you give someone a guitar and say to them "here, write a song" it's automatically considered planned out, knowledgeable music.

That's what I think, anyways.

I'm going to assume that you don't know what emo actually is or else you wouldn't have made that comment. A lot of modern emo is very similar to early emo. A lot is drastically different. The directions of modern emo are classical and modern but they're still both good in the vein of original emo. You should try listening to a modern emo band like Circle Takes the Square (www.hxcmp3.com/bands/1710) who are different than the crap people label as emo these days. The direction emo is heading is amazing and actually requires more and more talent considering acts like Hot Cross and CTTS.

[DFelon204409]

Originally Posted by DemBonez

Green River was around in the mid-80's ('85 being their first album) so I doubt emo was long before grunge. You either have to generalize them all or none of them, can't just paint it in the way you want to.

Never heard of Green River but I'm going to take your word for it. Let's look at it from a different point of view then. When did emo hit its height? 1985ish. When did screamo hit its height? 1992ish in San Diego. That's well before grunge hit its height in around 1993 and 1994.

[DemBonez]

Originally Posted by DFelon204409

Never heard of Green River but I'm going to take your word for it. Let's look at it from a different point of view then. When did emo hit its height? 1985ish. When did screamo hit its height? 1992ish in San Diego. That's well before grunge hit its height in around 1993 and 1994.

Green River is considered to be the first grunge band, and they formed in 1984. Two of the members are now in Pearl Jam.


I disagree fully about when each genre peaked. By you needing to tell us the history of emo, it shows it wasn't that big during the '80s. I am assuming more people know who Weezer and Pedro The Lion than the stuff put out in the '80s (I can't name any, but I'm not exactly someone who could name anything modern either). If you meant the quality of the music, then I wouldn't be able to weigh in there. I don't listen to either genre ... pretty much at all.

[dogliver41]

Emo is just people complaining about stupid ****. I've never heard the older Emo bands, but now it's a joke. I find the genre sounding more like a producer oriented genre, like disco and pop. I'm sorry to see that music has never really recovered after Nirvana. I'm glad to say this to you guys but: EMO IS GAY!!! I agree with what DemBonez has said about Emo and the blues, they're not the same . Now screw u guys, i have to write an essay

[TouchNGo]

that an interesting theory put forward by the thread starter, i think they meant to point out both styles of music have an undercurrent of emotion and pain and that emo could be the modern day equivalent of what the blues was at that particular time, not to draw comparisons musically. not that i agree with the theory, thats just my interpretation of it.

[BuddyBigsby]

Hahaha, no.

[Zappa]

You really ARE thick as a brick, aren't you?

[Silvermedalmafia]

Wow, emo and blues. There is absolutely NO connection between them.

[izzy]

Originally Posted by thickasabrick

Does anyone think that emo music, which usually expresses feelings of sadness and talks about lifes problems, is just the newer form of blues?

is that not what blues music was originally all about? all the black people singing about their problems being black and poor and other such things, eventually white people started singing the blues, although they didn't have as much to complain about. eventually the situation bettered a little for black people, slavery was gone, laws were made, so they didn't have as much reason to sing the blues.

so after a few decades, no one really needs to sing the blues, black people aren't looked down upon nearly as much, white people never had a reason for the blues...people need to find other ways to express their unhappy emotions.
suddenly Kurt Cobain started signing the blues, although not in the original true blues way, it was a new form of blues. it took rock n roll, which was a genre born out of blues, and turned it into grunge. when grunge died off, true rock music wasn't around much, there was a lot of pop music, a lot of metal but no true rock. eventually emo showed up, which had the same ideas that the old blues guys sang about, kurt cobain sang about, it was just in a new style.

so basically if you make fun of someone for "being emo", you are making fun of the blues, which is the basis for a lot of rock and roll music. and no one has the right to make fun of someone for "being rock and roll".


did that make sense to anyone cuz it kind of just happened spur of the moment.

That's pretty damn narrow minded of you, just because white people aren't a minority doesn't mean they didn't have problems. Also, emo is too vaguely related to the blues for you to say you'd hate them both if you hated one of them. That's like saying you have to like two bands just because they were inspired by the same musician. For example, Weezer and Radiohead were both inspired by Pixies. But they're completely different and not all people who like Radiohead like Weezer and vice versa. What things are based off of doesn't say jack shit. Basically most of today's music is based off of the rock if not rock in itself, and that from blues. So if what you said is true, you can't make fun of anyone for liking any music otherwise you'd be making fun of them for disliking blues.

Another thing.

Emo= The Opposite of good
Blues=Good

P.S.- Please don't fill these forums with rants about things you don't know anything about.

[Ledmetalicbeatle]

so basically if you make fun of someone for "being emo", you are making fun of the blues, which is the basis for a lot of rock and roll music. and no one has the right to make fun of someone for "being rock and roll".

That should win an award for the stupidest thing ever said, no really were you up all night thinking about this? The blues is a decent form of music blues musicans were telling you something, where emo kids are complaining about a girl they can't get over. I also don't like that fact that it's called emo last time I check emotions cover more than complaining and crying. Angry, Sad, Happy, Bored these are all emotions where emo doesn't even touch on all of them. I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of crap for saying that all emo is just crying little brats who can't get over a girlfriend but that's all I've heard.

[BuddyBigsby]

I can't get over how stupid this thread is.