Being in middle school was weird. You were too old to be considered cute and innocent by adults, but too young to be given the respect and freedoms that come with adulthood. You were encouraged to express yourself and pursue your passions, but the unforgiving environment of middle school constantly tried to push you into the mold of conformity. Your body was beginning to change and grow with the progression of puberty, but—actually, lets not go there. Anyway, given how turbulent of a time middle school was, preteens from the early 2000s frequently turned to emo music, hoping to find some lyrics to express their inner angst. Of course though, with no money or means of transportation, teenagers began to explore the growing frontier that they were becoming increasingly familiar with: the internet.
Emotional hardcore music, or “emo” for short, has a history that begins long before the internet became mainstream. This genre has roots in the United Kingdom with the loud and brash punk music from groups like Black Flag, The Dead Kennedys, and Hüsker Dü, before this music style extended across the pond to D.C. in the mid-80s and the hardcore punk scene was on the rise, led by groups including Rites of Spring and Embrace in the Revolution Summer of 1985. Alt rock and indie groups in the Midwest then twisted this genre into something more cathartic and mainstream, and finally at the turn of the century, these bands began to adopt a pop-based sound and write more emotional, angst-filled lyrics, prompting the emo genre to take off. In conjunction with this, the invention of social media platforms including Myspace and Facebook, and music streaming sites like Youtube, Pandora, Spotify, created conditions for the perfect online emo music storm.
The online emo music scene allowed listeners to enjoy and rave about this genre from the comfort of their own homes, sometimes even interacting with the revered musicians themselves via social media platforms, prompting an entire online subculture to evolve from this music scene. A simple search of the term “emo” on Tumblr yields thousands of results, with blogs like The Aging Scene Kid and Washed Up Emo among the top results, and music streaming sites all offer a plethora of emo music playlists and albums. And even though the majority of fans were teenagers, spread throughout the world and interacting only through instant messenger, these listeners managed to adapt their own singular look, complete with thick eyeliner, skinny jeans, and black band tees. Remarkably too, this music scene paid little mind to the gender of listeners, perhaps because of the anonymity granted to internet users. This anonymity also allowed listeners portray themselves however they wish, and actually shape the very music scene that they were a part of.
As with many subcultures, the emo music scene died as it slipped into the mainstream. Most relics of emo music today are jabs at this overdramatic genre, including a spoof song of President Trump’s tweets as lyrics to an emo song and a plethora of “cringe compilations.” Nonetheless, this online scene was revolutionary in how it used the internet to connect people from all over the world, granting otherwise misunderstood teenagers a place to express their ideas and bond with one another over a shared love of music.
The Power of Music 