Editing Emo (section)

== Etymology ==
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| quote = Emo means different things to different people. Actually, that's a massive understatement. Emo seems to ''solely'' 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 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, [but] there is not now, nor has there ever been, a single major band that admits to being emo. Not one.
| source = Music critic [[Andy Greenwald]] in the book ''Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo.'' (published November 15, 2003). St. Martins Griffin. pp. 1-2.
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The term "emo" has been the subject of debate and disagreement amongst artists, critics, and fans alike. Some find the label to be loosely defined<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 'Emo Revival' Drudges Up a Genre Debate {{!}} 34th Street Magazine<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=https://www.34st.com/article/2019/10/emo-revival-fall-out-boy-panic-at-the-disco-my-chemical-romance-dashboard-confessional-jimmy-eat-world |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031042606/https://www.34st.com/article/2019/10/emo-revival-fall-out-boy-panic-at-the-disco-my-chemical-romance-dashboard-confessional-jimmy-eat-world |archive-date=October 31, 2021 |access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> with the term at times being used to describe any music that expresses emotion.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=August 15, 2018 |title=In its fourth wave, emo is revived and thriving<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=https://fansided.com/2018/08/15/fourth-wave-emo-revival-bands-tours-definition-music-songs/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031042600/https://fansided.com/2018/08/15/fourth-wave-emo-revival-bands-tours-definition-music-songs/ |archive-date=October 31, 2021 |access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> "The mainstream success of emo and its related subculture caused the term to be conflated with other genres.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 13, 2020 |title=100 Best Emo Songs of All Time<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/best-emo-songs.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213181251/https://www.vulture.com/article/best-emo-songs.html |archive-date=February 13, 2020 |access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> Additionally, fans of traditional emo music have expressed distaste for the genre's expanding definition, and what they perceive as "commercialization" of the genre.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Song |first=Sandra |date=December 29, 2023 |title=In photos: The angsty era of emo music |url=https://www.cnn.com/style/emo-music-bands-negatives-photos/index.html |access-date=March 29, 2025 |website=CNN}}</ref>

Chris Payne, author of ''Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion,'' assessed: "Emo has a lot of different definitions for different people. For me, it can be like the old DIY stuff, like Cap'n Jazz [and] American Football, and then also the more popular stuff like … My Chemical Romance, Paramore and even the emo-rap stuff like Lil Peep."<ref>{{Cite web |title=5 things we learned about the legacy of emo music from author Chris Payne |url=https://www.cbc.ca/arts/commotion/5-things-we-learned-about-the-legacy-of-emo-music-from-author-chris-payne-1.6881146 |website=CBC Arts |last=Eqbal |first=Amelia |date=June 19, 2023 |access-date=May 5, 2025}}</ref>

Many bands labeled as emo rejected the emo label.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hickie |first=James |title=9 bands commonly mistaken as emo who really aren't |url=https://www.altpress.com/bands-mistaken-as-emo/ |access-date=March 29, 2025 |website=Alternative Press Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> In Chris Payne's book ''Where Are Your Boys Tonight?'' (2023), [[Bayside (band)|Bayside]] vocalist [[Anthony Raneri]] stated that he believed emo became "a dirty word" around the time of its mainstream success in the 2000s. He explains this derogatory use of the word derived from [[hipster (contemporary subculture)|hipsters]] adopting the term to demean rock artists they saw as being "not as cool as" the popular indie rock groups of the time, namely [[the Strokes]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Payne |first1=Chris |title=Where Are Your Boys Tonight? The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008 |date=2023 |publisher=Dey Street Books |isbn=9780063251281 |page=109 |quote=Our scene was all honesty and grit and basements and connection. And that scene was, like, drugs, and sort of the revival of glam rock. They were like rock stars. They wore ripped clothes; they were selling what we were doing. But they weren't living it, you know? That's where "emo" as a dirty word I feel comes from, from hipsters, because it’s not as cool as the Strokes. Nothing's as cool as the Strokes, though, you know what I mean? The Strokes are like, the coolest band. They just sell cool. To this day, so many people try to fight off that emo tag. It's because of those early 2000s hipsters thinking it's not cool.}}</ref> My Chemical Romance singer [[Gerard Way]] said in 2007 that emo is "a pile of shit [...] I think there are bands that we get lumped in with that are considered emo and, by default, that starts to make us emo. All I can say is that anyone actually listening to the records, putting the records next to each other and listening to them, [would know there are] actually no similarities."<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 20, 2007 |title=My Chemical Romance brand emo 'shit' |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/my-chemical-romance-165-1342656 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200327004114/https://www.nme.com/news/music/my-chemical-romance-165-1342656 |archive-date=March 27, 2020 |access-date=April 21, 2020 |website=NME}}</ref> Additionally, Quinn Villarreal of ''[[Sirius XM|SiriusXM]]'' stated that "having 'feelings' in the 2000s and 2010s wasn’t 'cool.' So, the term 'emo' became a pejorative, which is why it’s oftentimes rejected by bands and fans."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Villarreal |first=Quinn |title=Emo Through the Years: Explore the Ever-Evolving Genre |url=https://www.siriusxm.com/blog/emo-day-genre-evolution |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=SiriusXM |language=en}}</ref> 

[[Brendon Urie]] of Panic! at the Disco said : "It's ignorant! The stereotype is guys that are weak and have failing relationships write about how sad they are. If you listen to our songs, not one of them has that tone."<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 18, 2006 |title=Panic! At The Disco declare emo "Bullshit!" The band reject "weak" stereotype |url=https://www.nme.com/news/nme/24758 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101228145612/http://www.nme.com/news/nme/24758 |archive-date=December 28, 2010 |access-date=August 10, 2008 |website=[[NME]]}}</ref> [[Adam Lazzara]] of Taking Back Sunday said he always considered his band [[rock and roll]] instead of emo.<ref>{{cite web |date=August 21, 2019 |title=Adam Lazzara On Taking Back Sunday Being Classified As Emo "I Never Considered Us An Emo Band" |work=Rock Sound Magazine |url=https://www.rocksound.tv/news/read/adam-lazarra-on-taking-back-sunday-on-being-classified-as-emo-i-never-consi |accessdate=August 24, 2022 |publisher=Rock Sound}}</ref> Guitarist of [[the Get Up Kids]], [[Jim Suptic]], noted the differences between the 2000s mainstream acts when compared to the emo bands of the 1990s, saying, “The punk scene we came out of and the punk scene now are completely different. It's like [[glam rock]] now. We played [[The Bamboozle|the Bamboozle fests]] this year and we felt really out of place... If this is the world we helped create, then I apologise.”<ref>{{Cite web |title="If this is the world we helped create, then I apologise." the Get up Kids, Get Back / In Depth // Drowned in Sound |url=http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4137393-if-this-is-the-world-we-helped-create-then-i-apologise-the-get-up-kids-get-back |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103124934/http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4137393-if-this-is-the-world-we-helped-create-then-i-apologise-the-get-up-kids-get-back |archive-date=November 3, 2019 |access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> Vocalist of AFI, [[Davey Havok]], described emo as “such a strange and meaningless word.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 31, 2017 |title=Davey Havok on the "Insulting" Term "Emo" and Why AFI Will Probably Stay Together 'Til They're as Old as the Rolling Stones |url=https://musicfeeds.com.au/features/davey-havok-insulting-term-emo-afi-will-probably-stay-together-til-theyre-old-rolling-stones/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825143400/http://musicfeeds.com.au/features/davey-havok-insulting-term-emo-afi-will-probably-stay-together-til-theyre-old-rolling-stones/ |archive-date=August 25, 2018 |access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref> Early emo musicians also have rejected the label. [[Guy Picciotto]], the vocalist of Rites of Spring, said he considers the emo label "retarded" and always considered Rites of Spring a punk rock band: "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."<ref>{{cite web |last=Prindle |first=Mark |title=Guy Picciotto interview |url=http://www.markprindle.com/picciotto-i.htm |accessdate=August 24, 2022}}</ref> Ian MacKaye, after an article in ''[[Thrasher (magazine)|Thrasher]]'' magazine referring to Embrace and other Washington, D.C., bands as "emo-core", he called it "the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard in my entire life" during a live performance.<ref name="khanna">{{Cite web |last=Khanna |first=Vish |date=February 2007 |title=Timeline: Ian MacKaye – Out of Step |url=http://exclaim.ca/articles/timeline.aspx?csid1=107 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130110112243/http://exclaim.ca/articles/timeline.aspx?csid1=107 |archive-date=January 10, 2013 |access-date=April 19, 2009 |publisher=Exclaim.ca}}</ref> Sunny Day Real Estate's members said they consider themselves simply a rock band, and said that back in the early days, the word "emocore" was an insult: "While I don't disrespect anyone for using the term emo-core, or rock, or anything, but back in the day, emo-core was just about the worst dis that you could throw on a band."<ref>{{cite web |date=November 12, 1998 |title=Sunny Day Real Estate Talks About the "Emo-Core" Tag |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/8hasoc/sunny-day-real-estate-talks-about-the-emo-core-tag |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220806031219/https://www.mtv.com/news/8hasoc/sunny-day-real-estate-talks-about-the-emo-core-tag |archive-date=August 6, 2022 |accessdate=August 24, 2022 |publisher=MTV}}</ref> 

The term “mall emo” has been used to separate mainstream bands like [[Paramore]], [[Hawthorne Heights]], My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, and Fall Out Boy from the less commercially viable bands that proceeded and [[emo revival|succeeded them]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oh So Emo - Panel |url=https://www.mopop.org/programs-plus-education/programs/pop-conference/programs/oh-so-emo-panel/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031042551/https://www.mopop.org/programs-plus-education/programs/pop-conference/programs/oh-so-emo-panel/ |archive-date=October 31, 2021 |access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sellout: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo and Hardcore 1994-2007, by Dan Ozzi, 377 PGS. - Razorcake |url=https://razorcake.org/sellout-the-major-label-feeding-frenzy-that-swept-punk-emo-and-hardcore-1994-2007-by-dan-ozzi-377-pgs/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031042552/https://razorcake.org/sellout-the-major-label-feeding-frenzy-that-swept-punk-emo-and-hardcore-1994-2007-by-dan-ozzi-377-pgs/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sellout-the-major-label-feeding-frenzy-that-swept-punk-emo-and-hardcore-1994-2007-by-dan-ozzi-377-pgs |archive-date=October 31, 2021 |access-date=October 31, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=April 30, 2018 |title=The beginner's guide to the evolution of emo |url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/emo-wave-guide-evolution-2302802 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813075941/https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/emo-wave-guide-evolution-2302802 |archive-date=August 13, 2018 |access-date=August 13, 2018 |website=[[NME]]}}</ref> The term "mall emo" dates back to around 2002, when many emo fans did not like the change emo was going through at the time when the genre became mainstream.<ref name="NewsTwentyFour" /> 

Tom Mullen, editor of the ''Anthology of Emo'' book, created the website Washed Up Emo in 2007 in response to the mainstream perceptions of the genre, intending to impart information about the genre's history.<ref name="The Ringer - IsThisBandEmo">{{cite web |last=Sayles |first=Justin |date=July 26, 2022 |title=Meet the Man Trying to Move Emo Beyond Its "Hair Metal" Past |url=https://www.theringer.com/music/2022/7/26/23278064/is-this-band-emo-tom-mullen-interview-washed-up-emo |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726103205/https://www.theringer.com/music/2022/7/26/23278064/is-this-band-emo-tom-mullen-interview-washed-up-emo |archive-date=July 26, 2022 |access-date=February 6, 2024 |website=[[The Ringer (website)|The Ringer]]}}</ref> He later created the website [[Is This Band Emo?]] in 2014, which explains whether various bands are classified under the genre alongside humorous responses.<ref name="The Ringer 2 - IsThisBandEmo">{{cite web |last=Sayles |first=Justin |date=July 25, 2022 |title=The (Slightly Abridged) Dictionary of Emo |url=https://www.theringer.com/music/2022/7/25/23276713/emo-dictionary-definition-emo-subculture-genre-fifth-wave |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725150540/https://www.theringer.com/music/2022/7/25/23276713/emo-dictionary-definition-emo-subculture-genre-fifth-wave |archive-date=July 25, 2022 |access-date=February 6, 2024 |website=[[The Ringer (website)|The Ringer]]}}</ref><ref name="Consequence - IsThisBandEmo">{{cite web |last=Coplan |first=Chris |date=January 22, 2015 |title=Is your favorite band emo? This website has the answer |url=https://consequence.net/2015/01/is-your-favorite-band-emo-this-website-has-the-answer/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123110256/https://consequenceofsound.net/2015/01/is-your-favorite-band-emo-this-website-has-the-answer/ |archive-date=January 23, 2015 |access-date=February 6, 2024 |website=[[Consequence (publication)|Consequence]]}}</ref>