What is emo ? And How to Be Emo

They call me a freak, They call me ugly, But they don't
know why I am like this. They think emo means cutter, while I am just emotional, They think I should just die, While I just want to be saved, They think the music I listen to is shit, While rock music is my escape from all the pain I go through, They think screamo isn't music.

If you want to be emo , you should follow these steps:





Part One: The Emo Lifestyle


1 Emo is a state of mind. But like "hipster," "punk," and "leftist," it can mean any number of different things. Mostly, you'll just need the right attitude. Being emo is all about emotional reflection, an acknowledgment of personal anxiety, and a passion for expressive music.












Although others might consider it an easy way to call someone emotional, they aren't strictly correct. Every human is emotional, though compared to an emo every other human might as well be a Vulcan. People who are emo are simply prepared and comfortable enough to showing their natural human emotions.




2 Understand what emo is. The meaning of emo comes from music — "emo" is short for emotive hardcore, a sub-genre of post-hardcore, which still has roots in indie rock today. So its ties to music are especially strong, and they provide the basis for our common understanding of what it means to be emo. But someone who is emo have number of different ways of relating to one another and standing out. Emo is a lot of things.









So while the guy with dark hair and painted nails listening to Dashboard Confessional in Portland might be considered emo by a lot of people, the California blonde who surfs and listens to Dashboard Confessional might consider herself emo as well. There's no one judge about who's emo and who isn't.

People who are emo identify themselves through fashion, but not always. Emos have a way of dressing and expressing themselves through clothes. Some people believe that emo is a way of life and others believe it is a teenage grow out fad. Some people believe there are rules to being emo things such as never calling yourself "emo" and listening to the right bands. Others think that all you need is the right emotional outlook.

Listen to emo music.





Part Two: Music


1 Appreciate Emo music. Emo started in Washington in 1985, with bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace. In recent times, many pop-punk and alternative rock bands have been grouped under the banner of emo or screamo as well.









Probably the first and most important thing to do in order to be considered emo is to listen to emo bands. Test yourself. Try listening to emo music and see if you end up liking it. If you finish wanting to download or buy the songs after you’re done with the album, you’re probably a true emo. If you don't like the music, that's okay too. You can still express your emotions through fashion and lifestyle.

If you don't like emo, try listening to screamo. Screamo is closely related to emo but with more hardcore punk influence and screaming. Some screamo bands include: I Would Set Myself On Fire For You, Portraits of Past, Orchid, Pg.99, Alexisonfire, I Hate Myself, the Saddest Landscape, Indian Summer, Thursday, Funeral for a Friend, Circle Takes The Sqaure, Funeral Diner, City of a Caterpillar, Anomie and Piano Become The Teeth. If you end up liking the music, it doesn't really matter what you call it.




2 Consider picking up an instrument. Being able to play music by yourself or in a band would give you huge credibility. Remember, though, that it takes quite a while for most people to learn an instrument and to start being able to play songs.
Try playing the bass or guitar, or perhaps even the violin, which sounds amazing in emo songs if you invest enough time in it. The drums might also be a very good instrument. You can even write poetry and turn your words into songs. The most important thing is that you're involved somehow in music.




3 Find out which emo bands you like. There are tons of emo bands out there, each with a different musical style. Explore what styles you like and which bands sound good to you. Examples of emo bands include:












Rites of Spring

Embrace

Moss Icon

The Saddest Landscape

Jawbreaker

American Football

Senses Fail

Funeral for a Friend

The Hated

Pg 99

The Used

My Chemical Romance

Hawthorne Heights

Matchbook Romance

Paramore

Silverstein

Thursday

Drive Like Jehu

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Brand New

Weezer

Snowing

Indian Summer

Yage

Jimmy Eat World

Antioch Arrow

Twelve Hour Turn

Loud?

Braid

Texas Is The Reason

Sunny Day Real Estate

Hey Mercedes

Dashboard Confessional

I Hate Myself

Joan of Arc

From Autumn to Ashes

Mineral

Cap'n Jazz

The Appleseed Cast

American Football

The Get Up Kids

Further Seems Forever







Nevertheless, there are tons of bands nowadays mislabeled as emo. Today, often metal music gets tagged as emo, as well as metalcore, hard rock, trancecore and others. Some bands who have been mislabeled as emo include Black Veil Brides, A7X, BFMV, BMTH, As I Lay Dying, Cannibal Corpse, Job for a Cowboy, Suicide Silence, Asking Alexandria, Attack! Attack, Devil Wears Prada, Murderdolls, AFI, Green Day, Good Charlotte, New Found Glory, Blink-182, August Burns Red, Motionless in White, Cradle of Filth, Vampires! Everywhere, Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, For All Those Sleeping, Of Mice and Men, etc. These bands are in different genres.
Part Three: Fashion (optional)


1 There are two emo fashions: old and modern.










Old
Wear glasses (preferably thick rimmed with black rims)

Have cropped or short hair. However, if you're female, you don't need to.

Wear tight jeans.

If you want, you can also have some koi-fish tattoos and/or home-made emo band patches

Wear chuck taylor all-star shoes

Try band-shirts and sweater vests.




Modern
Wear chuck taylor all-star shoes, converse shoes or vans.

Get a hair fringe: The hair will be straight and flat and will have hair covering the sides and back of the head along with medium to long length bangs. If you want, you could also dye the hair black.

Wear a pair of tight-fitting jeans. If you're female, you might want a pair of drainpipe jeans. If you're male, try a pair of tight jeans for guys.

If you want, have a mouth piercing.

Wear a studded belt (especially white).

Wear some short-sleeved t-shirts (especially emo band shirts such as shirts of Dashboard Confessional, Jimmy Eat World, Rites of Spring or Sunny Day Real Estate)

If you wear eyeliner, it should be preferably thin and tracing the eyes. You don't have to wear eyeliner though.

During the winter, you can also wear a hoodie.