My wish for 2010 — the death of Emo

It’s 2010! Another year full of possibilities. For this year, I am filled with hope that more awesome music releases will be unleashed on us — the music loving public.

But if there’s one thing that I also fervently wish for 2010 is the death of emo.

Emo “music” is one of silliest subgenres I’ve encountered in my decades-long obsession with music. What really is emo? How could whining lyrics sang by singers who sing through their noses be considered a subgenre? Emo is useless and an obvious commercial tag just to entice kids to buy (or download) music and get into a “lifestyle” that’s as poseur as it gets.

I’m not saying emo is the only useless genre of its kind. I felt the same way when “nu metal” was the in-thing, or when “new wave” or “grunge” were popular subgenres. But these examples actually had something going for it. Nu metal was an introduction (albeit contrived) to the melding of rap and metal to the general public. New Wave produced so many awesome bands that I won’t even mention it, and grunge brought a paradigm shift that destroyed the so-called formula for what is “commercial” and “popular.” Emo doesn’t offer any of these things. It’s a handy label plastered on the pop punk/hard rock genre that just so happened to have “woe is me” lyrics, whilst cribbing the getup of goths. What these emo fans don’t know is that every genre or artist have their own depressed and introspective icons. Being depressed or singing about teen angst is not a music genre, it’s a state of mind.  If we’ll follow how the emo junkies define their music then Country music should be considered emo too.

Johnny Cash as an emo icon… well, at least it’s imaginative.