Emo is the new normal!

[Veruniel]

It's official.

I was listening to BBC Radio 1, and the announcer was about to put on a song by My Chemical Romance. Before he played it, he joked that Britain's emo population kept calling him and telling him not to play it, because "Only *I* am allowed to like My Chemical Romance," and "I can only listen to it when I'm locked in my room with the lights off." And he told them to cut it out because "Emo is the new Normal! Get used to it!"

I'm sort of curious about what other people think of this. Has emo become popular enough to enter the mainstream, and is it losing its status as an 'alternative' subculture?  

[-Isel-]

I'm flat-out ******** tired of hearing that word used to describe anything.

Because nobody thinks it's used correctly, everyone and their cat is an expert on it now that all these bands are coming out with the word as their label. It's the source of arguments on a daily basis, it's become a term for collective emotions, everyone who isn't calling themselves emo is denying it or hating it. It's a thing that should not be, and a thing that serves to disgust me upon sight.

No music is emo, not nowadays! Of course not! There's always some distinguishing factor! This individualist half-a** indie culture has become normal now and nobody can deal with the hot iron rod that's shoved into their minds to brand them with the fact it's ******** senseless.

Anyway, I'm all for banishing use of the term, regarding anything.  

[Kristoya]

Emo's definately become the new "normal". I think it's disgusting. In their quest for individuality, everyone has ended up becoming exactly the same; they dress the same, they have the EXACTLY same hair style, they act the same, they talk the same, they disgust me. I can't stand those kinds of people.  

[Spooky Ames]

I blame society and bad parenting.  

[Veruniel]

Personally I think the announcer judged emo kids too harshly... but then, maybe I've never experienced Real Ultimate Emo. I live in a semi-rural community that doesn't take trends or subcultures all that seriously, and the emo kids here... well, they look strange, but they don't all look like clones. They're pretty levelheaded too. They can laugh at themselves, and they're not whiney.

But they do wish people would stop popularising their taste in music / clothes / whatever. They figure their subculture will get overrun by whiney brats if it gets too popular. I've heard a lot of goths discuss the same problem.

The tricky question is, how much popularity is too much? Every subculture wants a certain amount of popular interest, or stores won't stock the merchandise it likes and record companies won't back its artists. But too much and the whole thing goes Mallcore.  

[Perestroyka]

Over here in the UK it's been mainstream for a long time. Most stores will sell "emo" fashion, and they all hang out in a big group in the middle of the village. I think "emo" is pretty normal now. Personally, I don't care for it, but like most trends it'll die off eventually, and all these kids with awful hair will look back and say "Oh god..."
And I shall laugh.  

[-Isel-]

It's bound to happen, whenever a thing becomes a Mallcore-style trend.

Personally, should Mise en Garde start a trend of transvestite hair-metal unintelligible freaks roaming the earth, I wouldn't mind it, and would enjoy the demon spawn I wrought.  

[GilAskan]

First of all, we need to establish that bands such as My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights, etc. are not emo. Majoritively, they're power-pop and pop-rock. Emo would be Moss Icon or Rites of Spring.  

[ketchakik]

meh....all emo is...is a fasionable packaging for what teenagers have been going though since the 50s.....  

[x Socks x]

98% of the population of other teens who call themselves emo have no clue that it's a genre of music. Even if they think they do, most of them mention Hawthorne Heights, MCR, FFTL, and it's just terrible. You'll play them some Jawbreaker or something and they say, "This isn't emo, this is punk!" Then when you explain the emo genre's roots, they tell you that you don't know what you're talking about.

Unlike the definition of goth-one who listens to goth-rock music and so on, last time I checked, that's not the definition of emo. Last I checked, it's not even in any dictionaries. If you really listened to emo music, and decided to call yourself one, well, go for it. At least you know what it is.

I'm just honestly sick of people who go around hating "emo kids" for all being the same, when honestly, a lot of goth children are the same when it comes to determining what kind of music is which. And dressing the same? Everyone dresses the same. I'm not saying you all own the same article of clothing, but seriously. Everyone rags on another subculture about how they're all the same, and in reality, it's not like you're the most amazing individual ever.

My opinions. I'm just sick of everyone assuming that everyone is the same just because they're not like them. It happens all the ********' time. I'm going off of what's been going on for four years since the 8th grade.

Nutshell.

Normal = Anything you buy at a store.  

[-Resurrected Writer-]

What's sad is that nowadays, to most of the public, both goth and emo have lost nearly all semblances of being either music genres or subcultures... and are now either just styles of dress or adjectives used to described depressed people (ex: "Oh my God, did you hear that Katie lost her boyfriend? She's sooo gonna go emo now!").  

[xdemonicallyxyours13x]

Emo is just a fad personally, just like all of the old styles and s**t that are coming back. I think it will pass and if it doesn't, meh just somehting else to shut up and put up with... again a personal opinion.  

[xX x0mbie Xx]

i hate emo music and emo kids with a firey passion of a million burning suns!  

[-Resurrected Writer-]

o.O Y u k i O.o

i hate emo music and emo kids with a firey passion of a million burning suns!

Gross generalization, much?