History of emo

Written by Fourfa

After Minor Threat broke up in late 1983, the vibrant DC hardcore-punk scene that exploded in 1981 seemed to run out of steam and fresh ideas within the established DC hardcore sound. The wistful, posthumous Minor Threat 7 Salad Days came out in 1984 and drove the final nail into the coffin of DC hardcore punk. Bands all over the country began casting about for new things to do. DRI and Bad Brains started going cheeze-metal, New York bands started doing tough-guy mosh, 7Seconds went jangly U2 alternative, etc. The prevailing change in D.C. was toward melodic rock with punk sensibilities.

1984 marked the release of Zen Arcade by Minneapolis band Hüsker Dü, documenting their new mature sound by combining furious, intense vocal delivery and driving guitars, with slowed-down rock-like tempos and more-complex, melodic songwriting.

In the spring of 1984, a new band called Rites Of Spring formed from members of The Untouchables/Faith and Deadline. This band retained a punk speed and frenzy, but brought a totally new vocal approach to the mix. Singer Guy Picciotto kept an out-of-breath punk style most of the time. At times, he delved into intensely personal lyrics, dripping with emotion and sweat. His voice broke at climactic moments into a throaty, gravelly, passionate moan.

The summer of 1985 became known as "Revolution Summer" when a new wave of rock-tempo, melody-based, vocal bands formed out of the DC punk musician pool. The bands that formed had diverse rock sounds, i.e., Three, Gray Matter, Soulside, Ignition, Marginal Man, Fire Party, Rain, Shudder to Think, etc. Few bands retained the fast, hardcore punk-based sound with the new vocal approach -- Dag Nasty being the notable exception.

Minor Threat's singer, Ian MacKaye, sang for a band called Embrace (compare the band name to earlier DC bands: Minor Threat, Void, and State Of Alert) whose lyrics are emotional and deeply self-questioning, but still unambiguous. Musically, the group (formed mostly of ex-Faith members) wrote mid-tempo, somewhat jangly music, with a lot of pop guitar hooks. MacKaye's vocals retain his trademark bold enunciation, with only occasional sparks of emotive delivery.

These bands' sound eventually became known as the classic "D.C. sound." Some of this music was derisively labeled "emo," short for "emotional." One account has this term first appearing in a Flipside interview with Ian MacKaye. Shortly thereafter, DC bands aquired the tag "emo-core."

Slightly later (1986), some bands began to focus on the "emo" element itself. The Hated,from Annapolis, Maryland, seemed to be the first post-Rites of Spring band to follow this style. Shortly thereafter, Moss Icon appeared in the same town. Moss Icon striped the "emo" element down to the core, and added a great deal of intricate, arpeggioed guitar melody (by Tonie Joy, later of Born Against, Lava, Universal Order of Armageddon, etc.) with a strong focus on loud/soft dynamics. The vocals, too, broke new ground by building up to actual “top-of-the-lungs” screaming at the songs' climaxes.

Moss Icon, as a relatively well-known band that toured some, introduced the punk scene to music with a core emphasis on emotion instead of punk energy. As such, their music was the starting point for the emo movement, not Rites of Spring, as is more commonly asserted. Later emo bands drew heavily from the Moss Icon dynamics, guitar style, and vocal delivery.

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