Emo: Is It Punk Rock or Butt Rock?

The world goes around in circles. Human history is cyclical, repeating itself over and over again since the beginning of time (millions of years or a few thousand depending on your religious views or intelligence level (just kidding, Christian readers!)). Pop culture is no different. Movements in fashion, music, art, cinema, states of mind are usually somewhat reminiscent of movements that came before.

And right now we’re smack dab in the center of the emo movement.

First of all…what the fuck is the deal with the emo movement?! My developmental years in terms of hipness were the mid 90’s. That was a time of angst, a time of rebellion. Much like young people in the 60’s protested the Vietnam war, young people in the 90’s were protesting something just as vile…stonewashed jeans. We wanted to shop in thrift stores. We wanted to listen to music created by twentysomething losers with badly groomed beards in their parent’s garage. We didn’t want huge arenas or pyrotechnics…and we surely did not want our male rock stars wearing makeup or tights.

I compare the mid nineties to the punk/new wave movement of the late 70’s/early 80’s. Punk was born of radicals like Johnny Rotten (with the help, of course, of Malcolm McLaren), Joe Strummer, Iggy Pop, or Sting who were sick to death of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Rock and roll had gone from refreshing and inventive at the turn of the decade (Hendrix, Sgt. Pepper, Pet Sounds, etc…) to manufactured plastic bullshit by the end. Over privileged rock stars and disco coke heads had taken a strong hold of popular culture.

Punk rock rebelled.

Punk rock said “Fuck you guys, we’re going to do things faster, harder, and more raw than anything the BeeGees could do!” The music was original and so was the fashion. It was an exciting time of change and revolution.

But like all original ideas in pop culture…big business took over and drove it into the ground.

Punk gave way to new wave, which was great at first, but eventually became Wham. Rock and roll, rejuvinated by bands like The Cars, Talking Heads, and The Police, eventually turned into Poison. Literally. By the end of the 80’s, punk was dead, new wave was lost in a rest stop somewhere, and rock and roll was insulting, disgusting, and unlistenable. Lucky for us, Kurt Cobain came along and changed everything. Even if he didn’t mean to.
(Sidenote: more credit for the grunge era, specifically the music, needs to be given to The Pixies. Nirvana took everything from them musically (it’s fine, they admitted it), but The Pixies were doing it when that kind of music was no where near popular. Long live The Pixies!).

That’s the cycle of pop culture. Someone comes along with a great original idea, the idea becomes immensely popular (because it is actually good), the idea catches the attention of assholes in suits who find ways to extract maximum dollars from it, copiers of said idea become immensely popular (but not because they are good), everyone gets sick of said idea being shoved down their throats, the idea dies an ugly death.

George Michael and that other guy killed punk/new wave. Poison killed rock. Creed killed grunge.

So where does this weird emo thing fit in?

Fashion wise I’m reminded of the feminine stylings of new wave. It once again is hip for men to dress as women. I was at Subway a few weeks ago (yes, Subway, center of hipness) and saw a group of high school football players walk in. One of them, who must have been a left tackle, was wearing tight girl jeans and a spiked collar. A football player! In high school! I was amazed. Emo is officially here and in control.

So is it punk rock or is it stale? Is it a revolution or a manufactured idea being shoved down our throats?

Sadly, the latter. Emo is glam rock. Emo is Poison. Literally. Record companies took the thrift store style of grunge, dressed it up on pretty people like Avril Levine and bands like Good Charlotte (and 200,000 other poser bands), and shoved it down our throats. Not all of the music is bad, and the sound is somewhat original (the high pitched antics of Dashboard Confessional were not the norm before they emerged). But most of it is. And right now the image of the whole movement is being produced to excess.

Just don’t be surprised when it comes crashing down.

My only hope is that a new movement, with radically thinking pop culture revolutionaries like Strummer, Sting, David Byrne, and others emerges soon to save us from this pop cultural drudgery. Save us!

Please!!