|
You are viewing
Volume 40, Issue 14
May 6, 2003
To return to the current issue please
click here.
|
 |
May 6, 2003
Emo music hits high notes
By Stephanie
Mckee
Mesa Legend
Styles of music change as
quickly as the weather. Bands come and go. For nearly twenty years a genre
of music titled “emo” has made its way into the music world,
becoming one of the most popular sounds for today’s youth.
“Emo is hardcore punk music with sensitive and emotional lyrics,”
Chad Kempfert of AltMusic.com said, “The music is epitomized by post-grunge,
edgy rock with explosive energy mixed with sensitivity.”
The creation of emo began after the D.C. area punk band, Minor Threat
broke up at the end of 1983. From that, punk bands all over the country
struggled to come up with a fresh, new sound. Bands like Rites of Spring
began singing emotional lyrics that were personal.
The year 1985 became the “Revolution Summer,” in which bands
such as Three, Gray Matter, Soulside, Ignition and Marginal Man lightened
the former hardcore punk sound and started singing more melodic vocals.
From there, musicians began forming Emo bands all over the country.
Former Minor Threat singer, Ian Mackaye first used the term, “emo”
(short for emotional) in an interview with Flipside Magazine. The music
is sometimes dubbed, “screamo” for the way the singers scream
the lyrics. Artists today like Thursday are on of the most common emo
bands to use this style of screaming lyrics, as is the case in their song,
“How Long is the Night.”
Emo has become more popular with the help of record label, Vagrant Records.
The ten year old label carries bands such as Saves the Day, the Get Up
Kids and Dashboard Confessionals, who have sold over 190,000 copies of
their latest records.
The Vagrant America tour, which was spearheaded by Saves the Day was a
nine week, 52 date tour in 2001, bringing in more than $800,000 in revenues.
“Vagrant has doubled its income in each of the last four years to
become a company that makes several million dollars a year,” Vagrant
owners, Rich Egan and Jon Cohen told Greg Kot in Sept. 6, 2001 issue of
Rolling Stone Magazine. “Vagrants success has been forged by bands
that tour relentlessly and share a love of melodic songwriting that draws
on elements of power pop.
Bands are attracted to Vagrant Records because of the royalties.
“All the bands on Vagrant have a better royalty rate than any other
record label, with the exception of Touch and Go and the Get up Kids’,”
said Matthew Pryor. “If we keep selling records, it makes more sense
financially to be on Vagrant. If we’re going to bomb, it’s better
to get the cash up front on a major. But we’re not bombing; our last
royalty statement was for $90,000.”
Another reason Vagrant and emo bands are so popular is their ability to
relate to teens and young adults. The lyrics describe adversities teens
face including heartbreak, suicide, depression, experimenting with drugs
and alcohol.
“I got a note from a fifteen-year-old girl who said that my song,
‘For Justin’ kept her from killing herself,” said Chris
Carrabba, Dashboard Confessional singer-guitarist. “I write songs
to purge my own feelings, but if it helps someone else, it completely
becomes their song.”
Luckily for the artist, there are enough of these types of listeners out
there who keep supporting this band’s type of music and luckily for
fans, artists continue to make music their fans can relate to, helping
emo become one of the most popular forms of music today.
Back to Top
| Previous Page | Home
|
|
|
