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i like old emo.
its true. some of it i love.
Elliott - US Songs
Britain's amazing and short lived Spy Versus Spy
Braid - Frame & Canvas
The Get Up Kids
Hot Water Music
Jets To Brazil
Rites Of Spring
Jawbreaker
Sunny Day Real Estate
Jimmy Eat World - Clarity.
and the majority of stuff listed at http://www.fourfa.com/topten/index.html
i genuinely enjoy, even when it very occasionally slips over into being too earnest for its own good.
the thing is that musically there's so much crossover between the indie rock, posthardcore and emo scenes that i think probably tons of people on here would clearlyenjoy some of the bands that got lumped in with the emo scene back in the day. lets not forget that at the drive-in were at first heavily part of the punk/posthardcore/emo scenes. forward russia don't sound that dissimilar from some of the more abrasive emo bands.
i can see almost no musical connection between these passionate, sometimes musically intricate and experimental bands like cap'n jazz and the emo of 2006. i can also see almost no lyrical connection between what used to be known as emo music and what the wider world sees as emo in 2006. whereas the lyrics used to be far more abstract and layered, they're now more obvious and comically teenage than robert smith at this worst.
the fashion stuff that is ironically listed at http://www.fourfa.com/ (i say ironically because people that dressed that way were often seen as a joke by the majority of people into the genre back in tut day) is now seriously worn by the nu-emo kids, who have absolutely zero sense of humour or irony.
so yeah. when i was 16-18 i might have been...sort of...emo. didn't dress like it, but i listened to it every day and went to a number of shows that i don't think will ever be beaten for their intensity and the sheer togetherness of the audiences. hot water music at a social club in shirley, with 75 people and no stage, on the no division tour with the microphone being handed out. the get up kids on the something to write home about tour. at the drive-in at the joiners with about 80 people, put on by a local punk collective and supported by an emo band and a post-hardcore band.
so. there we have it. bit of an unordered post. i'm prepared for the resulting insults.
this post has been sponsored by the really very enjoyable U.S. Songs by Elliott, which came out in 1998 and is still mucho great.