Emocore

Main article: Emo

Emocore (abbreviated from "emotional hardcore") was a term that was used most popularly in the 1980s and 1990s to describe a genre of music that was an offshoot of the hardcore music scene. As an expansion of hardcore, emocore was known for its deeply emotional lyrics, and often contained more melodic music than its hardcore brethren. Emocore performances were intense, often bordering on catharsis, with performers and audience members often driven to the point of tears during shows.

For many, the genesis of emocore began in the '80s with bands such as Embrace, Moss Icon, Soulside, Ignition, and Grey Matter. Perhaps the best known early emocore band was Rites of Spring, which featured singer/guitarist Guy Picciotto. Picciotto later joined Embrace frontman Ian MacKaye to found Fugazi.

Emocore remained a largely underground movement until the mid-90s. In 1994, renowned indie label Sub Pop released an album called Diary by Seattle's Sunny Day Real Estate. While continuing with the emotional lyrics of its forebearers, Sunny Day Real Estate toned down some of the more hardcore aspects of the music and bought in even more melodic elements, at times sounding more like alternative music than what came before. The album was a surprise critical favorite, drawing newfound attention to the emocore scene.

In the years that followed, newer bands began to emulate Sunny Day's style of emocore. Bands such as Christie Front Drive, Jimmy Eat World, and Texas Is the Reason continued to shift emocore toward a more mainstream sound.

As the newer bands increased in popularity, so did attention from the mainstream. Major labels attempted to court emocore bands, but largely failed to sign them. By the end of the decade, the term "emocore" was almost exclusively shortened to "emo". Magazines including Teen People were eager to run stories on the "new" genre, and cited The Promise Ring as an "emo" band. In fairness, the abbreviation was a more accurate description, given that former emocore bands such as Jimmy Eat World were releasing albums like 1999's Clarity, which featured very few of the elements of emocore music of the past.

As Jimmy Eat World continued to move away from emocore and more toward the mainstream, the majors took to signing bands that sounded like them, and then labelled the new bands "emo". By the mid-00s, the sound of "emo" was significantly lighter and less mature lyrically. New "Emo", particularly bands such as Dashboard Confessional, focused heavily on teenage heartbreak, a topic not covered by emocore. At the same time, the term "emo" became confusing, as it not only described the newer bands, but was still used to describe the bands of the emocore era.

With the ascension of '00s emo, the term "emocore" was essentially wiped out of popular usage. However, fans of the emocore bands of the '80s and '90s have begun to use the term to separate "their" style of "emo" from the more mainstream "emo" of the modern day.

See also

• Emo
• Fashioncore
• Scene
• Metalcore
• Screamo
• Post-hardcore