Emo - Subculture
Research Paper : Subculture
Patrick Etoughe
Sociology 101
A subculture is a small cultural group within a larger group such as society. Subcultures can be hidden or distinct; they often have norms, values, beliefs and interests that make them different from those of the larger culture. A large number of different subcultures can be found today in the United States, and the one that we’re going to get more familiar with is known as “EMO”. At first Emo was only considered as a music genre, a style of rock music. But throughout the years as Emo music gained a lot of success, especially with teenagers. Today we look at it as a lifestyle subculture that unifies music, fashion, behavior, style and many more. We’re first going to talk about the origins of the emo subculture in the United States then we’ll talk about the effect that it has on teenagers and finally we’ll talked the general worldview of this group. First of all, it’s necessary to know that the most important part of the emo lifestyle is it’s music. It first started in the mid-1980’s as a hardcore punk music movement in Washington D.C. Emo is a short term for “emotional hardcore” or “emocore”. Throughout the years as soon as popularity came, emo style began change. It went from punk rock to pop punk to indie rock. In the 1990’s a couple of independent records label began to specialize in this new style as they saw a possible success in emo music. After that emo gained way more popularity and that’s when it became a fashion trend. Then in the early 2000’s, an emo rock band named “Jimmy Eat World” went on to sign a contract with DreamWorks Records to be one of the first emo bands to go mainstream and platinum. After that, more bands such as “Dashboard Confessional” or “Save The Day” followed the footsteps of “Jimmy Eat World”. The emo music is mainly designed to me highly dramatic, it also creates a personal relationship between fans and artists. The values expressed through the emo music are
Patrick Etoughe
Sociology 101
A subculture is a small cultural group within a larger group such as society. Subcultures can be hidden or distinct; they often have norms, values, beliefs and interests that make them different from those of the larger culture. A large number of different subcultures can be found today in the United States, and the one that we’re going to get more familiar with is known as “EMO”. At first Emo was only considered as a music genre, a style of rock music. But throughout the years as Emo music gained a lot of success, especially with teenagers. Today we look at it as a lifestyle subculture that unifies music, fashion, behavior, style and many more. We’re first going to talk about the origins of the emo subculture in the United States then we’ll talk about the effect that it has on teenagers and finally we’ll talked the general worldview of this group. First of all, it’s necessary to know that the most important part of the emo lifestyle is it’s music. It first started in the mid-1980’s as a hardcore punk music movement in Washington D.C. Emo is a short term for “emotional hardcore” or “emocore”. Throughout the years as soon as popularity came, emo style began change. It went from punk rock to pop punk to indie rock. In the 1990’s a couple of independent records label began to specialize in this new style as they saw a possible success in emo music. After that emo gained way more popularity and that’s when it became a fashion trend. Then in the early 2000’s, an emo rock band named “Jimmy Eat World” went on to sign a contract with DreamWorks Records to be one of the first emo bands to go mainstream and platinum. After that, more bands such as “Dashboard Confessional” or “Save The Day” followed the footsteps of “Jimmy Eat World”. The emo music is mainly designed to me highly dramatic, it also creates a personal relationship between fans and artists. The values expressed through the emo music are