The emo subgenre of Alternative Culture is one of the most visually recognizable aesthetics in the Western world. Spanning over 40 years, the roots of emo can be tracked to the underground music scene in Washington, D.C. during the 1980s.
Stretching across such a wide time frame, it was inevitable that the scene changed over time. Modern music historians have agreed that there are four objective waves of emo music with a fifth wave still in the air for debate. I personally believe that five different waves exist, each with their own history and differences.
Before looking at the first wave of emo, it is important to clarify where and how emo came about. In the 1980s, Washington D.C. had a large hardcore and punk scene. Emo came into existence when musicians from this era dedicated their music to a deeper analysis of human emotion.
The overall style of hardcore stayed through the instrumentals, but the vocals and lyrics told a more emotional story. A new genre called emo or emocore was created. This first wave lasted from the mid to late 1980s.
The music changed from the politically charged lyrics of punk to the struggles of existence and being alive. Some prominent bands that shaped the early emo scene are Rites Of Spring and Embrace. This founding wave of emo ended in the late 1980s ,when pivotal bands such as the aforementioned Rites of Spring and Embrace split, leaving the scene empty.
Emo music quickly made its way outside of D.C. Spreading across the country, the genre slowly found its roots along the West Coast and the Midwest. The hardcore and punk influence was slowly lessening as emo music approached a more melodic style.
This is where emo took off. Hotspots for second wave emo were Chicago, Pennsylvania, Seattle and California. Here the music evolved. The staple sound of emo was created, no longer was it just an extension of the hardcore scene from years past.
A key aspect of second wave emo is more complex guitar parts, usually in an open tuning, giving the song a sound commonly referred to as “twinkly.” Vocals in the second wave also stand out. Monotone vocals were very prevalent throughout the verses of songs with screamy choruses as the song progresses.
The last identifier of second wave emo is the addition of horns like trumpets or trombones. All these things coming together gave the movement a very unique sound like nothing else of the time. The forefathers of second wave emo, in my opinion, are American Football, Sunny Day Real Estate and Cap’N Jazz.
Another important thing about 2nd wave emo is that it is where the term “Midwest Emo” is coined, although it did not see much usage until the fourth wave.
Interesting enough, as emo got more popular, it lost its roots. At the turn of the century, Emo became unrecognizable. The second wave power houses either split or went on hiatus as the 1990s ended, leaving a hole to be filled in the alternative rock scene. As ironic as it is, corporate America filled those shoes.
Emo went full mainstream in the early 2000s. The anti-conformist angst filling the streets of America allowed the emotion-driven rants of emo music to become insanely popular. This along with the heavy pop-punk presence at the time led to a new wave of emo. The third wave of emo is what happens when large label companies dump millions into young musicians with a lot on their heart. Famous emo rock stars such as Gerard Way and Brendon Urie were headlining sold out area stadiums as teenagers.
The sound of the third wave was pretty simple to be honest. The “twinkly-meolodic” sound of second wave was gone as a more pop influence took over. Every song had a catchy chorus and a power chord backed verse. The lyrics of third wave emo were also a little different. The complexity in the songs were gone. The words were shallow and made easily relatable to the teenage audience. Some classic bands of the era are, My Chemical Romance, Paramore and Fall Out Boy.
As what happens to everything in the mainstream, emo was eventually washed away with the rest of the world moving onto hip-hop and pop. The 2010s arrived and emo was considered dead. Now in my opinion this “death of emo” only lasted a few years before the next wave of emo hit.
I think that the first fourth wave or emo-revival band was Modern Baseball. Starting as an acoustic project in 2011, Modern Baseball quickly became known in their local DIY music scene. Later in 2012 they released their debut album, “Sports.” I believe that this was the album that revived emo. The second wave influence was very strong and to many at the time it was refreshing to finally escape the emo-pop of the third wave. Emo quickly took off again, this time at a healthier rate compared to the corporate boom of the third wave.
Although the wave was prevalent throughout the entire country, it was outside the view of the mainstream. This is also where the term “Midwest emo” is commonly used. Even though the majority of the bands in this wave were not from the Midwest, they all took inspiration from second wave bands like American Football and Cap’N Jazz who were from the midwest.
This wave paved the way for the modern day emo scene. Bands like Modern Baseball, Free Throw, Tigers Jaw and Joyce Manor were power houses who kept the revival alive and growing.
Fourth wave emo does have some controversy around it though. There was a lot of discord over how popular the scene was getting and the amount of so-called “Posers” in the scene.
One of the biggest fourth wave emo bands, Mom Jeans was seen as posers due to them coming into the scene later and not really taking themselves seriously. People thought that they were only there to be silly and were too whiny to be “real emo.” Some people claim that Mom Jeans is more of a bridge between fourth and fifth wave as they stayed relevant throughout the fifth wave. I think that they are a bridge between the two waves mainly because shortly after their rise to fame fourth wave emo started to fall off.
Now after the fourth wave is where the debate starts. Some people say that 4th wave is still alive and active while others say that the next wave of emo is held inside rappers like Lil Xan, Lil Peep or XXXTentacion. I personally think that there is a fifth wave of emo, but I do not subscribe to the idea of it being held within the rap community.
I think that the fifth wave of emo hit around 2019, when the Covid 19 pandemic plagued the U.S. To the untrained ear most people will confuse fourth and fifth wave emo. I think that the biggest identifier of the genre besides release date is the level of self awareness that the music has.
The majority of fifth wave emo bands understood that the genre was in a sort of limbo and realized that the genre was dying. I feel like that’s what caused the fifth wave to take the more humorous sound it has now. Emo was no longer a scene to let out pent up emotions in a crowd but was now online.
The music was silly. It was almost seen as satirical. A good example of this can be seen in the song, “Natty Ice” by Dear Marryanne. The song was made to poke fun at the whiny lyrics that the end of fourth wave emo made so prominent.
Instead of being a quick joke, the song went on to become a hit due to its self aware, comedic nature while also still being a good song. I think this sums up fifth wave emo. The genre is almost like a parody of itself and it embraces it. I think that the joking nature of fifth wave made the scene a lot more easier to get into. Some emo-elitists claim that this is not real emo music and that it is poser music.
Although the genre is controversial, I think that fifth wave emo is an overall good thing. I would rather see the music evolve and change then die out in some underground basement show. Just because artists are having fun and creating unique music does not make it any more less real than the other waves.
Some key aspects of fifth wave emo can be seen in their silly song titles, usually references to niche internet jokes, whiny vocals, tinkley guitars and sampling pop culture audios. Some key bands of fifth wave are TRSH, Dear Maryanne and Thoughts on Bowling.
All together the five waves of emo are a wonderful thing. Even if someone disagrees about the fourth or fifth wave, I think that the existence of multiple waves should be something to appreciate and not banter over.
