Teenage Riot

this song is a wake-up call; it's a call-to-arms to every young person who ever wanted to pick up a guitar. i'd been listening to daydream nation for almost 20 yrs before i read "teenage riot" was about j mascis. didn't matter. you only have to hear the song. the way it rocks: that IS the meaning.

my opinion--for what little it's worth--is that "emo" was once a term (rarely used except by a handful of rock critics, trying to achieve some kind of historical perspective) used to describe a very small subset of the punk-rock scene, of which Rites of Spring were the archetypal example. Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto being the singers & songwriters of Fugazi--and earlier having been members of Minor Threat and Rites of Spring (in that order)--well, this probably explains the confused attempts to tie them to something called "emo".

in 2008 most people use "emo" with an entirely different meaning. with the exception of the very earliest days of goth, I have difficulty thinking of a music scene or sub-genre which appears to have no adherents: either because it doesn't exist, or maybe because the tag is being applied as an insult, by those who aren't part of the scene.

by "no adherents" I mean how "emo" is such a commonly-used term, but you rarely hear someone say "I'm into emo." (except maybe among themselves?) or if a band is tagged as "emo" they never embrace the term; they explain why they're not "emo" or why they don't think it's a meaningful category.

usually these terms for sub-genres flourish because members of a scene adopt them as a badge of pride. which is how "goth" changed from being a kind of insult into an actual scene. not that the scene didn't exist before, but it has been affected in some ways by having a name (though in the UK "the anorak crowd" is fairly similar, and a term which predates "goth" by a long time)

this is perhaps not a great analogy, as "goth"--prior to being reclaimed as a self-chosen identity--was little more than a dismissive categorization. whereas calling someone or their band "emo", that's fighting words. so there is a difference, although it might be only a queston of degree.

history suggests the longer "emo" is used as an insult, the more likely it is to become embraced by those at whom it's being hurled, and thus turn into an actual scene. so if you hate emo, it's in your best interest to stop using the word.

this is even more divisive than the old "who is more punk" debates. "emo" has become an insult more stinging than "faggot". but if I were a musician--and someone implied my band (or worse, my singing) sounded like Bright Eyes--hey, I'd be insulted.

this too shall pass. but until it does, it's going to (continue to) be fucking annoying.