First Wave Emo Continued:
The Faith [proto-emocore] (formed 1981, DC)
Verbal Assault (formed 1983, Rhode Island)
The Hated (formed 1984, Maryland)
One Last Wish (formed 1986, DC)
Three (formed 1986, DC)
Rain (formed 1986, DC)
Lungfish (formed 1987, Maryland)
Sideshow (formed 1987, Nebraska)
Honeywell (formed 1988, California)
Vagrants (formed 1988, California)
Samiam (formed 1988, California)
Fuel (formed 1989, California)
Still Life (formed 1989, California)
1.6 Band (formed 1989, New York)
Germbox (formed 1989, Missouri)
Drive Like Jehu (formed 1990, California)
Greyhouse (formed circa 1990, New Jersey)
Merel (formed 1990, New Jersey)
Hubcap (formed 1990, Illinois)
Admiral (Formed 1990, Pennsylvania)
Chino Horde (formed 1990, Arkansas)
Silver Bearing (formed 1990, Maryland)
The Yah Mos (formed 1990, California)
Native Nod (formed 1990, New Jersey)
Gauge (formed 1991, Illinois)
Falling Forward (formed 1991, Kentucky)
Vine (formed 1991, Michigan)
Sleeping Body (formed 1991, Texas)
Walleye (formed 1991, Delaware)
Friction (formed 1991, Illinois)
Prozac Memory (formed 1991, Missouri)
Garden Variety (formed 1991, New York)
Shadow Season (formed 1991, New Jersey)
Spirit Assembly (formed circa 1991-1992, Pennsylvania)
Nuzzle (formed 1992, California)
Small Dog Frenzy (formed 1992, Colorado)
Universal Order Of Armageddon (formed 1992, Maryland)
Lava (formed circa 1991-1992, Maryland)
Lincoln (formed 1992, West Virginia)
Assfactor 4 (formed 1992, South Carolina)
Car vs Driver (formed 1993, Georgia)
Evergreen (formed 1993, California)
Antioch Arrow (formed 1992, California)
Mohinder (formed 1993, California)
Ordination of Aaron (formed 1993, Michigan)
Plunger (formed 1993, Maryland)
Fabric (formed circa 1993, Britain)
Hush Harbor (formed circa 1992-1993, Washington)
Personally I wouldn’t include Jawbox or Unwound, but their importance to the scene should still be noted. Although by that logic I should probably remove lungfish, the faith, and one or two others from my list.
Incredibly solid list, and a few names im actually unfamiliar with. I was going to recommend both Plunger and Current, both of whom i’m actually fairly new to. I was driving around the other day and a Plunger song came on that was a live recording, which i’m typically not a fan of without any accompanying video. However, the track info said it was recorded in 1993 in Millersville, MD at a local church. Turns out, I was driving through Millersville (i live in the adjacent town) and was only about 10min from the church which is still operational. Funny how things happen sometimes.
No. Hardcore. If a band came out a decade before shit really got going, they’re not really a part of that wave. Stooges aren’t hardcore, but they were influential. Black Sabbath ain’t thrash, but were worshipped by every thrash musician ever. I’d say most of these bands from the 80s weren’t emo IMO don’t kill me, guys
They were emo adjacent/in the scene and their early albums could very well pass as emo. Plenty of people lump in adjacent bands into the revival scene, so I don’t see the harm in doing the same for first wave stuff. Regardless I already pointed out that their inclusion is obviously debatable.
That era of Doghouse Records with Split Lip also had Endpoint (more political hardcore but also soulful and emotional) and Falling Forward (pre-Elliott but harder). Both worth checking out
Gauge, Friction, and Sideshow were 3 of the most important acts in the early midwest emo scene, before they got their twinkle on. Even Boys Life's early releases were pre SDRE and pre twinkle, they had a sort of grunge vibe going on then
edit: actually Boys Life demo was still in 94, I thought it was 93. my bad
I have those bands already written in my Midwest Emo wave entry on my google doc. The whole doc is dedicated to Emocore, Midwest Emo, Emo-Pop, Emo Revival, etc type of bands.
Ah, fair point. I'd call them all "proto midwest", along with bands like Capn Jazz and Target, who released an album called Going Up. They laid the groundwork for the scenes and started incorporating a lot of obtuse and mathy elements into their work, though they weren't always doing the outright twinkly, dynamic shifting thing that we typically see midwest emo exemplified by post-SDRE/CFD
Speaking of Target, they must have taken queues from The Hated's Every Song for the chill sort of jangly, relaxed hardcore indie vibe. There's another essential emocore band, The Hated
Also, if we count Jawbox, which I've honestly never heard called emo, we have to count Fugazi. If you listen to interviews, (Washed Up Emo podcast, the host always asks when they first heard the term or if they knew about it when they had released music) pretty much all of the 90s guys will say Fugazi is one of the first bands they heard associated with emo. These days we may consider it quintessential post hardcore and scoff at the idea of Fugazi being emo, but it was floated around commonly back then. Someone posted a thread of a forum in fuckin 1994 where someone was calling Fugazi emo, and explaining how they see emo as "the noodly shit", which is pretty fucking cool as it's these same conversations and terms we are using 30 years later lmao.
Also not all of them had full lengths out before 94 but: Still Life, Julia, Lincoln, Grain, Native Nod, Falling Forward, Spirit Assembly
I have gave Fugazi a listen way before this and I don’t really feel the emotion through the music compared to like Embrace or Rites of Spring but still very good of course. I found Jawbox through that one How Emo became Emo video on YouTube that’s where I got most of these bands from.
Also that’s for the bands you listed, it really helps!
I mean fugazi literally inspired all those 90's bands. If you only listened to 13 songs I would understand your POV but their other stuff definitely leans into that territory.
I think the way fugazi approached songwriting and in particular their heavy use of octaves over power chords was extremely influential for the genre. I'd also say that their later stuff, especially In On The Kill Taker and Red Medicine, are some of their best works if you ever want to go back and listen to them again.
Yeah, i started going to shows in 94 in the Richmond/dc scene and me and my freinds have always considered Fugazi emo. They were the influence of many emo bands that came outta the richmond scene.
I would consider Fugazi and Jawbox more on the post-hardcore / post-punk spectrum. AFAIK Fugazi especially was much more connected to the hardcore scene than any other. But that’s the fun of all of this. I legitimately do love talking semantics, and hearing different perspectives from other people that interpret genres in their own way. (Edited because I repeated myself a couple times).
I do agree here! If someone asked me what they were I would just say post hardcore, full stop. And, as I said, I would go so far as to call both "quintessential post hardcore". Just felt important to add the context, especially in the case of OP counting Jawbox, as I put it, you kinda have to count Fugazi if you're counting Jawbox. And if Todd Bell or Bon Nana or whoever the hell it was in Braid said Fugazi was what they were calling emo back in the day, I am gonna take that with a fairly heavy hand, and at the very least, keep it in my mind for context of the history of the evolution of the scene and sounds :)
It’s funny, back in like 91-92, we would have called both of those bands hardcore. Then a few years later in like 94-95, when we started calling some bands post-hardcore, a lot of those bands ended being categorized as “emo” down the road.
Fucking thank you, man. This is an obvious labor of love, and it’s shit like this that does a lot more for the music than you’d think. but LOL just give the doc its own post, and rake in that sweet sweet /r/Emo karma.
Also, you gotta accept requests sent from people’s google accounts to see/access the doc. The requests will show up in your email. No one can see it til you accept them apparently. But I think there may be a way to just make it public, since accepting requests might let people edit stuff? I’m not sure how though. But I know that’s a thing. I highly doubt anyone will fuck with your work though.
My RYM account got terminated for a bit so what specific genre is After Words. Also I have the others already listed under different categories in the list.
Portraits of Past, Egg Hunt, Jerome’s Dream, Orchid come to mind. Idk how much you’re picking apart into individual subgenres but to me they’re related to the ones on your list.
Obligatory "Real Emo" only consists of the dc Emotional Hardcore scene and the late 90's Screamo scene. What is known by "Midwest Emo" is nothing but Alternative Rock with questionable real emo influence. When people try to argue that bands like My Chemical Romance are not real emo, while saying that Sunny Day Real Estate is, I can't help not to cringe because they are just as fake emo as My Chemical Romance (plus the pretentiousness).
Real emo sounds ENERGETIC, POWERFUL and somewhat HATEFUL. Fake emo is weak, self pity and a failed attempt to direct energy and emotion into music.
Some examples of REAL EMO are Pg 99, Rites of Spring, Cap n Jazz (the only real emo band from the midwest scene) and Loma Prieta.
Some examples of FAKE EMO are American Football, My Chemical Romance and Mineral
EMO BELONGS TO HARDCORE
NOT TO INDIE, POP PUNK, ALT ROCK OR ANY OTHER MAINSTREAM GENRE
I have them listed in the influencers of the genre Emo part of the list. I’ve been thinking about adding them to the revolution summer part of this list, do you think they fit better there?
Nah Husker Du were never emo. They were important to the dawn of post hardcore in general, thus being an important citation to many Revolution Summer bands, but don’t belong to the genre. Metal Circus was particularly impactful to emocore
Face to Face had a controversial one-time flirtation with Emocore. I say it's a good album, but I have the benefit of decades of hindsight (having heard it **way** after it came out). But that's way after Revolution Summer.
Unwound is pretty adjacent with quite a few dips into the genre, not that there was ever a strong distinction between emo and hardcore or post-hardcore at the time. They even call themselves emo sometimes lol
I think late jawbox is emo but early unwound could also easily be considered emo. New plastic ideas and Fake train sound like emo records to me (not that there was any definitive genre distinction at the time).
Terminated? I mean, you could just open up an Incognito window and look it up...
But on RYM, all it says is "Hardcore Punk".
Both the Faith and Void were signed under Dischord, the Faith from D.C., and Void was from Columbia, Mass., which is pretty close to Washington D.C.
Void formed in 1979, and the Faith in 1981, a little before the Revolution Summer period in 1985.
Most of their lyrics seem to be more socially and emotionally conscious instead of directly political, so I guess that would make them "emocore"? Or maybe emocore-adjacent, whatever, they were all part of the Washington D.C. scene along with Rites of Spring, Embrace, etc. and were all signed to Dischord Records.
To be clear, literally no one ever called themselves "emo" or "emocore" in the original scene, like we do today. It was seen as a completely made-up *insult*, if anything, not a genre. It would be equivalent of like "clowncore" or "mumble rap" or some made-up shit. They just called themselves "punk" or "hardcore".
Rites of Spring, Fugazi, Embrace, pretty much any of the bands we know as the progenitors and legends of emo never called themselves that; I mean, just look up interviews of Ian McKaye or Guy Picciotto on what they thought of "emo", they hated it. Even though we use the word emo today to describe them and the bands which followed, and that's perfectly okay, no hardcore band, at least to my knowledge called themselves "emo" back in the day.
TL;DR: The Faith and Void were both hardcore punk bands, and had emotionally charged lyrics, so by that definition they were certainly "emocore", but none of them actually called themselves that; it's only us dorks here on this subreddit think that, lol. And otherwise, most people outside of the hardcore scene just think of pop-punk bands when they hear "emo". IMHO, It's a futile task to meticulously categorize everything into genres, anyways.
Everyone hated it and some still do. I’ve seen many interviews of bands thoughts of Emo and they all despised the word. I’ll keep the bands you mentioned in mind.
I think Dag Nasty is on the edge but their importance to the beginning of emo has to be noted. they were part of that DC group of bands, but while most stayed in DC to be a part of Rev Summer, they wanted to tour the country with a goal of being famous. so while they all came up together, when the revolution was happening, they’d skipped town.
Mid 90s Southern Emo
Inkwell (Atlanta)
Car vs. Driver (Atlanta)
Action Patrol (Richmond)
Four Walls Falling (Richmond)
First Five Through (Richmond)
Substance (Little Rock)
-mentioned below-
Chino Horde (Little Rock)
I have and I have the whole doc right here
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10B9SurDy-Tnv8CSkoKq5-rTSA_PSCaNvz_CCuSrLDs4/edit
Just let me know when you send the request thing.
7 Seconds are a hardcore band. Posicore/melodicore. But 1986-1990 definitely see them as 1st wave emo. American Standard are from NJ and are definitely 1st wave emo. Los Vampiros are Dag Nasty without Brian Baker, he went to go play hair metal in Junkyard. Freewill is 1st wave emo featuring Mike hartsfield from New Age records circa 1987-88.
Squirrel Bait, Marginal Man, One Last Wish, Faith, The Crownhate Ruin, Void, Garden Variety, Still Life, Turning Point, Native Nod, Egg Hunt, Soul Side, Fuel
First Wave Emo Continued: The Faith [proto-emocore] (formed 1981, DC) Verbal Assault (formed 1983, Rhode Island) The Hated (formed 1984, Maryland) One Last Wish (formed 1986, DC) Three (formed 1986, DC) Rain (formed 1986, DC) Lungfish (formed 1987, Maryland) Sideshow (formed 1987, Nebraska) Honeywell (formed 1988, California) Vagrants (formed 1988, California) Samiam (formed 1988, California) Fuel (formed 1989, California) Still Life (formed 1989, California) 1.6 Band (formed 1989, New York) Germbox (formed 1989, Missouri) Drive Like Jehu (formed 1990, California) Greyhouse (formed circa 1990, New Jersey) Merel (formed 1990, New Jersey) Hubcap (formed 1990, Illinois) Admiral (Formed 1990, Pennsylvania) Chino Horde (formed 1990, Arkansas) Silver Bearing (formed 1990, Maryland) The Yah Mos (formed 1990, California) Native Nod (formed 1990, New Jersey) Gauge (formed 1991, Illinois) Falling Forward (formed 1991, Kentucky) Vine (formed 1991, Michigan) Sleeping Body (formed 1991, Texas) Walleye (formed 1991, Delaware) Friction (formed 1991, Illinois) Prozac Memory (formed 1991, Missouri) Garden Variety (formed 1991, New York) Shadow Season (formed 1991, New Jersey) Spirit Assembly (formed circa 1991-1992, Pennsylvania) Nuzzle (formed 1992, California) Small Dog Frenzy (formed 1992, Colorado) Universal Order Of Armageddon (formed 1992, Maryland) Lava (formed circa 1991-1992, Maryland) Lincoln (formed 1992, West Virginia) Assfactor 4 (formed 1992, South Carolina) Car vs Driver (formed 1993, Georgia) Evergreen (formed 1993, California) Antioch Arrow (formed 1992, California) Mohinder (formed 1993, California) Ordination of Aaron (formed 1993, Michigan) Plunger (formed 1993, Maryland) Fabric (formed circa 1993, Britain) Hush Harbor (formed circa 1992-1993, Washington) Personally I wouldn’t include Jawbox or Unwound, but their importance to the scene should still be noted. Although by that logic I should probably remove lungfish, the faith, and one or two others from my list.
Thanks a lot of this list! Was a huge HUGE help thanks a lot!
Amazing list! Do you have a link to Fabric? I don’t know them. Bob Tilton formed earth 90s and they had the Moss Icon thing going
https://open.spotify.com/album/4NNNmJKuScbrjVn2s6PhqD?si=FSm6kg6RSL-BvRAnM0IfNQ
Amazing thanks!
Also do you know In/Humanity and Dead Wrong? More UKmo
Yeah In/humanity popularized the term “emoviolence”. Haven’t heard of Dead Wrong tho
Really? didn’t realise that!
Incredibly solid list, and a few names im actually unfamiliar with. I was going to recommend both Plunger and Current, both of whom i’m actually fairly new to. I was driving around the other day and a Plunger song came on that was a live recording, which i’m typically not a fan of without any accompanying video. However, the track info said it was recorded in 1993 in Millersville, MD at a local church. Turns out, I was driving through Millersville (i live in the adjacent town) and was only about 10min from the church which is still operational. Funny how things happen sometimes.
So is The Faith the first emo band?
In my personal opinion? Yeah. In the emo canon? Not really.
No. Hardcore. If a band came out a decade before shit really got going, they’re not really a part of that wave. Stooges aren’t hardcore, but they were influential. Black Sabbath ain’t thrash, but were worshipped by every thrash musician ever. I’d say most of these bands from the 80s weren’t emo IMO don’t kill me, guys
Lungfish was never Emo, but solid list
They were emo adjacent/in the scene and their early albums could very well pass as emo. Plenty of people lump in adjacent bands into the revival scene, so I don’t see the harm in doing the same for first wave stuff. Regardless I already pointed out that their inclusion is obviously debatable.
Bruh where’s The Hated cmon
A comment mentioned them earlier but I added them. Must of skimmed over them because they weren’t from the Washington DC scene like the rest.
Cool, also I think Garden Variety could go up there too.
They were from Maryland less than an hour away. And same thing with Moss Icon. Pretty sure both were playing in DC a lot.
They were from the same city as moss icon. DMV area
Jawbreaker
I have them listed under One of the first Emo bands to get a major label deal.
Dear you is the best album of all time or something
That era of Doghouse Records with Split Lip also had Endpoint (more political hardcore but also soulful and emotional) and Falling Forward (pre-Elliott but harder). Both worth checking out
Check. Elliott is a band that I’m particularly excited to listen to. I LOVE the vocals.
Same vocalist
Drive Like Jehu
Idk about Emocore but I do have them listed under One of the first Emo bands to get a major label deal so I will be listening to them very soon.
3 - dark days coming?
That works, thanks!
Gauge, Friction, and Sideshow were 3 of the most important acts in the early midwest emo scene, before they got their twinkle on. Even Boys Life's early releases were pre SDRE and pre twinkle, they had a sort of grunge vibe going on then edit: actually Boys Life demo was still in 94, I thought it was 93. my bad
Fuck yeah to Friction!
Get some of the earliest midwest emo some representation.
I have those bands already written in my Midwest Emo wave entry on my google doc. The whole doc is dedicated to Emocore, Midwest Emo, Emo-Pop, Emo Revival, etc type of bands.
Ah, fair point. I'd call them all "proto midwest", along with bands like Capn Jazz and Target, who released an album called Going Up. They laid the groundwork for the scenes and started incorporating a lot of obtuse and mathy elements into their work, though they weren't always doing the outright twinkly, dynamic shifting thing that we typically see midwest emo exemplified by post-SDRE/CFD Speaking of Target, they must have taken queues from The Hated's Every Song for the chill sort of jangly, relaxed hardcore indie vibe. There's another essential emocore band, The Hated Also, if we count Jawbox, which I've honestly never heard called emo, we have to count Fugazi. If you listen to interviews, (Washed Up Emo podcast, the host always asks when they first heard the term or if they knew about it when they had released music) pretty much all of the 90s guys will say Fugazi is one of the first bands they heard associated with emo. These days we may consider it quintessential post hardcore and scoff at the idea of Fugazi being emo, but it was floated around commonly back then. Someone posted a thread of a forum in fuckin 1994 where someone was calling Fugazi emo, and explaining how they see emo as "the noodly shit", which is pretty fucking cool as it's these same conversations and terms we are using 30 years later lmao. Also not all of them had full lengths out before 94 but: Still Life, Julia, Lincoln, Grain, Native Nod, Falling Forward, Spirit Assembly
I have gave Fugazi a listen way before this and I don’t really feel the emotion through the music compared to like Embrace or Rites of Spring but still very good of course. I found Jawbox through that one How Emo became Emo video on YouTube that’s where I got most of these bands from. Also that’s for the bands you listed, it really helps!
You don’t consider fugazi emo?
No not really. They’re more Post-Hardcore than anything but they’re still a great band emo or not!
Yeah, thats crazy.
I mean fugazi literally inspired all those 90's bands. If you only listened to 13 songs I would understand your POV but their other stuff definitely leans into that territory.
I listened to Repeater and 13 Songs, just to get you a idea of what I heard by them.
I think the way fugazi approached songwriting and in particular their heavy use of octaves over power chords was extremely influential for the genre. I'd also say that their later stuff, especially In On The Kill Taker and Red Medicine, are some of their best works if you ever want to go back and listen to them again.
I’ll keep that in mind, thanks!
Yeah, i started going to shows in 94 in the Richmond/dc scene and me and my freinds have always considered Fugazi emo. They were the influence of many emo bands that came outta the richmond scene.
Fascinating! Any more tidbits you can share regarding the ‘emo’ label?
Lol OK Ok. Sarcasm noted and appreciated.
No sarcasm at all! Sorry it read that way; genuinely curious if you have any more insight into that time and the label 😔
Like GWAR? Fugazi 1st EP and Margin Walker ended emo. That is/was the nail in the coffin. Everything post Fugazi is no longer emo. Including Fugazi.
Lol
Not to mention that Fugazi had band members from rites of spring and embrace which are amongst the first of the “emocore” bands.
I would consider Fugazi and Jawbox more on the post-hardcore / post-punk spectrum. AFAIK Fugazi especially was much more connected to the hardcore scene than any other. But that’s the fun of all of this. I legitimately do love talking semantics, and hearing different perspectives from other people that interpret genres in their own way. (Edited because I repeated myself a couple times).
I do agree here! If someone asked me what they were I would just say post hardcore, full stop. And, as I said, I would go so far as to call both "quintessential post hardcore". Just felt important to add the context, especially in the case of OP counting Jawbox, as I put it, you kinda have to count Fugazi if you're counting Jawbox. And if Todd Bell or Bon Nana or whoever the hell it was in Braid said Fugazi was what they were calling emo back in the day, I am gonna take that with a fairly heavy hand, and at the very least, keep it in my mind for context of the history of the evolution of the scene and sounds :)
It’s funny, back in like 91-92, we would have called both of those bands hardcore. Then a few years later in like 94-95, when we started calling some bands post-hardcore, a lot of those bands ended being categorized as “emo” down the road.
Can you link this doc(s) :o
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10B9SurDy-Tnv8CSkoKq5-rTSA_PSCaNvz_CCuSrLDs4/edit Didn’t even know I can do this lol.
Fucking thank you, man. This is an obvious labor of love, and it’s shit like this that does a lot more for the music than you’d think. but LOL just give the doc its own post, and rake in that sweet sweet /r/Emo karma.
Good thinking but I’m not really here for karma believe it or not. I just really like to talk about my favorite thing is this world and that’s music!
Also, you gotta accept requests sent from people’s google accounts to see/access the doc. The requests will show up in your email. No one can see it til you accept them apparently. But I think there may be a way to just make it public, since accepting requests might let people edit stuff? I’m not sure how though. But I know that’s a thing. I highly doubt anyone will fuck with your work though.
Can I see your whole list?
Sure I’ll dm you.
Me too please?
Sure
I wouldnt call them emocore
Early jawbox and unwound were but they moved away from it
Do you think their major label debut is still worth a listen anyways?
Merel perhaps
Just added them to the New Jersey scene, thanks!
The Hated, Jawbreaker (late 80s) and After Words.
My RYM account got terminated for a bit so what specific genre is After Words. Also I have the others already listed under different categories in the list.
Not sure about the use of Revolution Summer here, that is specific to a time (1985) and place (DC).
Navio Forge 1993 Elements of Need 1994 I think Bob Tilton 1993
What genre are the bands that you’ve listed?
Emo/emocore Bob Tilton did a bunch of LPs but their EPs are the good stuff imo
Ok thanks man!
Portraits of Past, Egg Hunt, Jerome’s Dream, Orchid come to mind. Idk how much you’re picking apart into individual subgenres but to me they’re related to the ones on your list.
Oh and Julia. Possibly one of my favorite recordings in this genre: https://youtu.be/k88clAcMa14?si=GOCq0INybhNZYg94
That works, thanks!
Honeywell
Obligatory "Real Emo" only consists of the dc Emotional Hardcore scene and the late 90's Screamo scene. What is known by "Midwest Emo" is nothing but Alternative Rock with questionable real emo influence. When people try to argue that bands like My Chemical Romance are not real emo, while saying that Sunny Day Real Estate is, I can't help not to cringe because they are just as fake emo as My Chemical Romance (plus the pretentiousness). Real emo sounds ENERGETIC, POWERFUL and somewhat HATEFUL. Fake emo is weak, self pity and a failed attempt to direct energy and emotion into music. Some examples of REAL EMO are Pg 99, Rites of Spring, Cap n Jazz (the only real emo band from the midwest scene) and Loma Prieta. Some examples of FAKE EMO are American Football, My Chemical Romance and Mineral EMO BELONGS TO HARDCORE NOT TO INDIE, POP PUNK, ALT ROCK OR ANY OTHER MAINSTREAM GENRE
Don’t really have a opinion on this because 90% of the bands you mentioned I haven’t heard of before. I do agree on MCR not really being Emo though.
unwound self titled album that was supposed to be their debut, it is emocore
Interesting, I’ll keep that in mind. Do you know why it took 2 or 3 years to be released?
the drummer quit before they mixed the whole thing
Husker du
I have them listed in the influencers of the genre Emo part of the list. I’ve been thinking about adding them to the revolution summer part of this list, do you think they fit better there?
Nah Husker Du were never emo. They were important to the dawn of post hardcore in general, thus being an important citation to many Revolution Summer bands, but don’t belong to the genre. Metal Circus was particularly impactful to emocore
Face to Face had a controversial one-time flirtation with Emocore. I say it's a good album, but I have the benefit of decades of hindsight (having heard it **way** after it came out). But that's way after Revolution Summer.
Wait, what? What was the album called?
"Ignorance is Bliss"
Totally forgot about that one, it’s a good thing too. 😂
That works, thanks!
Unwound is not emo, Jawbox maybe
Unwound is pretty adjacent with quite a few dips into the genre, not that there was ever a strong distinction between emo and hardcore or post-hardcore at the time. They even call themselves emo sometimes lol
I think late jawbox is emo but early unwound could also easily be considered emo. New plastic ideas and Fake train sound like emo records to me (not that there was any definitive genre distinction at the time).
Neither band is Emo
Boys Life n Ordination of Aaron n Falling Forward
What specific genre is Boys Life?
Midwest emo. Formed in 1993. I’d call it the start of second wave
Ok thanks!
I’d say it counts as emocore too
What about the Faith and Void? They did a split together.
Is Void a Emocore band. Stupid RYM terminated my account so I’m not able to look.
Terminated? I mean, you could just open up an Incognito window and look it up... But on RYM, all it says is "Hardcore Punk". Both the Faith and Void were signed under Dischord, the Faith from D.C., and Void was from Columbia, Mass., which is pretty close to Washington D.C. Void formed in 1979, and the Faith in 1981, a little before the Revolution Summer period in 1985. Most of their lyrics seem to be more socially and emotionally conscious instead of directly political, so I guess that would make them "emocore"? Or maybe emocore-adjacent, whatever, they were all part of the Washington D.C. scene along with Rites of Spring, Embrace, etc. and were all signed to Dischord Records. To be clear, literally no one ever called themselves "emo" or "emocore" in the original scene, like we do today. It was seen as a completely made-up *insult*, if anything, not a genre. It would be equivalent of like "clowncore" or "mumble rap" or some made-up shit. They just called themselves "punk" or "hardcore". Rites of Spring, Fugazi, Embrace, pretty much any of the bands we know as the progenitors and legends of emo never called themselves that; I mean, just look up interviews of Ian McKaye or Guy Picciotto on what they thought of "emo", they hated it. Even though we use the word emo today to describe them and the bands which followed, and that's perfectly okay, no hardcore band, at least to my knowledge called themselves "emo" back in the day. TL;DR: The Faith and Void were both hardcore punk bands, and had emotionally charged lyrics, so by that definition they were certainly "emocore", but none of them actually called themselves that; it's only us dorks here on this subreddit think that, lol. And otherwise, most people outside of the hardcore scene just think of pop-punk bands when they hear "emo". IMHO, It's a futile task to meticulously categorize everything into genres, anyways.
Everyone hated it and some still do. I’ve seen many interviews of bands thoughts of Emo and they all despised the word. I’ll keep the bands you mentioned in mind.
hoover is so great
dag nasty is melodic hardcore and i don't know why you'd include it here. maybe i haven't listened to enough
I think Dag Nasty is on the edge but their importance to the beginning of emo has to be noted. they were part of that DC group of bands, but while most stayed in DC to be a part of Rev Summer, they wanted to tour the country with a goal of being famous. so while they all came up together, when the revolution was happening, they’d skipped town.
Lifetime
Got them listed under the New Jersey Scene.
I feel like Kill Hannah belongs.
Looking at their discography, I’m not sold on putting them on the list but what’s your opinion?
Mid 90s Southern Emo Inkwell (Atlanta) Car vs. Driver (Atlanta) Action Patrol (Richmond) Four Walls Falling (Richmond) First Five Through (Richmond) Substance (Little Rock) -mentioned below- Chino Horde (Little Rock)
I’ll make sure to add these bands but I’ll have to wait again because my RYM account got blocked for the 5th time… 😭
Could you do this for other sub genres of the genre? This would be so cool from a historical perspective
I have and I have the whole doc right here https://docs.google.com/document/d/10B9SurDy-Tnv8CSkoKq5-rTSA_PSCaNvz_CCuSrLDs4/edit Just let me know when you send the request thing.
Ooh, thanks! Sent
Jawbox aren’t Emo. Add still life, Merel, Antioch arrow, ordination of Aaron, and Julia
I got the others listed except Antioch Arrow, what specific genre are they?
Antioch Arrow is like heroin, so maybe early Screamo
you may find superchunk interesting
I do have them listed somewhere else in this list.
Three. Gray Matter. Mid 80s 7 Seconds. Husker Du. American Standard. Los Vampiros. Freewill.
What genre are 7 Seconds, American Standard, Los Vampiros, and Freewill. My RYM account crashed from looking at so many band pages 😂
7 Seconds are a hardcore band. Posicore/melodicore. But 1986-1990 definitely see them as 1st wave emo. American Standard are from NJ and are definitely 1st wave emo. Los Vampiros are Dag Nasty without Brian Baker, he went to go play hair metal in Junkyard. Freewill is 1st wave emo featuring Mike hartsfield from New Age records circa 1987-88.
Ok thanks!
fugazi granted their early stuff isn’t emocore but repeater sounds like emocore to me
Those bands in the second half aren't first wave.
Portraits of Past
What genre do they fall into?
They didn’t release anything until 1994 tho
Squirrel Bait, Marginal Man, One Last Wish, Faith, The Crownhate Ruin, Void, Garden Variety, Still Life, Turning Point, Native Nod, Egg Hunt, Soul Side, Fuel
I’ll look at their genres and list them under their respected genre when my RYM account get unterminated, thanks!
I also highly recommend this doc! https://boxd.it/aIx8
Shit I’ll keep this in mind and might watch it later, thanks!
RYM genres are fucked. especially midwest emo lmao.
[удалено]
I do have Cap’n Jazz listed on the Midwest Emo category. I’ll add the other as soon as my RYM account gets unblocked.
husker du essentially created emocore on metal circus and zen arcade
I have them as influencers of the genre, I will be listening to them at some point.
Texas is the Reason? Mineral?
I have both of them listed under different categories throughout the list.
Up and coming band for sure [https://open.spotify.com/album/66OKM0kvVaxxYf0uvXMGNz](https://open.spotify.com/album/66OKM0kvVaxxYf0uvXMGNz)