Emo is the new football

i don't think the concept of emotional, punk-derived guitar rock is bad at all, it's just the execution that's almost always trash.

It's a cringe inducing concept: the marketing of human emotion as a genre. And boy, do those vocalists sound like they're racked with pain? No they don't. They sound like they're _trying_ to sound like their racked with pain.

It's contrary to the spirit of rock 'n' rock, which is in essence to gleefully seize the spirit of life and give it a damn good shaking, to hell with the consequences.

the big fallacy is that it's any more emotional than 90% of all music (and don't try and tell me that said grabbing and shaking of the spirit of life has no emotional content)...and if you have a problem with the marketing of all that other music, then let that be your beef.

ridiculous != bad; just whacky, weird, bizarre, niche-oriented and specific.

i'm talking about the early nineties here; maximillian colby, indian summer, etc.

the concept of emo qua emo (that is, saves the day, dashboard confessional, thursday, etc.) totally makes sense; getting laid.

Al, my beef is that they're faking their emotion,. They don't mean it, they are selling it. Hence the marketing shorthand 'Emo' is actually perfect. Rock and rroll is about genuine emotion, yes. Unless it's bad rock and roll. Plenty of that. But, more importantly, rock and roll is quintessentially positive about life, and, especially, about taking risks to affirm life, and not being regretful when you suffer the consequences.

What's that song where that guy is articulating with that false angst, "I just wanna feel..."? Keep trying, mate, strain those vocal chords and neck tendons! You'll get there.

it's funny that it's sensitivity is touted when it is just a different schtick to pick up girls. oh look at me, i cried when you told me 7-11 was out of your favorite flavour of slurpee, please sleep with me now.

by showing you are sensitive you do risk being crucified

i try not to question the sincerity of what a given song appears to be conveying...i mean, sometimes it's hard to take that shit at face value, but if you're constantly second-guessing who "really means it", and what their motives are, then it's easy to get caught up in liking or disliking it for the wrong reasons. and if all those off-key weenies are just in it for the chicks, well, um, i don't know how to tell you this, but they wouldn't be the first.

(speaking of questionable sincerity, i feel really odd playing a kind of devil's advocate here, but of all the reasons to dismiss emo, none of these threads seem to hit anywhere near them)

a good reason to dismiss emo is that the songs are often complete shit

That's true. That's very true.

But these Emo (urgh! I cringe every time I write that dreadful neologism) artists hypocritically dress up their sensitivity in a barrage of macho posturing and heavy riffing. It's like their saying - 'I'm sensitive - but hey, if you cross me I'll kick your ass'.
Rollins sensitivity. Vulnerability with a huge escape clause allowing retreat into traditional male breast beating.

Sensitivity, the real thing, is gentle, and has a sense of humour. There are many such male artists. I'll name a few in a really non-exclusive kind of way:

Nick Cave
Van Morrison
Julian Cope
Neil Young
Bim Sherman
Horace Andy

Oh, I could go on and include some more recent/relevant examples (I'm an old codger) but there's no need, fill them in yourselves. All these characters show sensitivity and grace without diminishing their manhood one bit. And- this is most critical - they all have a sly sense of humour. No genuine emotion without humour, only grand theatrics, insomnia, hysterics and staging.

I was responding to Jim's comment, then two more posts appeared.

Al, nop-one's second guessing Emo's emotional dishonesty, the overwrought insincerity is baldly apparent and can't be faked.

Sorry folks, that's rather opaque and requires some explanation. What I mean to say is that one does not need to _infer_ emotional insincerity. One can hear it directly in the content and delivery of the lyrics; and in the laughably over-dramatic song construction (not since ABC has pop sounded so hyper-dramatised - but they were being camp by intention, not by accident).

Most of all, though, you can hear it in the lyrics, as the vocalists tirelessly, relentlessly, circle around the topic of their own inability to be emotionally authentic. QED.

OK, this has gotten completely out of hand. I hereby dis-invent emo.

You're all listening to the WRONG Emo.
Click on the link below to hear what REAL Emo sounds like.
just whacky, weird, bizarre, niche-oriented and specific.
also, remember this...it's important
http://www.emophilips.com/images/ate-hit-on-head.gif

Is that football as in American Football? That is a minor interest sport played by hardly anyone on the planet? Or as in Association Football (Soooooooooooooooooooooccer), the most popular team game in the world played by millions all over the planet? I suggest the former.

"i don't think the concept of emotional, punk-derived guitar rock is bad at all..."

The Buzzcocks were great.

Yeah, they were great, but they were also wry and the delivery was understated. There were no strained, humourless attempts at conveying great trauma. Emo is not bad because it's emotional; it's bad because it's not authentically emotional. Having said that, I need to listen to Lord Custos Epsilon's stuff he linked above. There's always good music in any genre I suppose, if you look for it.

I guess the point I was making about the Buzzcocks is that they were great because they took the raw, bracing energy of early punk but sang about relationships and other "emotional" subjects instead of, say, the political/social scene in the UK. To me, this is the best "emo," not the whining, poorly delivered dreck that usually gets classified as such.

None of which brings us any closer to the subject line, which suggested that emo might be the new football. I don't know about that but I'd be very much in favour of an emo sub-genre where the artists sang tearfully or throat-wrenchingly about football, exclusively. ('Soccer' football, if you please.) Anyone with me?

So is there any "emo" that is worth listening too? Some of the music i've thought was ok, but completely ruined by the vocals.

Football > Emo. The songs are better.

Well, if we're talking football, as in soccer, then this makes sense.

1) I don't know anyone who has a passion for either soccer or emo, yet there are apparantly a lot who do.
2) They're both exciting in flashes, but for the most part boring and samey.
3) The stars are whiners.
4) Lots of people love to hate them both, and put down their fans.
5) No one is ever happy with the state of the game/genre.
6) I have to wonder what all the fuss is about.

Emo is good because every time I hear the name I think of the comedian Emo Phillips and chuckle at the similarities.

"exciting in flashes but for the most part boring and samey"
You seem to be describing baseball here, not soccer.

emo ain't the new football, no way.
for emo has overmuch thickness in midfield, for one; hasn't enough adventurousness up front; and as for defence - emo's all 'bout "defence", ain't it?

(yeh. like, prove me wrong. make me reconsider. etbloodycetera. i might be thankful. moderately)

"I come from Jamaica, me name's John Barnes
When I get the ball, the crowd go bananas"

When has emo come even remotely close to that?

I think Dom's post has put the game beyond doubt. And there's the final whistle!

are you guys talking about American Football the Joan of Arc side project?

Bob: and theres the snap...and a fine interception by Oberst! He at the 50 and heading in...he starting to weep...the fourty...he's really bawlin' now...the thirty!
(crowd roars)
He's fallen to his knees and is wracked with spiritual agony!
Fred: Wow, Bob, thats gotta hurt.

The thought of Conor Oberst running for a touchdown and crying his eyes out makes my sides hurt...