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there are legitimate criticisms of emo music that need to be addressed and haven't been to my satisfaction. First let's tackle what emo music is now.

Many people think that emo music is a relatively recent occurance, noting the rise of a band such as Dashboard Confessional to mainstream success. However, emo has been around in some form for about 20 or so years. People tend to forget that emo was originally a slang term for emocore, which was short for emotional hardcore. Bands such as the Washington, DC based Rites of Spring and Embrace came to be known in underground circles during this time playing a more melodic form of hardcore punk with emotional based songs rather than the nihilism or political themes that hardcore punk has had beforehand. Many would consider Fugazi to be the first big emo band though while cited as an influence on early emo, Fugazi was always a punk rock band at heart and took their spin on punk's DIY ethic with a fusion of numerous genres to create music that sounded like no one else at the time. Later bands such as Sunny Day Real Estate and Promise Ring forged the blueprint to what emo would become as it borrowed from some of what Fugazi did and put their own twist on it, gaining a strong following in the American underground movement of the time.

However, these days what emo music has become is a far cry from punk rock. In many cases, current emo bands seem to be playing music that borders on bubblegum pop in my opinion played through the third channel of a high powered half stack (usually a Mesa Triple Rectifier but other similar amps can work just as well). The poppier leanings that arose when Dashboard Confession had their first couple of hits have washed over the roots of emo with many bands citing said band's softer songs as an influence. In addition, the major label signing of many emo bands has, for better or worse, created a strange parallel movement of suburban youth who only know these bands and are unaware of the subgenre's history or roots (similar to some of what punk rock had to face from this same situation a few years back). As a result, many of today's emo bands are more in the pop vein then ever. Occasionally some rock bands emerge from this (I found myself pleasantly surprised by My Chemical Romance when I got to see them open for Green Day a few years back), but the mellower vibe of much of today's emo seems more of a marketing tool for mass appeal than the cathartic appeal the original emocore bands offered their

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