How Emo Became Emo

Emo is tough to define. As Andy Greenwald wrote in Nothing Feels Good: “Emo means different things to different people. Actually that’s a massive understatement. Emo seems solely to mean different things to different people.“ For the most part it’s more of an insult than a genre, and because of this, no band willingly considers themselves Emo. However at its essence, it’s an offshoot of punk that is in touch with its more introspective feelings. Maybe the guitars twinkle, maybe the guitars smash you over the head. The key element is there needs to be emotion, sung from the very bottom of their heart. But how did it get from its original emotional hardcore guise to the music featured on The OC? What were the essential steps along the way? And why is My Chemical Romance referred to as Emo? This is How Emo Became Emo.