for more than a decade, the term emo was used almost exclusively to describe the genre of music that spawned from the 1980s DC scene and all of the bands inspired by it. However, during the late 1990s, as emo music began to emerge from the underground into popular consciousness, the term began to be used as a reference for more than just the music.
The origin of the word emo itself is unclear. In a 1985 interview by Rites of Spring in Flipside Magazine, members of the band noted that some of their fans in DC were starting to call them "emo", arguably because of the state of emotion that the band displayed during their shows. In later years, the word emo was viewed as a contraction of "emotional hardcore" or "emocore", which was the popular designation of the music genre. (One contingent of the scene insists that emo is a contraction for "emotive hardcore". However, no primary source has been found to confirm use of that term prior to the mid-1990s.)
In recent years, as its use has come to define more than just the music, the word emo has more often been viewed as simply being short for "emotional".
2000s
Bands like Dashboard Confessional began to popularize a more dramatic and personal style of "emo", which utilized lyrics that had a far greater appeal amongst teenagers experiencing life and love for the first time. As the lyrical content shifted and as the sound began to enter the mainstream, the term "emo" started to be used more often to describe what was perceived by those outside the scene as the overwrought melodrama of the music. The perception was that melodrama was simply an invention, an effort to display despression or dysfunction where it didn't actually exist. Popular comments such as "don't be so emo" and "cheer up, emo kid" drove home the belief among deriders that fans of emo music took themselves too seriously.
As major labels began pushing more bands under the "emo" umbrella, varying styles of music and dress began to be lumped in as well. The style of bands like My Chemical Romance, including their use of makeup (particularly black eyeliner) and longish hair covering the face, began to be associated with "emo".
Fashion and culture
There are two popular forms of dress associated with emo. The first is essentially what came out of the 90s "indie emo" scene, and has connections to indie rock and punk rock. It includes more vintage and thrift store clothing, typically for a well-worn look. Some of the clothing leans toward khaki colors. T-shirts are typically of smaller sizes and with random prints, often images from the 1980s. Bags and backpacks often have pins and patches of various bands.
The other popular style of dress focuses on darker colors. Commonly seen elements include dark colored hair, dyed either black, red, multi-colored (brown and black, red and purple, etc.), or an unnatural dark hue, males wearing pants tailored for females, lip, eyebrow, and labret piercings, and dark make-up on males and females (most notably black eyeliner, although red eyeshadow is becoming increasingly popular). A common accessory for both males and females are glasses with a dark coloured (usually black), thick rim, a style sometimes even worn by persons who do not require corrective eye-wear.
Converse All-Star style shoes are common amongst both styles of dress, as are Vans shoes.
Though the original emo scenes were not exclusionary, the modern "emo" scene has developed into a "gay friendly" scene. Though it's unclear whether it's related to the diminished "macho" elements of emo music or the "gay friendly" nature of the scene, it has become commonplace for detractors to use "emo" in combination with popular discriminatory gay slurs, such as "emo fag".
While "emo" is often used to describe the dress and attitudes of fans of emo music, it should be noted that "emo" as a musical genre and "emo" as a slang term are largely separate. "Emo" as a musical genre long pre-dated the use of "emo" as a slang term. At the same time, most current bands labeled "emo" are done so unwillingly, and largely because they share some of the fashion trends and attitude associated with "emo" as a slang term.
There is also a common stereotype that associates "emo" with self-harm, most notably cutting wrists, arms, legs, etc., possibly due to song lyrics associated with so-called "emo" bands, which often speak of acts of self-destruction. Regardless, there is no evidence of any correlation between "emo" and self-harm.
