Quote:
Originally posted by mitchdoran
This is a tough one. Almost all of you are damning one genre all together, and then excusing 'some' of the artists that fall into that genre.
This is because of our obsession with overcategorization. People have to be able to put their finger on what a certain bands' style is called and what category they fall into. So when they decide that they don't like X band, beyond a certain extent, and X band falls into said category or genre, then ALL bands that are labled by anyone else and presented as such, they totally dismiss without giving a proper listen. I'm guilty of this too, but I think it sucks. And I'm not saying that ALL categorization is bad, but overdoing it is what ruins a lot of good things.
Take the whole 'emo' thing thats going on right now. I am so greatful that I am not in highschool for this one. Half of the people are saying "YOU! YOU FAG, YOU'RE EMO! LOOK AT THAT HAIR!"
Some people are all "(Sigh).... I'm so emo.. its great.. but.. too bad I hate myself.."
And the rest of the people I see are always pointing out things that are apparantly "emo," to the point where its rediculous
(kid a and kid b are walking down the steps at their typical suburb high school)
kid A:.... man.....
Kid B:What's up bro?
B:... my... dad just passed away..
A: aaahhh WHATEVER! FUCK! DONT GET ALL EMO ON ME, MAN!!!! AAHHHHRRRGGHH!!!! (storms off)
(ok I know that went a little far, but seriously, this emo shit is rediculous)
It's just like the term "Hair Band," used to describe a certain style of metal in the 80's
What band before this didn't have hair?
But after this term and look was established, ALL of these HORDES of bands came out and they ALL HAD TO HAVE HUGE AQUA NET PINK FUCKING HAIR. As well as the rest of the "image" to go with it.
The worst was that all of these 'post hair bands' also inhereted what was considered 'safe' to do as far as the music was concerned, which really fucked things up and oversaturated the music industry with "Trixter" and "Europe" and a ton of Motley Crue rip wannabes. Wanna-bes of the Wanna-bes. And so the scene pretty much imploded, and Grunge took over.
The same thing happened to grunge, except instead of the aquanet, it was the Doc Martens and flannels (as well as a backlash against technical and theoretical knowledge of music).
The same thing is happening RIGHT NOW with all of this "Emo" talk.
We have created this HUGE Emo bucket. We did it so we could throw a couple of bands- who didn't quite fit into any of our other buckets- down into a comfortable little container that we could stand as close or as far from as we wanted, because now we "know" that this bucket is full of "emo."
Maybe we have heard one song on MTV from a band thats at the bottom of that "emo" bucket, and it maybe we thought it FUCKING SUCKED, so we can say to hell with the whole damn thing. File it next to the "Country" and "Polka" buckets.
Or, Maybe we heard a little of what was in that Emo bucket, and we LOVED it!! We're gonna dive right in there, and with the right combination of Hot Topic and the Salvation Army, we're gonna fit in within this bucket like NEVER BEFORE!
The sad part is all of the bucket-blind musicians, scrambling to fill the bucket to the brim with their simulated TRL-safe copycat-dishonesty, until it overflows and they are all left wondering what happened.
Before jumping in, think about it. Emo is just like the whole Hair Band thing.
What music is NOT emotive?
The term is bullshit. By creating it and perpetuating its existance, we are fucking up everything that is good. Theres not a lot of room for honesty with all of these buckets around.
So If you were to ask me what is the worst genre of music created, I would have to say that every genre of music that we've created SUCKS. Because a created Genre is the downfall of honest music.
I hope one day we can stop carrying around this need to overcategorize, and become more open honest people as a whole (as far as music is concerned).
The Genre Bucket is a trap, set by ourselves and the Music Industry, and is indeed the downfall of honesty and expression in music.
Just listen to the music. Don't beleive the bucket.
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So......you like emo? |
