Now if only Rolling Stone’s staff would catch on. Emo WAS just a phase. Rubbish.

i COMPLETELY agree with this article, i’m sick and tired of hearing these bitching winey emo kids, and glad to see an indie band step up becuase too often the two are confused, thank you byop

when will people realize that hating emo has become just as much of a trend as emo itself? BYOP have shown themselves to be nothing more than elitist pricks. what if, hypothetically, Hawthorne Heights had refused to performn at lollapalooza? the backlash would have been huge! yet BYOP can say and do something like this and be praised because being an ‘emo cynic’ is the flavor of the month.

Emo bashing is so 2002. Now it’s cool to bash pretentious indie bands who wear tight thrift shop clothes and “borrow” from other styles.

But of course that doesn’t include Jemina Pearl. I’ve looked into her soul and seen that she’s authentic.

the killers hardly have an original sound. i’d rather slam my dick in a drawer than listen to BYOP

whatever. that jonas guy is hot.

emo is so very GAY. yes, gay.

if hawthorne heights refused to play lollapalooza there wudnt be any backlash, that band is horrible

and for everyone dissing BYOP, stop listening to Panic! at the disco
and pick up some real music

Emo is no different from any phase that breaks out like an inferno then burns out just as quickly with the ashes quickly being swept away.

The same thing is happening with certain subgenres of Indie.

It has happened every in single decade. Give it a couple of years, and Emo will have disappeared from the pop map completely.

Bands like Fall Out Boy and Dashboard Confessional will be giving hand jobs for crack. Bands like Interpol and the Killers will follow suit.

killers and be your own pet aren’t indie. the fact that they were offered a spot tells you how people interpret their music. they are just as overdone and pretentious as the other emo bands and half as good as most independent acts. people just feed into what rolling stone and all the crap this pop culture bureaucracy sells us. disgusting. people are stupid and bad music just contributes to it.

Is emo still being put out. Can’t someone just put the proverbial barrel in the gente’s mouth and pull the trigger already. IQ levels all across the continent will instantly rise 20 points. (The smart people never bought into this crap in the first place)

“EMO”… IS CRAP!!! SKINNY,SILLY LITTLE WHITE SURBURBAN BOYS WHOSE BANDS ALL SOUND THE SAME,SAME SCREAM,SAME CHORDS,SAME DISTORTION PEDAL. JUST THINK ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS NIRVANA, NIN, EARLY SMASHING PUMPKINS, EARLT GREEN DAY.HELL, EVEN STP WROTE BETTER SONGS.

Let’s face it, about 1% of all the artists in the so-called mainstream (that is, bands that people have heard of) today lack any innovation or creativity in their music. There is a trendsetter, and then there are a bunch of followers. Emo is an example of a few bands saying hey, this sells. Then a million more followed. Indie is an example of a few bands saying hey, this is music that i really feel. Then a million bands imitated. I don’t have a problem with emo (altho it does suck) as much as I have a problem with the state of mainstream music today.

Emo sucks and “Indie” music possibly suck worse. Indie bands mostly sound the same and only survive because they slag “the mainstream”, which consequently is thier niche. I think Billy Corgan said once that music scenes are normally started by people who look at what is going on currently, hate it, and decide to go and do something different. Music scenes are perpetually cannablistic and that is a good thing. Emo/Screamo is disentigrating and “Indie” is still bitching like the music is relevant. Just be excited that things can at least change.

Wow! Another Be Your Own Pet plug! They must have one kick ass PR firm.

Finally, they’re musicians that KNOW emo is trash. It is “overdone and pretentious and not real”. Let’s face it, in today’s music world there are only three genres that top the charts: pop, rap, and emo. It’s sad that musicianship has gone completly down the drain. Pop and rap are not bad at all because they have variety and a consistancy but this emo stuff is garbage. It’s a guitarist that only plays 3 or 4 chords in each song, a drummer that only plays quarter beats, and a vocalist that is either screaming uncontrollably for no reason or one that sounds like a sheep.Fall out boy and Panic at the disco are the boybands of this time frame in music. No band that tops the charts today deserves where they are beacsue they all sound the same. Maybe there will be a time when bands are inspired by great artists like Frank Zappa, Beck, Radiohead, or even The Flaming Lips. The problem with today’s music scene is that no one is taking risks.Bands like The mars volta or ween or beck etc.have staying power because they are not afraid to take risks. It’s sad that these emo bands are around, they are the demise of musicianship in music. As far as the killers and BYOP are concerned they’re not my favorite bands but at least they stood up and finally said something.

Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco (pop-punk with dance beats is emo I quess) are only two bands….that’s not very dominate. Quit your bitching and worry about something that matters.

“Wow! Another Be Your Own Pet plug! They must have one kick ass PR firm.”

Emolarious!

Most music today is crap! There is rarely ANYTHING original in mainstream music. Every band you hear, and I mean EVERY band, is just recycled sound. You can hear each of their influences plain as day. That’s the problem with music now. You hear a band or a singer and instantly it’s like, “oh, they sound just like…” Right now the 80’s sound is big. Why? There was maybe a handful of quality bands in the 80’s. So why copy that sound? Wake up and see that the record companies are telling you what is cool and in style. That’s why you see waves of a type of sound. 80’s = hair metal, new wave, rap. 90’s = grunge, boy bands, gansta rap, rap metal. 2000’s = garage rock, fake gangsta rap, american idol. They choose and the public eats it up. But of course you all feel like you’re so original as you listen to it.

Emo was just one more round of the Suburban White Kid Blues. It goes away…but it always comes back in a new form.

It can rest now, with Alice Cooper’s “Teenage Lament ‘74″, and the music industry can poop out some more prefab idols to take its place for a while.

How To Make Popular Music 101 . . .

* music –> feelings –> imagery –> style –> trend

How NOT To Make Popular Music 101 . . .

* styles –> feelings –> imagery –> music –> trends

SYNOPSIS: music FIRST, everything else, later.

The interesting thing about bashing emo as this product of the big music industry is that such bashing completely ignores some facts that are inconvenient for bashers of so-called emo:

Fact 1: many of these supposedly massive bands being shoved down our throats by “THE INDUSTRY” are on small, independent labels and have no radio air play in many markets.

Fact 2: the music isn’t all that different from what is generally considered decent music in any era. It’s somewhat poppy (as in, you can sing along to it), and it focuses on relationships. One can imagine that bands like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Who, and the Smiths might’ve been slapped with the useless “emo” label if they came around today.

Fact 3: None of the bands have had enormous, household name status. The only one that seems to have come close to “Total rockstar status” is Fall Out Boy (Probably the worst band to come out of the so-called emo movement)

Fact 4: The music press itself annointed the “new garage” of The Hives, the Vines, the White Stipes, et. al. as the “Next Big Thing”…they wrote about it…they plugged it….only problem….the bands just couldn’t seem to sell enough records (Except for maybe the White Stripes). So-called emo groups stepped in, and captured imaginations in ways that the recycled 70s sounds of the “New Garage” couldn’t….I think it might just be sour grapes on the part of some to rip emo.

Fact 5: The assertion that the bands “all sound the same” just doesn’t hold water. Two bands to consider as supposedly being part of the scene: Brand New and Underoath. Not much overlap in their sounds at all. One could say the same when comparing AFI and Thrice or Thursday and My Chemical Romance or Alkaline Trio and Copeland. There’s a lot of variety there.

Fact 6: Because the supposedly monolithic emo sound is so diverse, and has so many of the attributes of good, popular music from any era, it would be no stretch to imagine that some of the most devoted fans of BYOP and the Killers are also big fans of some of the dreaded emo bands.

I’m sure that convinces everyone…yeah….right.

All in all, I say just listen to music because you like it, don’t worry about scenes or trends. That stuff passes.

Have a nice day.

The interesting thing about bashing emo as this product of the big music industry is that such bashing completely ignores some facts that are inconvenient for bashers of so-called emo:

Fact 1: many of these supposedly massive bands being shoved down our throats by “THE INDUSTRY” are on small, independent labels and have no radio air play in many markets.

Fact 2: the music isn’t all that different from what is generally considered decent music in any era. It’s somewhat poppy (as in, you can sing along to it), and it focuses on relationships. One can imagine that bands like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Who, and the Smiths might’ve been slapped with the useless “emo” label if they came around today.

Fact 3: None of the bands have had enormous, household name status. The only one that seems to have come close to “Total rockstar status” is Fall Out Boy (Probably the worst band to come out of the so-called emo movement)

Fact 4: The music press itself annointed the “new garage” of The Hives, the Vines, the White Stipes, et. al. as the “Next Big Thing”…they wrote about it…they plugged it….only problem….the bands just couldn’t seem to sell enough records (Except for maybe the White Stripes). So-called emo groups stepped in, and captured imaginations in ways that the recycled 70s sounds of the “New Garage” couldn’t….I think it might just be sour grapes on the part of some to rip emo.

Fact 5: The assertion that the bands “all sound the same” just doesn’t hold water. Two bands to consider as supposedly being part of the scene: Brand New and Underoath. Not much overlap in their sounds at all. One could say the same when comparing AFI and Thrice or Thursday and My Chemical Romance or Alkaline Trio and Copeland. There’s a lot of variety there.

Fact 6: Because the supposedly monolithic emo sound is so diverse, and has so many of the attributes of good, popular music from any era, it would be no stretch to imagine that some of the most devoted fans of BYOP and the Killers are also big fans of some of the dreaded emo bands.

I’m sure that convinces everyone…yeah….right.

All in all, I say just listen to music because you like it, don’t worry about scenes or trends. That stuff passes.

Have a nice day.

I think BYOP are confusing playing the Vans Warped tour with opening for AFI or something! There’s lots of cool music there that isn’t emo. Gogol Bordello played Warped and they sure ain’t emolicious.

Sounds kind of snobby to me. They should have just said they were too sleepy or something to play

I’m sorry did I just read that Against Me! are “emo”? That’s just plain idiotic.

But aside from that Be Your Own Pet did put out an awesome album.

This article is hilarious. First, with the publication of this article, Rolling Stone has now officially devoted more coverage to anti-emo comments than it ever has to any bands in the emo scene. Boy…emo’s just so huge….that’s why we’ve seen so much front-page coverage of it in Rolling Stone….I tell you, if I see Thursday or Taking Back Sunday get huge billing in this magazine one more time…..oh….wait….that hasn’t happened. Second, I don’t think the dude from Be Your Own Pet has any idea what the word “pretentious” means. Saying you “don’t want to be with other bands” because you think your music is superior to theirs is the very definition of being pretentious. Of course, the comic ineptitude of such irony was probably lost on the dude from Be Your Own Pet, the person doing the interview, and the folks at Rolling Stone who put this up.

It doesn’t matter whether or not this music is being “shoved” down our throats. The fact of the matter is that if music, or any other art form for that matter, can be so easily categorized because it lacks originality, than that artform has lost all integrity. These bands, despite being on “independent labels” – which most of them aren’t as a matter of fact – need to realize that selling out does not only mean in terms of commercialization but also in terms of their artistic orginality. In this case, both sides are extreme offendors, both sides are devoid of true human emotion or political message or philosophy or substance. And this has been the case in music, other than a few exceptions, since the Bush administration came into power. The basic idea is that the conservative press has numbed the masses into feeding in to guilty pleasures, the lies that the media is “overly liberal”, that everything in the Middle East is the fault of the “crazy Muslims”, that the United States is actually the land of the free, that it’s okay to be satisfied living with the knowledge of rampant human rights violations, that it’s okay to wreck the environment, that if you’d like to rebel you can slap on some studs, and scream for nihilism in a redundant show of testosterone-fueled rage, that it’s okay to be completely apathetic about everything and have “fun” all the time. This is the society which has bread this pseudo-art. This is the society which is killing artistry.

I’m sorry for mispelling “then” and adding a couple of extra unnecessary commas. For those of you who didn’t notice… carry on.

i like how no one has mentioned anything about the fact that true “emo” was a small punk movement that started in the 80s about friendship and playing music, not about cutting wrists and blacking eyes. panic at the disco, fallout boy, and hawthorne heights are not emo. they are a souped up, whinier version of the trend of pop punk that came before them. can anyone say “good charlotte with screaming and a new style?”. i agree that it sucks, its just too bad that the industry had to attach the label to a form of music that is so terrible. on another note, thanks to the killers and byop for standing up to bad music.

Emo’s suck.

Emo was originally Emotional Post Hardcore Punk in 1995. It was Sunny Day Real Estate and band like that.

Against Me! isnt Emo, ass. Im sickened that someone would even state that.

thank god people are begining to realize what a load of crap emo is…..give the backstreet boys guitars and they’d be an emo band…..remember when musicians actually had something worthwhile to write about? emo is just the soundtrack for whiney, suburbanites who are feeling pissy cause the GAP ran out of sweaters in their size

god i love byop, i love them loads

Some dude screaming without energy and passion is the lamest sound in the world. Most of the crap on the radio sounds so rehearsed and polished it’s sick. At least BYOP is somewhat sloppy and risky – how many emo band’s singers vomit on stage? It’s a phase – like 80’s hair bands whos names I’m gradually forgetting – and will pass. Don’t like it? Don’t listen to it.

To: No One Important,

From the comment below, it is clear that you serve no real purpose on this earth.

“One can imagine that bands like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Who, and the Smiths might’ve been slapped with the useless “emo” label if they came around today.”

Most of the comments here are spot on. With the exception of the kid who called the Killers indie(fletch), the Killers are just crap; and the one who felt that Lollapalooza might be cancelled without Hawthorne Heights. That band has about 25 min of material and sound like they should headline the next episode of Laguna Beach.

While I was first in line to bash emo(crap). I will say it’s better than Britney, Christina and NSync…Might we be forgetting that were it not for the post punk/indie revival Bubblegum would still dominate the airwaves. Emo is more polished and less cryptic than indie, perfect for the masses and the record execs have no doubt picked up on this.

i didnt say that lollapalooza would be cancelled. i said that if, hypothetically, hawthorne heights (who i just kinda threw out as a stereotypical ‘emo band. i dont really much care for them) refused the chance to play there, internet boards and articles and whatnot would be flooded with things like ‘hawthorne heights are elistists’ and ‘who are they to consider themselves too holy to play this festival’.

i just dont know why the same thing isnt happening with BYOP. its the same thing.

but obviousley, most of the people here love what there doing because, whether you realize it or not, your buying into a trend. i’ve been hearing people say that emo will fade away for years now. this is no new prediction. maybe it wont be the genre with the most staying power ever, but it strikes a chord with many people. many people whi have musical tastes as well. there are amazing musicians in emo groups, and amazing lyrics.

but i really doubt that anyone who agrees with BYOP has even taken the time to ever listen to anything that could possibly be considered emo besides ’sugar, we’re goin down’, ‘i write sins not tradgedies’, and ‘miss murder’

This whole message board is making me all EMO. I…I love you guys! Let’s not fight…

Indie,

I find it rather interesting that rather than use any actual evidence or examples to refute my statement about the general similarity between emo and all other popular rock and roll before it (i.e., the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Who, the Smiths)–you just choose to insult my humanity. I guess facist hate-mongering triumphs over informed dialogue about trivial issues every time. I’ll roll over and play dead now. Your scene cred has destroyed me. I hope you have a nice day.

My cred is the BEAST that lives in the garage. He is awakened by crying bitches wearing makeup and stomps their Emo existence into tiny puddles of mascara. All hail the chief, Robert Pollard!

“I was a football player in high school, emo kids were tennis players!” What?! Who Run It?!

i happen to love byop…but i still; hav respect for panic! at the disco and fall out boy. i mean to you ppl they are mindless emo jerks who throw out meaning less albums. but they probably feel the same about indie music…

i mean not all emo is the same and some sites and ppl consider panic! to be indie…they are wrong i dont doubt that but some of my emo friends think that im crazy for liking indie because they think its just an emo-poser form of music

…they are on an indie label…not thats that matters but

this is bull ive almost punched my computer lik 15 times because ppl cant just get over the fact that they dont lik emo…who cares let ppl choose what they lik instead of bitching about it to ur other indie friends…emo ppl arent making a big deal about it or bitching about it on internet sites so nether should we…we are bringing ourselves down to the lvl just below scum-of-the-earth

This a receiw of byop and it pretty much is spot on
“I first heard about Be Your Own Pet in a newspaper article. The Art section raved about these young “artists” as though they were the best thing to happen to punk rock since The Ramones. The band members of BYOP were quoted bashing 2006 Warped Tour bands, namely A.F.I., Senses Fail, and Against Me! – calling them “emo-screamo” and “pretentious and not real”. Of course, this was followed by several bouts of shameless self-promotion and kiss-up comments by the author of the article.

Thinking that that was a mighty bold claim for some teenagers in a garage punk band, I checked out their music. And man, did my ears regret it. Everything about this CD literally screamed (and I mean literally) – TALENTLESS. From the elementary baseline, to the simplistic guitar riffs, to the mediocre vocals, nothing about their songs ever made me consider wanting to buy their albums. If I wanted to hear teenaged garage bands spewing out random sounds, all I would have had to do was visit my local high school talent show. Thankfully, I did not spend any money listening to BYOP’s music. I encourage everyone else to do the same – for the love of Pete, please do not support this band.

Admittedly, I was also a little bit jaded on BYOP to begin with when I read about them criticizing the Warped Tour bands in the way they did. I mean, not simple criticism, but just plain ripping on other much more popular bands. Of course, everyone has the right to their own opinion, but should a really good band have to underhandedly cut at other bands to gain polularity? No. Besides, they incorrectly listed A.F.I. as an emo band, which further indicated to me that the members of BYOP have no knowledge of, or experience with, real music. (And no one, I mean NO ONE, insults Davey Havok or any of his bands in my presence.)

As far as BYOP’s lyrics…where did they come up with that stuff? I mean, all that junk like (from another album) “I wanted a cat, my boyfriend wanted a dog, we had it out, then I threw him in a bog” (or something like that, I don’t care enough about this band to learn their exact lyrics)? A 12-year-old could do better. For such harsh critics of chart-topping, refined, talented bands, I would at least hope that their music wouldn’t be entirely comprised of belted-out screaming of random lyrics that sound like they were thought up in about 10 seconds. BYOP claims to be a part of the punk rock scene, but I beg to differ. Punk rock is good. Be Your Own Pet is not.”

this is stupid you ppl should be putting up this kind of fight for important stuff lik animal abuse or something lik that

and if u did care about animals then go 2
http://www.peta2.com/