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Description of Emo/Hardcore

 
Derived from DC's heartfelt post-hardcore scene, emo (short for emotional) is best characterized by its sensitive take on life and how to live it. The guitars usually dismiss light jangle for more intense chords. The vocal take is usually just as intense as the guitar attack, trading soul for sincerity, and most songs are mid-tempo affairs structured around short bursts of energy. The sound was epitomized by bands like Washington's Sunny Day Real Estate and the potent Jets to Brazil. More recently, bands like Fall Out Boy, Dashboard Confessional and Jimmy Eat World have taken the sound to the mainstream and made it the alt style of choice of the mid-'00s.
 

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Emo/Hardcore Key Artists

 
At the Drive-In

With their electric energy
and p.c. punk attitude, At
the Drive-In were once
considered the new great
band to watch. At the Dri...

Dag Nasty

Dag Nasty was a foursome
from DC who were
influential in adding emo to
post-hardcore. The group
was founded by singer Da...

Dashboard Confessional

Dashboard Confessional
provide the yearning vocals
of emo, but substitute
acoustic strumming for
guitar noise. Basically just...

Death Cab For Cutie

With loops, jangly guitars,
and the occasional Farfisa,
DCFC craft a melodic
backdrop for Benjamin
Gibbard's cozy vocals. De...

Drive Like Jehu

Influential group whose
signature exasperated,
heartfelt singing and
buzzsaw guitar work
helped create the Emo bl...

Fall Out Boy

The members of Fall Out
Boy started out in hardcore
punk bands before making
the move to something more
melodic. The band is nam...

From First To Last

Rallying cries of
desperation and angst are
this powerful
emo/metal/punk band's
calling card. The anguish...

Hot Water Music

Unforgiving and intense, the
music of Hot Water Music
involves gruff vocals doled
out over surging, distorted
guitars.

Jamison Parker

JamisonParker are actually
two different people who
play up the wounded
indie/emo boy angle to the
max. The group's forceful...

Jets to Brazil

JTB sucker-punched Indie
Rock slackers everywhere
with their surprisingly
versatile 1998 debut
"Orange Rhyming Dictiona...

Jimmy Eat World

One time aggressive
emo-rockers have since
received major label polish
and now teeter on the
brink of success. The ban...

My Chemical Romance

My Chemical Romance's
hard, melodic punk and
cathartic pop comes
straight outta New Jersey.
The band got its start rec...

Senses Fail

Senses Fail sold 1,000 copies
of their "From the Depths of
Dreams" EP before signing to
Drive-Thru. Senses Fail hail
from Bergen County, N.J....

Silverstein

Silverstein's
harcore-meets-emo sound
is a brutal, passionate
reflection of the band's
experiences. This Canadi...

Something Corporate

Piano-friendly
punk-poppers with
radio-perfect songs written
by vocalist Andrew
McMahon. The band was f...

Sunny Day Real Estate

SDRE's well-written,
emotionally fuelled songs
would prove to be
influential to young indie
rockers everywhere. Su...

Taking Back Sunday

From the ashes of Movielife
rise not a phoenix, but an
Emo egret. The punkish pop
of TBS has been compared
to All and NOFX. In 2004, T...

The All-American Rejects

Love-stricken, punk'd up
odes to the perfect pop
song are the mainstay of this
Oklahoma quartet. The
group hit big in 2002 with...

The Early November

Emo punk band the Early
November formed in New
Jersey in 2001. The band
has gone thru a half a dozen
lineup changes. Drive-Thr...

The Get Up Kids

The Get Up Kids are one of
the key emo bands of the
mid- and late- '90s and
spawned a whole
generation of clones. The...

The Promise Ring

Madison, Wisc., act the
Promise Ring run Emo/pop
circles around their less
melodic, less energetic
brethren.

The Starting Line

The Starting Line's chunky
punk pop pits frenzied
music against heartfelt
lyrics resulting in
arena-sized, anthemic ho...

Thursday

This New Jersey group has
been creating a cathartic
blend of screams and
sensitivity since the late
1990s. Early shows with B...

Yellowcard

A violin embellishes
Yellowcard's distinct
emo-meets-punk-pop
sound. Originally from
Florida, Yellowcard saw t...

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