Goth vs. Emo
Emotional rock, and the wide distribution of followers, are not gothic or even a closely related subculture of the general Goth trend. The emo scene has had three waves of its trend and is in the height of its third now. In the mid 1980’s the scene was a subculture of punk rock, and was called emotional hardcore, mainly used to describe the DC scene, because that is its area of origin. The first wave broke apart when the bands did in the early 1990’s. The second wave was in the mid 1990’s, and reflected a sort of indie style, influenced greatly by Fugazi, which was an offshoot of the first wave of emo, and was more melodic, and less chaotic than the first wave. It broke up in the late 1990’s after many of the bands broke apart or joined the mainstream. The third wave began in 2000, although one of the few remaining early 90’s emo bands, Jimmy Eat World, had already joined the mainstream, and objected to still being called emo. Chris Carraba emerged, with his project, Dashboard Confessional, and lyrics that portrayed deep outpourings of emotion.
There is a certain tension between the two groups, and, as easy as it is to confuse them, emo subculture, and Goth subculture hate to be confused with one another. Call an emo a Goth, and you’ll never hear the end of it. Call a Goth an emo, and you’ll get the same reaction. Male fans of emotional rock are hit with homosexual slurs, largely a reflection of the style of dress, but so do Goth males, for their own style. One of the major differences, is that many outside the emo subculture see the third wave as sexist, because of the female induced misery that most of the music describes. As the third wave of emo may die out soon, the Goth subculture perseveres, and continues to draw followers in many countries, and continents, because of its non-sexist outlook, and encompassment of so many other subcultures and genres of music. Perhaps the Goth subculture is here to stay.