Sunday, December 17, 2006

Emo-ting

This particular blog began as a list of favorites (Christmas edition) as I sought to narrow my selection down to one favorite Christmas movie. In order to do so, however, I wanted to do some research, re watch old favorites. After doing so, I read some posts on a certain Internet movie site about one of the contenders: The Nightmare Before Christmas. Many of the posts discussed the fact that the movie is a favorite of emo kids. And I first thought "That's great!" This movie is still popular and now kids are enjoying it as well. Then, I thought to myself "What is an emo kid?" Further research was required. Since I am rather lazy by nature, I decided that research would consist of reading a few more posts. It seems (based on my rather limited knowledge) the emo kids are the dark, sullen, brooding sort, the depressed cousin of the goth kids of my youth so many years ago. Then, I began really thinking about the topic. What if I am an emo kid? Wait, hear me out. Black clothing? Well, most of what I wear to work every day is black or gray. Black hair? Yes, admittedly I chose a bottle of hair dye that said "dark brown" but didn't I secretly know that would place my hair in the black family for the first couple of weeks? Pale complexion? Oh, please. I make Conan O'Brien and Jim Gaffigan look like George Hamilton. Sullen? Yep, sometimes. Brooding? Yep, sometimes (I have always prefer to call it "artistic temperament") Plus, I keep a blog, which is practically an online journal. Yes, it seems I have an accidental affiliation with this group. Oh, maybe I am not what anyone would consider cool or -- what is the word? -- interesting, but it is nice to know that I could belong to a group if I so chose. The oldest living emo girl -- whatever that means.

1 comment:

Brian in Real Life, Mojo on the Xbox said...

About a year ago I discovered Yahoo LaunchCast radio, a streaming web station where you rate music and it will recommend songs similar to your preferred music. The more you use it, the better your station is.

The first time I used it, some music was coming up recommended to me that was in a genre called "Emo". I thought "what the heck is emo?" I hadn't ever heard of it, but I sure did like that kind of music.

But back to your point. I've since drifted into modern rock/emo/pop-punk categories as my main interests. One might say that this music is primarily enjoyed by high-schoolers, not 32-year-old analysts. Although it's somewhat humiliating to internalize my new found interest in New Found Glory, what can we do? We are who we are, right?

I grew up on MTV. Yes, I still watch MTV, and I like most of the rock music that they play, when they do actually play music. My wife also grew up on MTV, and she doesn't watch it or listen to any of the new music that would play on MTV. She still listens to 80s bands and even of the newer music, they sound very similar...just newer.

So for her, she liked a category or genre of music and has stuck with it throughout the years. She liked modern rock in the 80s, she likes modern rock in the 00s. I pretty much like whatever most 18-year-old white kids like, and even as these 18-year-old cohorts age, the music I listen to doesn't. Obviously there are exceptions, but that's the rule in our house anyway.