What with tomorrow marking back-to-school for another crop of teenage freaks and geeks, the weekend news was peppered with a charming array of head-wagging, fist-shaking "Kids these days" types of articles. One of the most interesting of these was an article that appeared in the Toronto Sun this past Sunday on the definition of emo culture.
To my mind, emo is a relatively new-fangled cultural phenomenon. I'm familiar with Eno (as in Brian, or "Bubbly bubbly") and enamoured of E.L.O. (more on that later), but emo...it just sounded to me like yet another cool-kid thing that I was destined not to understand. From the scant research that I have thus far conducted into the topic, I have gleaned that to be "emo" is to possess a flair for the melodramatic, shrewd thrift-store shopping savvy, and an iPod packed with songs recorded by bands with names that sound like titles of sappy teen romance novels (eg. "Further Seems Forever," "Funeral For a Friend," "Matchbook Romance").
After taking a brief look into what I might be missing with respect to emo, I've decided that its particular cultural niche would be better filled by a revival of 1970s rock opera. Personally, I think that when it comes to music, "emotional hardcore" is more satisfyingly associated with the rockin' yet plaintive overtures of Meat Loaf, E.L.O., or some deep cuts from the Xanadu soundtrack. Pair that with a roller rink and some Gloria Vanderbilt jeans and you've got yourself one over-the-top, heart-swelling experience. If kids these days could only appreciate that, well, we'd have nothing to worry about.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Dude, if you're hankerin' for the good ol' days of rock and/or roll, you MUST start watching this hilarious show on Much More Music called Super Group (I think it's from VH1 or some such channel from down south). It's Ted Nugent, Sebastian Bach, Jason Bonham, and two other metal dudes who have twelve days to write songs, rehearse them, and then play a concert as a rock "super group." It's THE funniest thing on television right now, and you'll love it.
Post a Comment