First of all, i'd like to make it clear that this has nothing to do with one of those "emo is not like Embrace anymore..." or "the stuff that's around today can hardly be considered emo...". Those writings bore me to death, and of course emo is not at all like Embrace anymore. A similar argument is used by people who say that any band that doesn't have fast drumming is not hardcore. But these people fail to see that hardcore, or emo, has nothing to do with being stuck in a specific kind of musical style. Hardcore, or emo, are (or should be) moved by words, ideas, raw feelings, as well as complex ones. That is the base for any kind of music with a minimum of substance. And these ideas, these feelings, can also be expressed through musical experimentation and expression, by trying, inventing, coming up with new ways of composition and structure. Some bands stay with that old, fast style of hardcore (Like TRIAL), while others also make use of musical experimentation to express their ideas and emotions (like SUBMISSION HOLD). I would doubtless say that both are deeply rooted in the ideal of punk rock, yet they use different approaches and different methods, to come up with a similar result. If you can't see hardcore in a band like SUBMISSION HOLD, i'm sorry, that's your problem, not theirs. But please don't say they're not hardcore.

But what i wanted to say about emo has nothing to do with music. I don't care what kind of music you play, as long as it's loaded with SUBSTANCE. Whether you're a black jazz musician or a socially conscious hip-hop artist, a fat, manly lesbian folk singer, or a white hardcore kid, i'd give you all value for what you do.

But the thing is, shifting to my personal life, when i stopped considering myself part of Straight Edge and started writing more personally-oriented stuff, it had nothing to do with "quitting hardcore," but the complete opposite - i needed to question, i needed to know why, i needed to know myself, i needed to stay apart, at least for some time, from the hierarchy, from the dogma, and try to figure out what the fuck i was doing in there. I never felt like i "quit" punk rock, i never felt like i abandoned the ideals that made so much sense to me when i first started to get involved in the more political side of punk rock. That time passed,  i wouldn't do or write what i did before, but i don't regret a single word (even though it got me into quite a lot of trouble). And today, rooted as ever in punk (more in the ideal than in the scene, though) and what it means to me, i recognize the importance of that period of time in my life and in making me what i am today. And yes, during that time i had some influence from what is roughly called emo - at least, what i thought it was. I never saw emo as separate from hardcore, but the opposite - what in my mind i thought emo was - the questioning and evaluation of ourselves and the environment we're in - has to do with the most basic principle of punk. Simply because if we don't question, we are stagnant, we become redundant, we stop taking all sides of an issue into consideration.

But i was wrong. Emo is dying your hair black, wearing sweaters, funny glasses, highwaters, clunky shoes, and cutesy dresses. Emo is finding in "hardcore disillusioned me" reasons to start drinking and smoking again, and doing things that are close to a "normal" lifestyle. Emo is THE PROMISE RING, the happiest, silliest, most uncompromised, MTV band (and we can tell exactly where emo is going by looking at the cover of their new 7", which features a boy and a girl wearing stereotypical emo clothes). Emo is Indie Rock and Deep Elm Records, with the self-proclaimed "Emo Diaries" compilation (anyone who might consider her/himself "emo" should be insulted by this record). Emo is rocking back and forth at shows with empty "paperboy" bags and forgetting what it truly means to be moved by music and words. Emo is being overly concerned with something as unimportant as fashion and style, and forgetting that the reason we got involved in punk rock is to ESCAPE from the emptiness of fashion. So i would say no, emo is not part of punk. Emo is after punk. Emo is for grown-ups. Emo is the closest we get to the "normal" lifestyle we once despised, without saying we're totally out of our youth movement. Emo is selling overpriced records and using mainstream advertisement tricks. Emo is writing songs with nothing to say. Emo is playing a style of music that's so "hip" today, without really knowing why, and with practically no substance. Even the branch of emo that's supposedly closer to punk, the so-called "screamo," has gotten so predictable and lacks so much substance and lacks so much substance that when you see a band fall on the floor on the first chord, or being absolutely abstract, it makes you wonder why they're doing it (and i miss Constantine Sankathi and Still Life's double LP...).

I'd also like to make it clear, before i get too much hate mail, that i don't think there's anything particularly wrong with being involved in emo. Every individual knows how to live their own life, and the last thing i want is to tell people how they should live. If they wanna remove themselves from the punk scene, what can i say? It's their personal choice, and i won't give anybody shit for doing what they think is best for them. It's just sad to see a youth movement become flooded with shallow, mindless music, lyrics, conversations, and fashion. In other words, everything we've tried to build an alternative for in the punk scene. And it's something i want to be as far as i can get from. When i see that bleached hair, skate shoes, baggy pants, and sXe bands' shirts have just been replaced by dark dyed hair, dorky shoes, highwaters, and sweaters, i know i've landed in the wrong place. Emo has as much to do with fashion and style as does techno or rave. When i see people around me moving closer and closer towards a more "normal" and "acceptable" lifestyle, i understand what Kent McClard meant when he said "Hardcore has helped me to grow, but it has also shown me a road that few travel. When i reach my destination I wonder if anyone else will be there?

So what can we do? We don't need to give up. All we need is more critical thinking, more discussion, more questioning, why are we doing the things we do. But, of course, i may be speaking to deaf ears if emo really means giving up our punk ideals and slowly returning to a "normal" life, proving one more time the mainstream view that hardcore is a trendy youth subculture that will soon pass. Soon enough for you to start drinking again as soon as you're 21. I am also not to sure anymore if it's worth fighting for something as abstract as a "scene," when there are so many other, more real, more significant issues to spend our energy on. What's the meaning of emo? It's up to you to define. I'm out.

I'd rather be called self righteous, radical, or extremist, than emo.