The Barometer #2

kelefa sanneh, once the poster-child to my affinity for music journalists being more than glorified "mixtapers", has lost me in this, his latest piece for the new york times, when he tackles such all too important issues in music like the emergence of more and more popularity for the so-called emo bands that are out now.  a sampling:

They use terms like "sugar" and "honey" to underscore arch lyrics about boys who claim to hate themselves almost as much as they hate their exes. My Chemical Romance writes grand, crashing allegories full of allusions to death and violence. (The video for "Helena" shows a funeral stocked with choreographed mourners.) And Fall Out Boy's current single is "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More 'Touch Me,' " which matches its ridiculous title (and infectious tune) with hopeful and spiteful lyrics: "I don't blame you for being you/ But you can't blame me for hating it." Deliberately overripe songs like this blur the line between earnest lament and theatrical parody.

read more of his article here.

now, i have NO problem with kelefa sanneh covering the new landscape of american, middle-class, white, youth (sub)culture, but i do have to say that mr. sanneh should have addressed the "re"-emergence of popular music in a different way.  first off, there's no mention in his article whatsoever about the history of emo music as a genre (of course, back then, there was no labelling of the movement).  also, he quickly moves from just mentioning emo, to descrbing how bands like fall out boy and my chemical romance draw much influence from glam rock, eg. david bowie, new york dolls.  i can see this match, mr. sanneh, and i applaud that.  he then goes on to explain how these new bands with "cute emo" boys also owe a debt of gratitude to the 80's bands like motley crue and twisted sister.  okay, so now, we've gotten parallels to 3 different musical genres all that HEAVILY(?) impact today's rock and roll.  i just can't agree with that at all.  i mean, the artistic expression is something i could never argue with (i'm a fan of anyone who can get their messages out, save for the nazis and republicans).  but to think that emo music had anything to do with the genetic musical make-up of pop punk is something that would make any christie front drive fan go insane with dissapointment.  and this article leads any reader who knows nothing of the emo movement to automatically lump a lot of bands into the same categories altogether.  not fair at all.  would bob mould want to share tour stories with nikki sixx?  probably not. 

but don't get me wrong, dear reader, i happen to like pop-punk.  it's a guilty pleasure of mine and has been since i was, like, 12.  and just because music today is more popular than its influences doesn't take away from it.  i just feel like, as a music journalist, kelefa should have made some sort of attempt at plotting out the history of rock and roll between 1977 (the punk year) and 1994 (green day and offspring become mainstream pop-punk's first fathers).  for god's sake, you can't just make mention of certain influences, and then expect a newspaper reader to go and look for themselves.  give them a peek into history, and then let them decide if they want to go further.  don't allude to something, but save copy length by not digging in deeper.  what's another 300 words?

as far as "emo" is concerned, it was basically a movement during the hardcore early 80's.  hardcore was a "harder, faster, stronger" version of punk, and "emo" was a "smarter, in tune, expressive" answer to hardcore.  it gave musicicanship back to bands that otherwise would just be aggressive.  let's just look at three of the bands responsible for the beginnings of punk kids being able to escape the solitary subject matter of angst, chaos and despair:

husker du

embrace

rites of spring

can you see any comparitive qualities to either of these two bands?

my chemical romance

pete wentz from fall out boy

according to allmusic.com, "emo"'s history is like this:

The groundwork for emo was laid by Hüsker Dü's 1984 landmark Zen Arcade, which made it possible for hardcore bands to tackle more personal subject matter and write more tuneful and technically demanding songs. Emo emerged in Washington, D.C. not long after, amidst the remnants of the hardcore scene that had produced Minor Threat and Bad Brains. The term "emo" (sometimes lengthened to "emocore") was initially used to describe hardcore bands who favored expressive vocals over the typical barking rants; the first true emo band was Rites of Spring, followed by ex-Minor Threat singer Ian MacKaye's short-lived Embrace. MacKaye's Dischord label became the center for D.C.'s growing emo scene, releasing work by Rites of Spring, Dag Nasty, Nation of Ulysses, and MacKaye's collaboration with members of Rites of Spring, Fugazi. Fugazi became the definitive early emo band, crossing over to alternative rock listeners and getting press for their uncompromisingly anti-commercial attitudes. Aside from the Dischord stable, most early emo was deeply underground, recorded by extremely short-lived bands and released on vinyl in small quantities by small labels; some vocalists literally wept onstage during song climaxes, earning derision from hardcore purists.

"emo"'s top artists by way of a basic search into the genre from the same site are:

Braid
The Get Up Kids
Jimmy Eat World
The Promise Ring
Rites of Spring
Sunny Day Real Estate
American Football
Appleseed Cast
At the Drive-In
Bob Tilton
Cap'n Jazz
Castor
Chisel
Christie Front Drive
Jejune
Jets to Brazil
Joan of Arc
Knapsack
Mineral
764-HERO

in closing, i DARE mr. sanneh to find me any one group from any of the current bands he's researched for the article from yesterday that can claim responsibility for an entire sub-cultural movement like the post-hardcore washington, d.c. scene (rites of spring, dag nasty, slickee boys, fugazi, nation of ulysses, etc.):

from rites of spring's "remainder"

Too many situations
Left with too little to say
So we try, we try to feel our way
And if decisions cause divisions
Tell me who's to blame?
Pick a target for convenience
When there are other ways

So don't
Tonight i'm talking to myself
There's no one that I know as well
Thoughts collide without a sound
Frantic, fighting to be found

And I've found things in this life
that still are real
a remainder refusing to be concealed
I've found the answer lies in a real emotion
Not the self-indulgence of a self-devotion

for further reading, mr. sanneh, on the history and influence of emo, i'd suggest picking up this book.

godspeed!