Punk is dead, and Emo should be next

With the punk/emo genre becoming more immersed in the mainstream over the past few years, it has been expected to see the so-called “scene” itself changing. In the last three or four years, the atmosphere within the emo scene has morphed dramatically, and sadly, not for the better. \n Without trying to sound like a jaded older fan of music that’s now just as popular with early middle school girls as Hanna Montana, I’d like to take a moment to map out what’s happened recently and why nothing good ha s come of it. \n In the early years of this millennium, pop punk and emo were just smoldering below the awareness of the mainstream public. There were a few acts that “made it big” in those years like Blink 182, Dashboard Confessional and New Found Glory, but most of the bands survived by touring their rears off and making it onto solid indie labels. Sometimes smaller acts blipped on the mainstream radar with modest hits (think Midtown, Thursday or Saves The Day). In those days, there didn’t seem to be much pressure on bands to have a “look” or create a persona that could attract fans. Everyone – the fans, the bands, the crews – all wore T shirts and played their music. \n But since 2005, about the time that acts like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Panic At The Disco became mainstream sensations, the dynamics have been altered. I think there are a few major factors of this mutation, but the primary criminal must be the World Wide Web. \n 2005 happened to be the year that MySpace really took off, and its rise has been in conjuncture with the rise of all these homogenous bands that sound and look essentially the same. The online community of choice brought millions of young teens to bands who could throw up one catchy song, a few choreographed cute pictures, and a stellar layout to become overnight sensations. \nBands could pick up a record deal, a clothing line deal, and a spot on the site’s main page before they even played more than five live shows. Once acts like Panic and Cute Is What We Aim For figured this out, the gates burst open to everyone, not just musicians. Suddenly, what each band member wears is extremely crucial, whether it be their shirt or their headbands, because there are now “cool” clothing lines within the scene that used MySpace and simple print screening to make it as well. \nNow, the teens that grew up with MySpace and such an online savvy are ruining this scene with all this posturing. The acts coming out now aren’t much more than this generation’s boy bands. They’re all chock-full of attractive young guys wearing all the right clothes that barely play their instruments, sing over-simplified and over-produced pop songs about girls. All the while, acts with real talent get brushed aside because they just like to play quality songs. \nExcept for they’re not even as talented as Justin Timberlake, or maybe even Joey Fatone