I learned a new term yesterday from the various 17 and 18 year old
members of the Fools – “emo.” I suddenly felt old, or at least
out-of-it, because here was a term I had not heard of. So, being a good
nerd, I looked it up here:
http://www.fourfa.com/styles/index.htm
I was stunned that it started back in 1984, when I was a freshmen in
high school, and it hit its stride in the mid Nineties when I was just
out of college. How on earth was I ignorant of the term? I guess
mid-eighties Maine was not as happening as I thought.
Basically, it looks like emos are full of anger and angst and other
self-involved emotions. I have to say that I do not think too highly of
people being “in” to these things, but it is a free country. I am a
fairly happy-go-lucky kind of guy, not to mention a good Stoic Mainer,
so I have always seen public displays of emotion as kind of awkward. To
embrace fairly negative emotions as a life-style seems odd and strange
to me, and too self-involved.
I also learned that emo has evolved into “screamo” where bands mumble
lyrics and then scream. Again, free country, but I don’t see the point.
Of course, I don’t see the point of MUCH music that is out there, but I
am picky about music.
Anyway, this brought me to the conclusion that if I am going to do
improv with high school students, I may need to make a better effort at
maintaining some form of (current) cultural literacy.
all righty then. thanks for the posts. yay!! emo–i had not really heard of the term till i got out here, though once i took notice of it, i realized i had heard it before. i am with you–emo types don’t impress me much, mainly b/c of the self-involved nature of it. i am a little tired of people who see only themselves all the time. i read something somewhere–in BLUE LIKE JAZZ–where the author said his selfishness was like a 24-hr radio station: “WDNK: All Don. All the Time.” Living alone, i think i fall into this as well, though i try not to be that way at school. my biggest challenge is figuring out how to balance the need to write (pull back from the world, close the door, and get down to business) vs. ministry at school (fling wide the door, make myself available on many levels, etc.). not an easy balance for me. ok. good talking to you this week. i miss you guys. am glad you get your theater tics. i was surprised people wanted the rug so badly. most distressing to me. but i will live. would be better off waiting anyway. i’ll catch up with you later. –julie
ps–speaking of music, i just ordered some off-the-beaten track stuff. chris witley, david baerwald, and gustavo. the first two are kind of bluesy–got the idea to order them from songs i really liked in movies (witley in THELMA AND LOUISE and baerwald from RUNAWAY JURY, gustavo from INSIDER). i’ll let you know if they are any good.