Screamo
Screamo is a
musical genre which evolved from
emo, more specifically
hardcore emo in the early
1990s. Characteristic of the genre are hardcore screaming vocals and fast, harmonized guitars.
Breakdowns in screamo songs are often slower and more melodic than in other genres, less of a "beatdown" and more of an opportunity for introspection (and rest for the musicians). Other than that, it is fairly hard to classify (particularly since the rule about screaming vocals is bent fairly often). It is sometimes also mistakenly referred to as
emo violence, which is closely related (although bands in both genres borrow ideas from each other).
In California in the early 1990s,
Gravity Records from San Diego released many defining records of this style. Significant Emo bands from this time include
Heroin,
Angel Hair,
Antioch Arrow, Universal Order of Armageddon
Swing Kids, and
Mohinder. In the New York/New Jersey area, bands such as
Native Nod,
Merel,
1.6 Band,
Rye Coalition and
Rorschach were feeling the same impulse. The labels
Gern Blandsten Records and
Troubleman Records released many of the influential records from that region and era. Many of these bands were involved with the
ABC No Rio club scene in New York, itself a response to the violence and stagnation in the scene and with the bands that played at
CBGBs, the only other small venue for hardcore in New York at the time.
[
1]There was an explosion of bands, some who influenced this were:
Indian Summer, Evergreen, Current, Shotmaker,
Portraits of Past, and
Julia. These bands eventually became what is known as Emo, a style which intensified the dramatic aspects of vocal performances in order to achieve a
cathartic breakthrough with the audience. Their music backgrounds differ, Julia and Evergreen both produced some of the richest Emo sounds, while Shotmaker railed off
hardcore punk and found their niches in the brutal honesty of the human voice. Done well, the result was powerful emotional release that often left Emo bands and their audiences crying or screaming or very quiet at the end of performances. While effective, such open displays of emotion made many traditional hardcore fans uncomfortable, and caused much friction between the two camps.
In recent years, the internet has helped spread word of screamo through websites such as
Cross My Heart With A Knife,
Collective Zine and the now defunct newhardcore.net as well as through online distributions. A major factor in the rise of screamo to a more notable genre was the creation of
Napster along with the file sharing programs that came after. What once had been obscure was now available to anyone with an internet connection.
Easier access to the music through file sharing lead to an increased interest in owning the original copies of the music. With the demise of
Skylab Commerce many fans of the genre have turned to
eBay to expand their collections of rare and out-of-print records. This leads to very high prices on records that often cost a meager $10 or less when they were first released. Some members of bands who have broken up have expressed displeasure in these high prices and urge fans not to buy them, or buy a
posthumously released discography instead. There are alternatives to
eBay including
vivalavinyl.org, a website dedicated to trading and selling hardcore records, and providing accurate pressing information on releases.[
2]In recent years, the term
screamo has been very commonly used to describe emo,
post-punk,
alternative rock,
metalcore, or
hardcore bands with emo influences.[
3]
Screamo has spread from its start in North America all over the world. The European scene is now almost, if not, as big as the one in North America. Countries such as Japan and Australia have notable scenes as well and bands have even started in less likely countries such as South Africa, Chile, and The United Arab Emirates.
Recently, due to the widespread misuse of the term by the media and other bodies, some followers of the genre refer to it in an almost lighthearted code-word way, as "skram" as well as the lesser used "kittencore" and "kitten violence".
The stylistic origins of screamo, as discussed in this article, lay with North American
hardcore punk. The influences that created screamo were numerous and far reaching, with the now defunct genre of emo violence being a primary factor, but also indie rock and grindcore playing fundamental roles in the evolution of the genre. As screamo became more and more of an established genre, its hardcore punk roots seemed to fade further and further into the background.
Doc. #8 by
Pg. 99, has a clip in the first song stating, in essence, that punk rock is about playing whatever you want however you want as long as you have passion. However, screamo is now regarded as being a pretty distinct genre from
hardcore punk -- an offshoot with a distinct scene, culture, and identity. This is an important note, as Pg. 99 is one of the rare screamo bands to truly self-identify as punks. Although
Louisville's Kodan Armada are still heavily identified with
hardcore punk, despite being stylistically speaking, a screamo band. (There are other examples but any attempt at a list-esque explanation would be neither definitive, nor exceptionally helpful for the case of this article.)
In spite of this, for many recent years, screamo fans called screamo, such as
Pg. 99 or
Majority Rule hardcore, when in fact, these bands bear no serious resemblance to the hardcore that has existed and evolved for the past 20+ years. While calling it hardcore, fans of screamo began to identify less and less with hardcore's anti-materialism,
DIY ethic, and overall rejection of dominant society and began to identify more and more as
hipsters. Of course, virtually no hipster calls themselves a hipster, but the self-identity is an obvious one. This difference, a bit of a false dichotomy between hipsters and punks, can be broken down into philosohpies of cultural
preference to something other than dominant society, in the case of the former, and cultural
rejection of dominant society in the case of the latter. While both ideas are bohemian concepts, in the case of punk, said
bohemianism is more thorough and more angry.
The "hipsterization" of screamo began with the 2nd wave of screamo mentioned above. Suddenly, kids who listened to "hardcore" were wearing designer jeans costing at times hundreds of dollars, and spending unusual, by punk standards, amounts of time dedicated to fashion or pop culture. This second wave of screamo was called hardcore for indefinite reasons. Although it probably had to do with a desired perceived distance from emo. One should also keep in mind that screamo, for a small period of time, out-styled straight-up hardcore in the eyes of many. Screamo became the dominant form of hardcore punk (albeit a bastardized version) for quite a few years in North America. Things have changed a bit as of 2006.
Due to the repopularization of crust punk, thrash, powerviolence et al. in the last couple of years (seen poignantly with bands such as
Tragedy,
Modern Life is War, and
Limp Wrist), people of various subcultures have been able to see that indeed, bands such as
Funeral Diner are not hardcore bands, but are rather screamo bands. Just as importantly -- many of these bands never even
were hardcore punk outfits. While serious aficianodos of punk music have known this since the beginning, and while screamo kids are recognizing the difference between themselves and say,
anarcho-punks, it is an idea that is relatively new to many people involved in screamo, and even
hardcore punk.
The "hipterization" and "unpunkifying" of screamo preceeded, and paved the way, for the same symptoms afflicting
metalcore.
*
List of Screamo groups*
Post Hardcore*
Cross My Heart With A Knife A webzine centered around emo, screamo and emoviolence
*
Punknews.org Frequently updated news site covering both modern and seminal branches of emo
*
A!E.com's Emo Guide
