How did the emo generation begin?

Answer 1

Each generation of youth has their own style that becomes distinctive enough to give it a name. These styles don't just start and end as each group comes and goes, one will morph into the next. Today's population is dense enough that there are always several styles to choose from and groups to align yourself with. The styles seem to ebb and flow from cheerful and sparkly to dark and bleak.

My mother was a 'flapper', about which Cole Porter wrote, 'In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking, but now, God knows, anything goes! That was the 1920s. By the time I was in my teens, there were the JDs (juvenile delinquents styled after James Dean with black leather and a cigarette pack rolled up in the sleeve); they morphed into 'beatniks', who morphed into 'hippies'; and so it goes. My daughter was 'punk' styled after the heavy metal bands, with giant safety pins jabbed through various parts of their anatomy, black leather and torn fishnet stockings; often some part of the hair shaved from the head. Somewhere in there was disco, big hair, and the night life..

Answer 2

The emo genre originated in the mid-1980s as a subgenre of punk rock, characterized by emotionally raw lyrics and confessional songwriting. Bands like Rites of Spring and Embrace helped define the sound by blending punk rock with introspective and emotive themes. The emo movement gained mainstream popularity in the early 2000s with bands like My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy.