So I hear the word “emo” thrown around an awful lot. Have for the past few years. It is a bit confusing. Yes, Dashboard Confessional is emo. I get that. I still like it, guilty pleasure, but it makes sense. But I’ve heard a lot of bands classified as emo that just don’t make sense to me. Bright Eyes? In my day we called that acoustic, or singer-songwriter, because the word emo did not exist. Death Cab for Cutie might be borderline sometimes, but again, I would put them in the singer-songwriter or acoustic category first. The most frustrating part of this new “genre” for me is that it seems to be an insult to the bands. There is a lot of great acoustic music coming out that is lumped together with the emo crap and ignored by people who would probably like it if it didn’t have that derogatory tag.

Unless it has lyrics about slitting your wrists over broken hearts, etc, it’s not fucking emo. Stop it, and let these legitimate, creative bands continue their careers without the emo stamp and stigma attached. They don’t deserve it.