Anti emo/punk thread

[Sufjan Stevens]

Out of the 6 cds that Alkaline Trio released, they have two loves songs, and the closes they've come to a third is Matt Skiba stating how much he likes to set things on fire. So the lamenting thing, usually about love, is disproven.

Alkaline Trio has two acoustic songs, soon to be three, and usually are plugged in and rocking out. They may use power chords and the occasional barre chord, but why should the complicated riffs from a guitar be the most important thing of a song? Last time I checked most people listen to OLP for their lyrics, not the superb drumming or guitar of Mike.

The guys in Alkaline Trio wear what they want to, and there's nothing wrong with that. Just because it happens to be a t-shirt, a pair of Dickie's pants, and a pair of tennis shoes doesn't mean they're dressing to fulfill the image. If anything, when they went on tour for their last cd, they wore black suits and black shirts with red shoes and ties, which isn't the typical thrift store emo image.

I really don't want you to think I am an asshole or anything, but not every "emo" band is a cookie cutter image of Chris Carrabba. He is just the whiniest one that gets the most attention. Don't pigeon-hole Alkaline Trio like that....because they did nothing to deserve the Dashboard Confessional association. ALK3 was on the label before Dashboard was, and that is the only thing that those two bands have in common, the fact that Rich Egan partly controls their music.

[Solidarity 9-6347]

[Sufjan Stevens]

[liam]

[Solidarity 9-6347]

^^ what in your opinion might classify a song by alkaliine trio as emo but then not something like dave matthews "halloween" or OLP's "are you sad"?

usually to be a separate genre, a genre must have some kind of general signature musical style and often times lyrical style as well

[liam]

Are you sad isn't emo... i'll telll you this, i hate both genres but Emo is way better than punk..

[Solidarity 9-6347]

i never said are you sad was emo. i actually dont think it is but im interested to see what charactaristics others come up with to define this genre

[liam]

Emo i always classified as toned down punk to the point where its bareable, and its not so... White Trash

[Sufjan Stevens]

You know what Steph? I can't tell you what emo is. You know why? Emo doesn't exist. People just decide to pigeon-hole indie rock into different categories, and when people come across a band like Alkaline Trio, they can't decide what they are. They kind of sound like a punk band, but they don't sing about politics, so they can't be punk. They're not pop-punk because they aren't all soft and easy to accept musically, so they can't be that. They're not a typical rock band, so they can't be that. What is left to throw them in? Emo. The singers have a bit of a whine to their voices, and they have had love songs before, so they're made into an emo band. Their loves songs usually tend to be about alcohol or weed, but that doesn't matter, because apparently because people know two of their songs, Radio and Stupid Kid, two songs that are pretty much the perverbial "fuck off" songs to an ex girlfriend, the classifiers feel they have a strong understanding of their entire body of work, and therefore, people ignorantly classify them as emo.

This would be like some one only listening to Blister and Are You Sad? and saying, "Holy shit, OLP is such an emo band!" I can't tell you anything about Dave Matthews, because I refuse to listen to his music. I tried, he's all hype.

Just because Alkaline Trio doesn't have a signature style of guitar doesn't mean they have to be classified emo. If anything, the music would make people say that Alkaline Trio is punk, not emo. The typical emo band has either acoustic guitar or very light guitar riffs that get stuck in people's heads. Alkaline Trio, however, has loads of power chords that aren't usually found in a song by Dashboard Confessional or Saves The Day.

Liam, shut the hell up. Punk is not white trash music, ok? When you're done breast feeding from your mommy and figure out what politics are, you will understand that punk music is not white trash rock, but rather music for a political movement. When you're done sucking your thumb, have an open mind and listen to The Clash and The Sex Pistols, or a more recent example, Anti-Flag. They are true punk music, singing about politics and using their right to free speech through music to show displeasure with their respective countries. White trash music is Metallica and any nu-metal bands, not punk music.

[liam]

I hate the Alkaline Trio, my bro likes them... then again, he's an idiot and he likes eminem.

[Annie]

Liam, don't be a prick. http://www.fourfa.com <-Go there. Now.

[Sufjan Stevens]

Oh no, you just didn't compare the musical stylings of Alkaline Trio to Eminem. Ahhhh, I would love to just knock you out right about now....

< internet pummeling >

I hope you learned your lesson Liam, and if you do it again, expect worse.

[Solidarity 9-6347]

i was just trying to explain it to reno in terms that would be easy to understand (not that you're dumb reno). i dont like labeling music either but sometimes its helpful to have a frame of reference when explaining something new to someone. im also kind of confused as to wheather you are mad at me or at people who describe alkaline trio as "emo"

[Annie]

Emo is good. I like the term but I know it's not shall we say "true emo". There should be a category for bands like Taking Back Sunday, Saves The Day, Alkaline Trio, Dashboard Confessional, Bright Eyes, Coheed & Cambria and Thursday.. etc or else people who really do like real emo might get angry.

[Sufjan Stevens]

Stephanie, I have no problem with you. The past is the past, it really is. What happened sucked, but I wrote a couple songs and I moved on. I just don't like how people classify music. The way I see it is, if there is something like a guitar, bass, drums, synthesizor, keybord, piano, violin, trumpet, or any kind of instrument, I see it as music, and I will give it a try. There is no need to classify music, but if people want to call music emo, your definition was pretty good, I just wanted to show that people classify Alkaline Trio as emo, yet they defy the definition you gave. Again, I am sorry if I came off as a dick towards you.

[Solidarity 9-6347]

[Sufjan Stevens]

Did you get confussled by what I said? I can reword it if you want me to.

[Solidarity 9-6347]

^^edit

[Sufjan Stevens]

Lo siento.

[Annie]

it made perfect sense to me. well thats because i wrote it.