Emo: A Loaded Girl Complex

Emo: A Loaded Girl Complex

A Musical Ethnography by G.Q. Greenfield

Brown University, Spring 2009

Emo is one of the most stigmatized genres and styles in recent music culture, yet it is difficult to define. Since 1984, emo has undergone an evolution from “emocore”, a subgenre of hardcore punk to the recent, emotional, power-pop rock that has owned the label since the end of the 1990s. The term “emo” evokes derision, commentary, and even violence, making the genre a complex musical youth culture that has “been the next big thing twice, the current big thing once, and so totally over millions of times,” (Greenwald, 2003).

This scene faces gender issues that have been overlooked since women have gained infamy in other areas of music. While women have come to dominate the pop and R&B charts, rock & roll (or any guitar-heavy genre) is still a territory in which the participation of women ebbs and flows (Dowd et al, 2005:14). Emo is a particularly difficult genre for women since so many songs are reactionary lyrics lashing out at or agonizing over women. Common emo content does not invite women as participants or fans, and yet the audience is dominated by women (Aslaksen, 2006). This ethnography seeks to explore gender in current emo culture in terms of content, audience, and participation in the scene. This research leads me to find that though there are stark gender biases within the scene, it may also be a gateway for women to guitar-based music and blur gender visibility in rock music.

“It Takes One to Know One”: Research Methods

For this ethnography, I limited my search to emo music from about 2000 to today (2009), which is more mainstream than earlier emo. I have spent a lot of time on the topic as a fan,

and have been able to expand my fieldwork through shows I attended and emo friends. The internet played a huge role in providing access to music, blogs, and articles. I attempted to get in touch with fans on a broader level, by posting on message boards, but had trouble getting any

feedback, other than one irksome comment. The stigma associated with the term emo makes it

difficult to research the subject, but I was able to find material that led me to interesting

conclusions about the genre and the women

associated with it.

“Emo girls don't exist, dude”: Fans

According to UrbanDictionary.com, “There's no such thing as a female emo. All emos are homosexual boys.” This disregard for emo women does not appear to affect female involvement. Female fans dominate the scene of people who simply dress and associate themselves with emo. Women have an established place in the audience at mainstream acts such as Fall Out Boy, Brand New, and Dashboard Confessional, and though it is less pronounced they are also present at more physical, “hardcore” shows of bands such as Manchester Orchestra, Taking Back Sunday, and Say Anything (Asklasken, 2006). With emo now in a mainstream stage of it’s evolution, there are distinct categories of women that attend the shows. One fan pointed out that as bands gain popularity and recognition, their fanbase expands into the tween scene (Bennett & Peterson, 2004).

Even in older settings, there seem to be distinct categories of women. As I found in my performance ethnography of a recent Brand New show, emo performances stratify women into active, non-gender conformists or passive accomplices. The active group blurs the gender line, which is easily accomplished since many male emos also consciously blur this line. They leave little discernable difference between themselves and their male counterparts since they dress similarly and fully participate in the physical aspects of performances – singing along, pumping their fists, and jostling with the rough crowd. The more passive female fans generally accompany another passive friend or significant other. Though this second category of female fan is passive, they are present, creating a more gender-balanced scene.

Brand New's Sic Transit Gloria

The audience’s gender-balance is not mirrored on the stage. Even with an enormous female fanbase, very few women musicians or singers exist in emo. The female-fronted band with the most success is Paramore who formed in 2004. Women are scarce in many rock, guitar-heavy music groups, but usually this is true of their fans as well (see: heavy metal). My fieldwork yielded few other bands with women, but emo music has the fanbase and capacity to accept women and blur the gender divide.

Paramore’s singer Hayley William’s notoriously detests being asked about her gender because as she said in one interview, “The fact that I'm a girl just doesn't really have anything to do with it” (Cleveland.com, 2008). If it is true that gender does not matter, and the fans agree, then there is tremendous opportunity for females in this genre. Perhaps if more women can gain access to the performance side of emo, there will be less gender disparity of men singing to a crowd of women. Female-fronted bands like Paramore seem to highlight this possibility.

In a highly-cited article on women and emo, Jessica Hopper declares that gender has everything to do with it. Hopper explains that because there is little female representation on stage, female emo fans are simply consumers and do not own any part of the scene. The “front row girls” display so much dedication to emo music, but she questions whether watching all-male bands will ever encourage these girls to pick up a guitar or drumsticks. She sums up her article, with a statement of solidarity, “We deserve better songs than any boy will ever write about us.”

“I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me”: Lyrics

The most glaring suspect for the gender disparity in emo bands is the lyrical content. In Greenwald’s chapter on women and emo, Sad Girl Stories, he talks about how the messages range from anti-female and violent to sexism that views women as one-dimensional. Girls are either the object of desire, forcing boys to pine and feel pathetic; or they play the role of emotionless heartbreaker. Regardless of the woman’s role, the boys wear their love, devotion, and pain on their sleeve as victims (Greenwald, 2003). The lack of female perspective in the emo canon allows few avenues for female response. There is little lyrical evidence that women also have a range of emotions that they wish to express. They are instead portrayed as emotionless shrews while the boys are full to the brim with emotional angst, and without female lyricists, there is no way for them to respond.

Evidence can be found in an analysis of several bands’ lyrics demonstrating that all-male bands often sing about situations that victimize them, and most often the culprit is a woman. For instance, Brand New’s Magazines is about a boy who agonizes over a woman from a magazine even though he can never have her. Fall Out Boy's Sugar, We're Going Down is more active in that he has dominated the woman by having sex with her and reducing her to "a line in a song." Yet he is the victim since he became "just a notch in your bedpost" who still wishes to "be the friction in your jeans."

Fall Out Boy's Sugar We're Going Down:

If there were more women writing lyrics in emo culture, how would they respond? Paramore serves as the best example to date.

Misery Business offers the best comparison to themes Greenwald discusses. The song is similar to Brand New’s Seventy Times 7 in which Jesse Lacey sings about when a friend stole his significant other. There is not much action to the plot in the song. Instead, he hopes the friend crashes his car on the way home and thinks of him as his "head goes through the windshield." The instantaneous emotions that inspire the song seem to support the interviewee’s comment about how male lyrics are about personal situations and reactions.

Paramore's Misery Business:

The interviewee’s comments seem valid upon brief analysis. Rather than always introverted and thoughtful, Paramore's lyrics simply appear varied. For example, Emergency is about bad relationships and the death of love, but the song is external to the singer: it's about her parents' divorce. This type of soul search can be found in male emo bands, but it is much more about their reaction to a situation and their victimization. I Caught Myself is about Hayley Williams’ inner struggle, as well as the issue of abstinence.

Paramore's I Caught Myself:

“Sing Us a Song, and We’ll Sing it Back to You”: Conclusion

The advent of Riot Grrrl in the 1990s serves as a past example of women seizing ownership of a scene they had already been involved with (Bennett & Peterson, 2004). Emo could possibly serve the larger purpose of removing gender barriers in male-dominated popular music. Much of the culture is dominated by women already, many of whom already break the mold of the bedroom culture (Bennett & Peterson, 2004). For men, emo music is already a venue for male artists to break from the hegemonic norm of being “strong and emotionless” (bittersweetsym-phonies.blogspot.com, 2007). If men use emo culture and music to break out of male stereotypes, women too could use this opportunity to break the stereotype of non-involvement in guitar-heavy music. It is significant that women are so active in the fanbase, but if women were to also become active participants on the performance side then emo could become a genre in which gender plays less of a role than is so prevalent in other music scenes.

Considering the amount of gendered content in emo’s lyrics, it is important that women have the opportunity to respond rather than being faceless characters in a boy’s song. It is also important for female fans to feel represented by the emo artists they support. But if artists like Hayley Williams do not want to be perceived as female and male artists strive to demonstrate that men have feelings too, then a more important goal for emo would be to continue to blur gender lines until they are no longer important, allowing more females to have a voice and representation in rock and guitar-driven music.

Word Count: 1627

“Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued”: Work Cited

Amanda. March 29, 2007. “Analyzing Gender in Emo Music.” On emerging music (?) of the 21^st century.

Aslaksen, Matthew J. 2006. “Middle Class Music in Suburban Nowhere Land: Emo and the Performance of Masculinity.” Graduate College of Bowling Green State University.

Bennett, Andy and Richard A. Peterson, eds. 2004. Music Scenes: Local, Translocal, and Virtual. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.

Cohen, Sara. 1993. “Men Making a Scene: Rock Music and the Production of Gender.” In Sexing the Groove: Popular Music and Gender, ed. Sheila Whiteley. London: Routledge. Pp. 17-36.

Dowd, Timothy J., Kathleen Liddle, and Maureen Blyler. 2005. “Charting Gender: The

Success of Female Acts in the U.S. Mainstream Recording Market, 1940–1990.” In Transformation in Cultural Industries, Vol. 23, pp. 83-126.

Greenwald, Andy. 2003. Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Hopper, Jessica. 2003. “Emo: Where the Girls Aren’t.” On PunkPlanet.com. Pp. 56.

“Paramore Band Info.” Paramore.net

Robertshaw, Steven. May 27, 2008. “Paramore: Born for This.” On AltPress.com.

Soeder, John. August 21, 2008. “Paramore’s Hayley Williams is Just One of the Guys.” On Cleveland.com.

Walser, Robert. 1993. Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.

All original photography.

Clips for Final Web Ethnography

Interview - FOB Girls


Interview - Girl vs. Guy-fronted Bands


Interview - Girl's Introverted Lyrics


Clip - Paramore's I Caught Myself


Clip - Paramore's Misery Business


Clip - Fall Out Boy's Sugar We're Going Down


Clip - Brand New's Sic Transit Gloria

Seeking female emo fans!

For those who aren't familiar yet, I am doing a project about women in emo music. I have been looking at shows, bands, lyrics, everything trying to come to some conclusions about women in this genre and scene. If you are fan, I would love to hear from you! If you could leave me a comment, I would love to know...

- Are you male or female? (Feel free to comment regardless of gender, but I am looking for female fans)
- Which emo bands do you like? Why?
- How familiar are you with the lyrics and the meanings of the songs?
- What do you think about the fact that so many emo lyrics make men seem to be the victim of women? Do you notice this at all? Do you even think that is a true statement?
- Do you think women have a chance to respond to what the guys are singing about them?
- Do you like Paramore? Do you know of any other emo bands with women in them?

It's a lot of questions, so feel free to comment on any of them. Thank you so much for your help!

Ethnography Fieldwork - Part 2

This time around, I have focused on a book I am reading about emo music and teenage culture, as well as looking more closely at the lyrics of Paramore, Brand New, and Fall Out Boy to see if there are similarities between female and male fronted bands and mark where there are differences.

I read parts of the book I was looking for: Nothing Feels Good - Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo. The author, Andy Greenwald, is a senior contributing writer at Spin and has written this book to look at emo culture as a youth right of passage. The intro talks about the various stages emo has gone through over the years and how confusing and convoluted the term is. It means different things to different people and even when it is a cherished type of music, the term is mildly derisive. As Greenwald puts it, “It’s been the next big thing twice, the current big thing once, and so totally over millions of times.” (Pg.2)

In his chapter on chapter on women and emo, Sad Girl Stories, he talks about the content of songs and how it can range from antifemale and violent to a more simple sexism that looks at women in very static ways. Girls are either the object of desire, that make boys pine and feel pathetic; or they are heart breakers who they wish did not exist because they want them to hurt like they do because of them. It seems that regardless of the role women play, the boys wear their love, devotion, and pain on their sleeve as if they are the victims of their own emotions toward girls.

There is a huge lack of female viewpoint in these songs, so while these images are very polar, there is no response that girls care about boys too. Or that they are distraught about the break up, or wishes he was dead for cheating on her. They are emotionless shrews while the boys are full to the brim with emotional angst due to the actions of girls.

If there were more female emo band members, it is possible this would be countered, since they would have the chance to respond. They could note that they too feel that way when a relationship goes sour, or pine for that popular boy who will never notice them. Emo music is notorious for ripping on girls as much as themselves, and I think that is why many teenage girls relate to the music. But if they were given a mic, would they respond?

He references this mysterious Jessica Hopper a lot, and so far I've found she is a blogger who made a splash with the post she wrote that I referenced in part 1 of my fieldwork. She is outspoken on her feminist views in the music industry and I've found only one other post in which she laid out evidence for the lack of female perspective in the music world, specifically in zines. She is apparently noted as the authority though.

In looking at band lyrics, I tried to pick earlier songs from Paramore, Brand New, and Fall Out Boy(lyrics and analysis posted in each link). I did look at Paramore's I Caught Myself since Anit had mentioned it in our interview as an example of a more introverted, thoughtful song by a female emo singer. I also looked at Paramore's Misery Business and FOB's Sugar, We're Going Down, which were both later but were the first massive hits for each band.

I found that Paramore's lyrics were different in that I came upon different types of topics more frequently. I Caught Myself seemed to be about an inner struggle, figuring out what Hayley Williams wants and whether or not it is right. She wants to figure out what she wants and should want. This type of soul search can be found in male emo bands, but it seems to be much more like they are trapped in some type of forced decision - the girl is making him want her, the media is trying to hate on them, etc. Emergency is about bad relationships and the death of love, but it turns out the song is external to the singer: it's about her parents' divorce.

Misery Business poses an interesting contrast. The song is reminiscent of a usual male emo song - two girls both want the same boy, and the girl has felt stabbed in the back and blames the other girls sexual tempting to creating a false relationship that the boy inevitably gets trapped by. But the moral of the song is that the singer gets him in the end, and she feels great bragging about her victory. The boy is an unemotional prop, like women in many male emo songs, but I think it is less common to find a celebration of victory in the usual male emo song.

To compare, I looked at Brand New's Seventy Times 7, which was written about Jesse Lacey's feelings after his friend basically stole his girl. There is no storyline or action to the plot in the song. Instead, Jesse sees his friend for what he really is and hopes that he crashes his car on the way home and thinks of him as his "head goes through the windshield." This song seems much more about instantaneous emotion than about the results.

The examples I chose to look at for Brand New and Fall Out Boy exhibit the views on women I expected to see based on Greenwald's book. They demonize women by treating them as sirens who constantly command boys attention while not giving a thought to whether the boys are idolizing them or heartbroken by them. Magazines is a crucial example of idolatry, about some famous woman from a magazine and how the boy agonizes over this perfection even though he knows he can never have her. FOB's Sugar, We're Going Down is much more active on the part of the boy. In part, he has dominated her by having sex with her and reducing her to "a line in a song." At the same time, he is the victim because he was "just a notch in your bedpost" who still wishes to "be the friction in your jeans." The girl does have more personality in that he addresses her directly and they are both experiencing the tumultuous ending, but in the end, the boy is still the martyr and the dominant male.

Moving forward, I hope to put together my analysis of lyrics with the presence of women in this scene - in both the bands and in the crowd. I will address why this appeals to young girls and how that shapes the fan base. Also, I hope to address that fact that I don't think this means women should turn away from emo. If they can find a way to become active respondents and participants in the lyrics, music, and scene.

Ethnography - Fall Out Boy

Fall Out Boy's Chicago Is So Two Years Ago deals with the push and pull of rocky relationships. The boy is someone who is easily hurt and pushed around, and yet he cannot avoid the girl he knows is going to knock him around. He can't seem to get away from her, making the woman out to be some kind of siren who is capable of dropping him and constantly commanding his attention at once. In the end, he does not want to apologize, he wants her to hurt like he does, and let the pain end.

Chicago Is So Two Years Ago:

my heart is on my sleeve
wear it like a bruise or blackeye
my badge, my witness
that means that i believed
every single lie you said

cause every pane of glass that your pebbles tap negates the pains i went through to avoid you
and every little pat on the shoulder for attention fails to mention i still hate you

but there's a light on in chicago
and i know i should be home
all the colors of the street signs..
they remind me of the pickup truck out in front of your neighbor's house

she took me down and said:
"boys like you are overrated. so save your breath."
loaded words and loaded friends
are loaded guns to our heads

cause every pane of glass that your pebbles tap negates the pains i went through to avoid you
and every little pat on the shoulder for attention fails to mention i still hate you

but there's a light on in chicago
and i know i should be home
all the colors of the street signs..
they remind me of the pickup truck out in front of your neighbor's house

you want apologies
girl, you might hold your breath
until your breathing stops forever, forever
(...every pane of glass) the only thing you'll get
is this curse on your lips:
(every pane of) i hope they taste of me forever

and there's a light on in chicago (every pane of glass)
and i know i should be home (every pane of)
all the colors of the street signs.. (every pane of glass!)
they remind me of the pickup truck out in front of your neighbor's

with every breath i wish your body will be broken again, again
with every breath i wish your body would be broken again, again
with every breath i wish your body will be broken again, again
with every breath i wish your body would be broken again

The Pros and Cons of Breathing shows Pat Stump (or songwriter Pete Wentz's) basically inflicting pain on himself by constantly crawling back to a woman who has used him and moved on. The woman is already forgetting about this forlorn boy who wants to "hate you half as much as I hate myself." The woman seems so much less feeling and involved in their relationship, and has simply moved on while the boy deals with the agony of post-relationship.

The Pros and Cons of Breathing:

Bury me standing under your window with the cinder block in hand
Yeah cause no one will ever feel like this again
And if I could move I'm sure it would only be to crawl back to you
I must have dragged my guts a block... they were gone by the time we {talked}...

[Chorus: x2]
Whoa, I want to hate you half as much as I hate myself
{But} you know that I could crush you with my voice

Stood on my roof and tried to see you forgetting about me
Hide the details I don't want to know a thing

I hate the way you say my name like it's something secret
My pen is the barrel of the gun.
Remind me which side you should be on

[Chorus x2]

Stood on my roof and tried to see you forgetting about me
Hide the details I don't want to know a thing

I wish that I was as invisible as you make me feel [x2]

(Whoa, I want to hate you half as much as I hate my) [x2]
(1..2..3..4..)

I wanted to find an example that was not focused on girls. Though it was hard to come by, I found a much friendlier song that deals with missing someone. The ending of Homesick At Space Camp mentions friends, but there is not telling if he is referring to any specific gender. In contrast to the other songs though, this may refer to his crew of great male friends, kind of a "Bros before Hos" ideal in comparison to the rest of the album. But in the context of the song, it could simply be about missing someone/people in general.

Homesick At Space Camp:

Landing on a runway in Chicago and I'm grounding all my dreams
of ever really seeing California, because I know what's in between
is something sensual in such non-conventional ways.
Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can't (say).

Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can't say.
(Tonight I'm writing you) a million miles away

Tonight is all about "We miss you" (We miss you) "We miss you" (We miss you)
Tonight is all about "We miss you"
And I can't forget your style or your cynicism,
somehow it was like you were the first to listen to everything we said.
My smile's an open wound without you...and my hands are tied to pages inked to bring you back.

Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can't say.
(Tonight I'm writing you) a million miles away

Tonight is all about "We miss you" (We miss you) "We miss you" (We miss you)
Tonight is all about "We miss you now"

These friends are, new friends are golden [x3]
These friends are, new friends are...

Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can't say.
Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can't say.
Tonight the headphones will deliver you the words that I can't say.
These friends are, new friends are golden

FOB’s Sugar We’re Going Down:

Am I more than you bargained for yet
I've been dying to tell you anything you want to hear
Cause that's just who I am this week
Lie in the grass, next to the mausoleum
I'm just a notch in your bedpost
But you're just a line in a song
(A notch in your bedpost, but you're just a line in a song)

Drop a heart, break a name
We're always sleeping in, and sleeping for the wrong team

We're going down, down in an earlier round
And Sugar, we're going down swinging
I'll be your number one with a bullet
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it
[x2]

Is this more than you bargained for yet
Oh don't mind me I'm watching you two from the closet
Wishing to be the friction in your jeans
Isn't it messed up how I'm just dying to be him
I'm just a notch in your bedpost
But you're just a line in a song
(Notch in your bedpost, but you're just a line in a song)

Drop a heart, break a name
We're always sleeping in, and sleeping for the wrong team

We're going down, down in an earlier round
And Sugar, we're going down swinging
I'll be your number one with a bullet
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it
[x2]

Down, down in an earlier round
And Sugar, we're going down swinging
I'll be your number one with a bullet
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it

We're going down, down in an earlier round (Take aim at myself)
And Sugar, we're going down swinging (Take back what you said)
I'll be your number one with a bullet (Take aim at myself)
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it

We're going down, down (down, down)
Down, down (down, down)
We're going down, down (down, down)
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it

We're going down, down in an earlier round (Take aim at myself)
And Sugar, we're going down swinging (Take back what you said)
I'll be your number one with a bullet (Take aim at myself)
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it

Ethnography - Brand New

Brand New's Jude Law and A Semester Abroad is about the hateful, vengeful wishes people have when someone leaves them. The female character has basically poisoned him and left him for dead, and as he drinks away his sorrows, he hopes that she remembers him. Though it would disappoint the boy if she didn't die a horrific death, he also wishes that she would spend as much time thinking about him as he is pining, hating, and feeling disappointed by her.

Jude Law And A Semester Abroad:

Whatever poison's in this bottle will leave me broken sore and stiff.
But it's the genie at the bottom who I'm sucking at. He owes me one last wish.
So here's a present to let you know I still exist.
I hope the next boy that you kiss has something terribly contagious on his lips.

But I got a plan (I got a plan)
Drink (drift) for forty days and forty nights.
A sip for every second-hand tick.
And for every time you fed me the line, "you mean so much to me...".
I'm without you.

[Chorus x2]
So tell all the English boys you meet, about the American boy back in the states.
The American boy you used to date.
Who would do anything you say.

(And even if her plane)
And even if her plane crashes tonight she'll find some way to disappoint me,
by not burning in the wreckage, or drowning at the bottom of the sea.
"Jess, I still taste you, thus reserve my right to hate you."
And all this empty space that you create does nothing for my flawless sense of style.

It's 8:45 (it's 8:45). The weather is getting better by the hour.
(Rains all the time) I hope it rains there all the time.
And if you ever said you miss me then don't say you never lied.
I'm without you.

[Chorus x2]
So tell all the English boys you meet, about the American boy back in the states.
The American boy you used to date.
Who would do anything you say.

Who would do anything you say

Never gonna get it right, you're never gonna get it [x7]

[x2 (previous singing continues in the background)]
No more songs about you
After this one, I am done
You are, you are, you're gone

[Chorus x2 (previous singing continues in the background)]
So tell all the English boys you meet, about the American boy back in the states.
The American boy you used to date.
Who would do anything you say.

Magazines describes a boys idolization of a famous woman. He only knows her through magazines and TV and yet he is such a love sick, heartfelt type of boy, that he still lies in wait for her. He idolizes her and their potential relationship, believing that women may be interested in "broken hearted losers," and he hopes that that kind of over-emotional devotion is something his crush will take pity on so that they will be together.

Magazines:

Laetitia, you destroy me,
so I can't see why I feel so lonely
when you and me could be forever
perfectly perfect together. I know.
Broken down in my dead bedroom,
stuttering to pictures of you.
I know that you can always see me.
I saw you staring through my TV last night.

So I'll leave the door open all night,
in case you decide you want to stop on by.
Because you got to know who's been singing that song on the radio.
The one that goes...(the one that goes...)

My friends all call me crazy cause I
stay up late anticipating,
and planning for the day I sweep you
off your feet, I'd never leave you alone.
Laetitia, you got my hand shaking,
I'm begging you oh baby please stop breaking
my heart because I got the feeling
that you and I will never really get it on.

So I'll leave the door open all night,
in case you decide you want to stop on by.
Because you got to know who's been singing that song on the radio.
The one that goes...(the one that goes...)

Girl, come to me.
The only broken-hearted loser you'll ever need,
or I'll be left alone forever with my magazines.

Come to me.
The only broken-hearted loser you'll ever need,
or I'll be left alone forever with my magazines.

Girl, come to me.
The only broken-hearted loser you'll ever need,
or I'll be left alone forever with my magazines.

Girl, come to me.
The only broken-hearted loser you'll ever need,
or I'll be left alone forever…

Laetitia, you destroy me,
so I can see why I feel so lonely
when you and me could be forever
perfectly perfect together. I know.

In Seventy Times 7, Jesse Lacey sings about how a friend betrayed him by taking his girl. Suddenly their friendship seems to be nothing but a sham, and he feels so hurt and angry he hopes his friend dies. He finally sees him for what he really is, but instead of feeling clarity, feels hurt, betrayed, and foolish. But it is the friend who has been lowly and deserves to crash his car. I will contrast this song about two people fighting over someone of the opposite gender with Paramore's Misery Business.

Seventy Times 7:

Back in school they never taught us what we needed to know,
like how to deal with despair, or someone breaking your heart.
For twelve years I've held it all together but a night like this is begging to pull me apart.
I played it quiet, left you deep in conversation.
I felt uncool and hung out around the kitchen.
I remember I kept thinking that I know you never would,
and now I know I want to kill you like only a best friend could.

Everyone's caught on to everything you do
Everyone's caught on to.

As if this happening wasn't enough I got to go
and write a song just to remind myself how bad it sucked.
Ignore the sun, the cover's over my head.
I wrote a message on my pillow that says, "Jesse, stay asleep in bed."
So don't apologize. I hope you choke and die.
Search your cell for something with which to hang yourself.
They say you need to pray if you want to go to heaven
but they don't tell you what to say when your whole life has gone to hell.

Everyone's caught on to everything you do
Everyone's caught on to
And everyone's caught on to everything you do (And I can't let you, let me down again.)
Everyone's caught on to (And I can't let you, let me down again)

So, is that what you call a getaway?
Tell me what you got away with.
Cause I've seen more spine in jellyfish.
I've seen more guts in eleven-year-old kids.
Have another drink and drive yourself home.
I hope there's ice on all the roads.
And you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt,
and again when your head goes through the windshield.

And is that what you call tact?
You're as subtle as a brick in the small of my back.
So let's end this call, and end this conversation.
and is that what you call a getaway?
well tell me what you got away with.
cause you left the frays from the ties you severed
when you say best friends means friends forever

So, is that what you call a getaway?
Well tell me what you got away with.
Cause I've seen more spine in jellyfish.
I've seen more guts in eleven-year-old kids.
Have another drink and drive yourself home.
I hope there's ice on all the roads.
And you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt,
and again when your head goes through the windshield.

Everyone's caught on to everything you do (And I can't let you, let me down again)
Everyone's caught on to (And I can't let you, let me down again)
And everyone's caught on to everything you do (And I can't let you, let me down again)
Everyone's caught on to (And I can't let you, let me down again)

Ethnography - Paramore

I looked at Paramore's I Caught Myself since Anit referred to the song in our interview. He suggested that Paramore might be a more introverted band, that deals with personal issues of the self rather than simply instances and events in time that caused certain responses. The lyrics seem to suggest it is about turmoil, but it could be interpreted as a battle with the self over what the singer is thinking, wanting to say, and knowing what she wants. It could also be external - dealing with a friend, parent, lover, etc.

I Caught Myself :
Down to you
You're pushing and pulling me
Down to you
But I don't know what I

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should have never thought

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should have never thought

Of you, of you
You're pushing and pulling me
Down to you
But I don't know what I want
No, I don't know what I want

You got it, You got it
Some kind of magic
Hypnotic, Hypnotic
You're leaving me breathless
I hate this, I hate this
You're not the one I believe in
When God is my witness

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should have never thought

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should have never thought

Of you, of you
You're pushing and pulling me
Down to you
But I don't know what I want
No, I don't know what I want

Don't know what I want
But I know it's not you
Keep pushing and pulling me down
When I know in my heart it's not you

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should have never thought

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should have never thought

Of you, I knew
I know in my heart it's not you
I knew
But now I know what I want
I want
I want
Oh no, I should have never thought

Hayley Williams wrote the song Emergency about relationships and love, but it was based on her parents divorce:
"I remember actually walking out the door with my mom that night and standing in between my parents and screaming, 'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she recalls, adding that songs like "Emergency" from the band's first album were inspired by her parents' disintegrating relationship.” (http://altpress.com/features/168.htm)

It is interesting to find that her song about rocky relationships is external to her and is more observant about relationships and love in others.

Emergency :
I think we have an emergency
I think we have an emergency
If you thought I'd breathe then you were wrong
Because I won't stop holding on
So are you listening?
So are you watching me?
If you thought I'd breathe then you were wrong
Because I won't stop holding on
This is an emergency
So are you listening?
And I can't pretend that I don't see this
It's really not your fault

Chorus:
And no one cares to talk about it
To talk about it
Cause' I've seen love die way too many times
When it deserved to be alive
I've seen you cry way too many times
When you deserved to be alive
Alive...

So give up every chance you get
Just to feel new again
I think we have an emergency
I think we have an emergency
And you do your best to show me love
But you don't know what love is
So are you listening?
So are you watching me?
Well I can't pretend that I don't see this
It's really not your fault

And no one cares to talk about it
To talk about it
Cause' I've seen love die way too many times
When it deserved to be alive
I've seen you cry way too many times
When you deserved to be alive
Alive...

The scars they will not fade away

And no one cares to talk about it
To talk about it
Cause' I've seen love die way too many times
When it deserved to be alive
I've seen you cry way too many times
When you deserved to be alive
Alive...
Alive...

Hayley’s Live Journal article explaining the origins of Misery Business: http://paramoreband.livejournal.com/31376.html

Misery Business, as Anit pointed out, is a great example from a female fronted band about fighting over someone of the opposite gender. The girl wants to steal a boy back and has no qualms about the other girl. She's in the business of misery and thinks the other girl is acting like a whore, abusing the boy she will actually care for and make happy. It is different in that, rather than feeling backstabbed and dwelling on her pain, as in Brand New's Seventy Times 7, she takes action and sings about her triumph.

Misery Business:
I'm in the business of misery,
Let's take it from the top.
She's got a body like an hourglass that's ticking like a clock.
It's a matter of time before we all run out,
When I thought he was mine she caught him by the mouth.

I waited eight long months,
She finally set him free.
I told him I can't lie he was the only one for me.
Two weeks and we had caught on fire,
She's got it out for me,
But I wear the biggest smile.

[Chorus:]
Whoa, I never meant to brag
But, I got him where I want him now.
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now.
But god does it feel so good,
Cause I got him where I want him now.
And if you could then you know you would.

Cause god it just feels so...
It just feels so good.

Second chances they don't ever matter, people never change.
Once a whore you're nothing more, I'm sorry, that'll never change.
And about forgiveness, we're both supposed to have exchanged.
I'm sorry honey, but I'm passing up, now look this way.
Well there's a million other girls who do it just like you.
Looking as innocent as possible to get to who,
They want and what they like it's easy if you do it right.
Well I refuse, I refuse, I refuse!

Whoa, I never meant to brag
But, I got him where I want him now.
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now.
But god does it feel so good,
Cause I got him where I want him right now.
And if you could then you know you would.

Cause god it just feels so...
It just feels so good.

I watched his wildest dreams come true
Not one of them involving you
Just watch my wildest dreams come true
Not one of them involving.

Whoa, I never meant to brag, but I got him where I want him now.

Whoa, I never meant to brag
But, I got him where I want him now.
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now.
But god does it feel so good,
Cause I got him where I want him now.
And if you could then you know you would.

Cause god it just feels so...
It just feels so good.

Dudrah Critical Review

Dudrah's article deals with British Bhangra and hopes to extend the way the genre has been looked at by previous authors in order to show that this musical style is much more complex, political, and meaningful than has earlier been suggested. In summarizing the arguments of other authors, he notes that they often think of British South Asians as a very static, monolithic group. Dudrah makes a good point in contrasting Punjabi tradition weddings and South Asian gay, lesbian, and bisexual clubs in England. Instead, Dudrah believes that British Bhangra is about identity formation for a group in diaspora in a then more racist society. The music fuses with other minority groups by bringing in influences from the black sound systems, reggae, and soul, while also including some Western styles of music.

Question: We've now looked at Bhangra music in the British and American context. Do we see any differences in how the music that is mixed affects the identity of the groups? Is there a difference negotiating being a British South Asian and an American South Asian? Can we find evidence in the different styles and scenes of Bhangra?

Back (Part 1) Critical Review

"'Inglan, nice up!': black music, autonomy, and the cultural intermezzo" takes the reader through various aspects of a certain musical type and scene heavily tied to the black diaspora. Back looks at the Afro-Caribbean culture that was creating music in post-war, urban Britain and how black communities began a tradition of leading sound systems. These sounds were composed of a set that required multiple people to run the performance, some working synthesizers and records and some playing the role of MC or mike chanter. Back stresses the need for originality and the confrontations between different styles, especially as hip hop and rap came on to the scene in the 1980s. As in many genres, debates sprung up between different styles - faster rapping was disliked at first, slackness was early but considered crude, political MCing had its place, and dealing with issues of gender and sexuality all created different aspects of the style and chant.

Question: Back quotes hooks in this chapter as he argues that some of the homophobia and misogyny in rap and Afro-Caribbean musical styles is an expression of black subjugation by "more powerful, less visible forces of patriarchal gangsterism." I am confused by this argument. Is he saying that black men create their own patriarchy in music since they are lower in the white capitalism patriarchy? Is it that since this community feels subjugated, the automatic response is to do it to someone else, in this case women?

Walser Critical Review

Walser covers a lot of ground on the background, politics, and debates on and within heavy metal in "Running With the Devil." He begins by qualifying the study of heavy metal and defining what bands and music he intends to explore and how. The first chapter attempts to give an all encompassing background of heavy metal, not just looking at the early bands but looking at the first uses of the term "heavy metal" not even pertaining to music. The genre seems to be fraught with debate - where "heavy metal" came from, the musical origins, what bands count. This is true of so many genres, but Walser takes us though the various bands and points out that it is a part of music culture to debate it and define what type of heavy metal the fan likes and which bands will make their cut. That is why he points to the failure of the "Monsters of Rock Tour" that showed that the diversity within the genre is distinct and dividing. He also explores the fans, the bands, and the "music itself."

Question: Walser said that he looks at metal as "social signifying system rather than an autonomous set of stylistic traits." Do you think all music is actually a system of social signifying? All types of music is influenced from something before, couldn't all music be paying some tribute to what has come before knowingly or not? Or is it important to purposely signify?

Weinstein Critical Review

Weinstein writes about metal and heavy metal music in the article "Digging the Music: Proud Pariahs." When people think of heavy metal fans they picture an image of a white teenage boy with long hair and a band T-shirt from their favorite heavy metal group. Weinstein confirms this stereotype because he looks at this scene as a subculture directly related to the white working class. In fact, he finds that there are four factors that are important to the members of this group: maleness, youthfulness, whiteness, and blue-collar sentiments in generally that order of importance. These characteristics are probably important to heavy metal fans identifying with each other and with the subculture. It also displays the genre's roots from 60s hippy music and the popular, macho biker gangs. Combining the Utopian ideals with violence and machismo created a strong, rocking, white male sound that all came together once the 60s scenes disbanded giving the long haired men looking for rock a subculture in heavy metal.

Question: Peaceful hippy, Utopian ideals and psychedelic music seem and odd match for rock and roll, violent, macho styles and yet they both came together to form heavy metal. Are there other genres of music that combine such different roots?

Emo and Gender Interview

I spoke to Anit, a 22 year old male originally from Ohio, who is a fan of bands such as Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, the Cab, and Paramore. We discussed his experience as a fan of emo and his perceptions of the scene. He helped me articulate the fact that the scene is vast and varied - the term "emo" is used to describe so many things that are on very different parts of the musical and stylistic spectrum.

He described how many gendered differences in the emo scene are born of the fact that some bands have become massively popular, much more pop music, arena rock than smaller bands more similar to emo's musical cousins in hardcore and punk. He felt that the larger, pop-rock, emo bands attracted a fan base that was dominated by younger girls, such as those fans of Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers. But in his experience in the more "underground" emo scenes and shows females were less visible, not because they were not present, but because when you take away the younger female fan base, there are fewer women left, but they are represented.

I cut the interview into three parts for loading purposes, but I transcribe from the third part since we discuss Paramore, a female-fronted band.

Discussing the differences between male and female-fronted bands, we spoke about Anit’s experiences with and views of the band Paramore. I asked whether he noticed anything different about Paramore, which is fronted by Hayley Williams, and their shows in comparison to other shows and other emo shows.

Anit: "No not really. I mean, are you talking about if she was a dude would it have been different? Probably not. They were just like made of…it’s also like hard…I dunno this might be the Brown kid in me, but like...sorta not being able to separate people’s like parts of their identities out. Like I just think that like, she just owned herself in a way that was like unique to her and I don't know if it was like obviously like her being a girl was a significant part of that self but it wasn't like you can't disaggregate and think if she was a guy because she wasn't. I mean maybe...it would have been different but I don’t think so."

"I don't know. It's just like... cuz when you see it you're surprised at how they come off as like this pop-rock act that knows rock. Like they're just doing flips and stuff and their just really into sort of throwing the rock, the arena rock vibe in your face. Like in a way that's sorta cool and interesting and unexpected. So like that's their show, and if I was to tell you that that was a girl-fronted band or a guy fronted band you wouldn't have known. Like it's just like, I think that she owns what she is better than most. And you can't be like, yeah that's what a girl would do that's what a guy would do."

"Like did she shake her hips or something at some point? Maybe. I don't know. Did she talk about something girly probably but I don't know but ...yeah cuz at one point she talked about how great Urban Outfitters was, but like I'm not that concerned about it."

I then asked how he would describe Paramore's content in comparison to all-male emo bands. Was the content also about significant others, people of the opposite sex, and high school-type drama?

Anit: "Yeah I don't know. It is, it's also more off, I don't know, this is me roughly thinking about it now because you said it. She also writes a lot of lyrics about like their more introspective than most guy lyrics. Like most guy lyrics are about incidences, like they talk about things that happened. Like I remember when I talked to Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy but yeah no really! He was talking about how like Take This To Your Grave their first record, well their second record depending on how fan-boy you are, um was like really reactionary. And that was his word he said it was like really reactionary. That they were like picking, like he picked instances and like talked about them and talked about individual people and scenes that had happened in his life. I dunno, like if you listen to Paramore I think it's less that. Cuz like I think she like, Like I Caught Myself is a song where like she, or We Are Broken, they're just like introspective songs about how they feel. And I might just be cherry picking to fit stereotypes too cuz I'm sure I could find FOB lyrics that were like completely internal but I think that if you really think about it probably more introspective than a guy. But like who knows, it also depends on the person cuz also like Misery Business their big hit single is about her being like literally fighting over a dude with another girl. Which is about as emo like contestation like “opposite sex is an object” as you can get. So, God knows."

Stuff That Sux

Practice uploading audio using K8 and Bart from 95.5 WBRU

Performance Ethnography Essay

Emo - Accessible but Limiting

Standing in a crowd of late teen/early twenties fans, I feel less out of place than I usually do at an emo concert. There is less high pitched screeching and eye liner than I am used to, but it helps me, in my jeans and T-shirt, to feel a little less conspicuous. The man commanding all the attention is wearing a red plaid shirt and tight jeans, a highly fashionable look recently, because it disregards fashion norms. He does not speak much but when he sings, he looks afflicted, like the words still sting to think about. We hear the familiar chords being strummed quickly and quietly. He softly begins “Was losing all my friends / Was losing them to drinking and to driving / Was losing all my friends but I got them back.”[1] The crowd accidentally yells the first set of “yeahs” and after a few more lines is rewarded for their patience with the louder guitar rifts and the crying out of “YEAH.” A small area of the crowd breaks into a mosh pit, and the girls nearby scatter. The boys came here to rock out, but soon realize this is more of a head banging, beat your heart song. They slow to rhythmic bursts of excitement, crying out “YEAH!”

The Band

While watching the band play, I decided the sound and content of Brand New’s work should be classified as emo. Not sure if I was casting the emo net too wide, I asked a fan who said “oh no, Brand New is definitely emo.” Brand New is a four person band from the suburbs of New York who grew up as part of the “Long Island Independent/Hardcore scene.”[2] Their first album, Your Favorite Weapon, consisted of power chords, a mix of yelling and singing, and self-affliction, fitting in with the type of power-pop-punk emo that was popular during the late 1990s/early 2000s. With Deja Entendu, Brand New developed a style of quiet beginnings picked or strummed on the guitar with strong bass lines, swelling to an emotional and musical peak. The lyrical content became more encompassing, moving on to newer topics than fights with friends and girls who hurt them (when another character is referred to it is most often a female or a male friend who has caused some type of emotional issue for the singer). By the time The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me was released, the picking, dark heavy sound, and thoughtful emotional lyrics were a signature.

The Performance

The show I saw was at the Ryan Center. A stage was set up in the basketball arena at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston. I had seen Jason Mraz at this venue a few weeks before with chairs set up on the floor. For this show, it was understood that chairs would not be necessary. A crowd had already begun to gather in front of the stage by the time the opener, a local Rhode Island band called The Deer Hunter, had taken the stage. I was surprised to find that the floor was not general admission, so about 2500 people sat in the lower bowl of the arena.

All eyes were on frontman Jesse Lacey. He thanked the crowd for their support and occasionally announced the next song. Often it was easily recognizable within the first few notes or once the bass kicked in. The crowd would react immediately, understanding exactly what was coming, and the band seemed to use this as a tactic to excite the crowd.

The fans were as involved with the music as the band, singing and shouting with emotion, often pointing at the band and grabbing at their chests as if they felt the pain and understood the meaning of the song. The experience was a sharing of passion, offering everyone the opportunity to pour out their emotions to the same soundtrack. Brand New was singing the words that all these people were thinking and feeling, and everyone wanted to sing along.

The Scene

The people at the show appeared to be in their later teens or early twenties, which was out of the norm from a more popular, mainstream, emo show which usually contains ages 13 to 20. It is possible the age was skewed since the show was at a venue on a college campus that was not particularly accessible without a car. The group looked like an average collection of college and high school students.

The dress seemed to categorize the girls at the show. One girl caught my attention for being what I would have expected to see at a Fall Out Boy or Paramore show. She wore neon pink tights under a cut up 80s style black top. Her hair had a bright pink splash is the back and she flaunted dark eye liner. I find at many emo shows, these girls are barely discernible from the boys, other than a more cautioned approach to mosh pits. They dress the same, wear the same hair and make up, and bring the same level of passion and fandom to the show.

What made the crowd less stereotypically emo were the girls who dressed in more mainstream, fashionable clothing – tight jeans and Ugg boots, attractive blouses, and hair in an up-do with the slight poof in the front. They stood out because they were always paired, either with a female friend or a boyfriend. Two girl friends stood directly in front of me for part of the performance. They nodded their heads and often turned to comment to each other. They were more concerned with the crowd than the music. As a mosh pit opened up near them, they squealed and spastically tried to fight their way in the opposite direction. Once the crowd calmed, they desperately search for each other, giggled, and seemed to congratulate each other for withstanding the craze of this scene. They were preoccupied with the crowd, never facing the stage for long, enjoying the excitement of trying to cope with the scene.

The other paired girls were those with boyfriends. The interaction between the boy and girl was clearly one of protection. The “couple stance,” could be seen in various pockets around the floor – the boy would stand behind the girl, both watching the performance. When it was calm, this stance was a type of backwards hug, but when the crowd grew more aggressive, the boy would strengthen his hold and push outward, ensuring that the girl had space so she would not be bumped. This practice seemed to be an expectation, since the girl rarely appeared to turn around to acknowledge her mate or his protective actions.

Observing this variety of girls has solidified some assumptions I have had about women in the emo scene. Women may be at the show out of a casual interest in the music, perhaps having liked the albums enough to buy tickets, or they had friends or boyfriends attending and decided to join. The scene itself is a novelty to them. The other women classify themselves as part of the scene. They dress appropriately for the aggressive action of the crowd or to be identified as emo, hoping to fit the expectation. What is troublesome about these classifications is that very little of it is based on women’s actual love of the music and scene. They are either the female companion or conforming to a standard; both stemming from historical male dominance of music scenes. This case can be made about females in many music scenes.

The difference I find at the Brand New show, and in the emo scene, is that women can more easily maneuver between the two categories. The women identifying as emo cannot easily be identified from the men, allowing them to experience the show as the emo men do. The blurring of gender lines allows them to take part in the aggressive crowd, and identify with the passionate singing of Jesse Lacey (whether or not the lyrical content is not female-friendly). And for those women who play the role of companion, at least they are there. Their presence at emo shows make the scene less male dominated, making emo much more accessible to both genders.

---

[1] http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Sowing-Season-Yeah-lyrics-Brand-New/B59B1FA7819305374825720B000E95FD

[2] www.fightoffyourdemons.com

Word Count: 1,366

Set List (absolutepunk.net via a friend):

Welcome to Bangkok
Tautou
Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades
Milestone
Degausser
The Shower Scene
No Seatbelt Song
The Star (New Song)
Luca
Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't
Sowing Season
Jesus Christ
You Won't Know
-Encore-
Mix Tape
Play Crack the Sky

Comments

Comments on classmates' topics:

http://jamiefirth.blogspot.com/2009/02/ethnography-topic.html#comments

http://michellemichiganandmusic.blogspot.com/2009/02/research-topic.html#comments

Comments on classmates' field notes:

http://agreenberg.blogspot.com/2009/02/field-notes-for-locker-room-music.html?showComment=1235788920000#c1466492001888431424

http://musicalyouthculturesmt.blogspot.com/2009/02/field-notes.html#comment-form

Comments on classmates' interviews:

Alyssa

Stan

Lowe Critical Review

In her article, "Tween Scene: Resistance within the Mainstream," Lowe uses two focus groups to research her hypothesis that tween girls within the mainstream are able to use their position there to uphold feminist values. Though the 12-15 year old girls she meets would never call themselves feminists, she finds that they are aware of the sexual objectification that occurs in mainstream pop, and the affect it has on all women. Yet these girls are still fans and consumers of pop. Though they all like Brittany Spears, the girls dislike the fine line she walks between sex goddess and princess of pop, most likely because that is the line they feel they are being asked to walk all the time. Lowe believes that dealing with these issues helps the tweens begin to test their own sexuality, finding a line between attractive and objectified, and their own political sense of self based on their views of how women are treated in media as well as how they are viewed as females. I think Lowe hits on an interesting point that this may no longer be considered feminism outright - these girls do not want to be associated with this word. Instead it is a new breed of "Girl Power." It is female solidarity that asks for gender-equality.

Question: Lowe notes that the girls love to sing the songs together, but could care less about the story that Brittany Spears is telling. Chris Rock also mentions something similar in a stand up routine about how women love hip-hop, but when asked about hip-hop music's disrespectful content toward women they most often say "not talkin' 'bout me." Is music becoming less about the politics? Or is it that the musical content isn't seen as political, and instead the scene is just full of political negotiating (i.e. the tweens being in the mainstream pop scene, while trashing it at the same time)?

Ethnography Fieldwork - Part 1

When I began to look into this topic, I found two very intriguing blogs that discussed gender and emo. One discussed the lack of women on the performance-side of the genre, and how that made women less a part of the scene. The author felt that one result of this male-dominated scene was that the music content often depicted women as sexual objects or objects of scorn. Women were either used for sexual exploits or the reason the songwriter felt so emotionally angry/self-loathing/hurt. The other author that influenced the beginnings of my research discussed how emo was a genre counter to the hegemonic masculine norm. Men in emo were able to express themselves emotionally, dressed less stereotypically masculine, and were generally considered to be acting more effeminate than other male music counterparts.

Since readings those blogs, I posed some questions and launched a search of the internet. I searched broadly to start, looking at the site of one of my favorite emo bands that has a female frontwoman – Paramore. I then followed a lead given to me by a friend to look at the music videos. He claimed that emo music videos were amazingly sexist upon close observation. Sticking to the current mainstream emo bands I had heard of, I picked out earlier hits that I deemed to be more emo since the complaints I usually hear are that the favorite emo bands have gotten too pop and mainstream in their later years. I watched music videos for songs off of Fall Out Boy, All American Rejects, and Panic at the Disco’s first albums. The content that I saw though did not seem to demonstrate any bias against women or show the storyline of the songs. There was a lack of women in many videos, but those that had women seemed to portray them fairly. Thinking that it was possible that these early videos were simply closer to emo’s punk/hardcore roots, I then watched videos from sophomore albums. There were more women shown as sexual objects and added for sex appeal in these videos, but it seemed that it was not all women. Only those who were portrayed as popular, backstabbing, etc and the same was true for the men. (See Dance, Dance example of popular boys and girls) In looking at these music videos, I found that even songs I knew to be about anger toward a girl or a bad relationship breakup, the video did not match. I deemed this a dead end and quit. My findings are posted.

A new search starting with definitions was more successful. I noticed patterns when looking up emo on Urban Dictionary, such as the almost purposeful use of poor spelling and grammar by the kids claiming to be emo and the disdain of the non-emos writing definitions. There were many more links to female-emo-related topics than male, and they were much more extensive and seemingly written by females. Perhaps females were more involved in the web aspect of the scene. One entry caught my attention, claiming that there was no such thing as female emos, only homosexual male emos.

For my next stage in fieldwork, I luckily found a book by Andy Greenwald called Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo. I am told there is a small section on gender, so I am hoping to get that book soon. I also found a thesis paper on emo and masculinity. The author’s fieldwork included a section on whether emo hates women, citing lyrics that are violent toward women and the lack of female performers. The emo fans he spoke with seemed to acknowledge the facts, but felt that this violent outlook toward women was simply because the content was highly relationship-based and was for cathartic purposes only. And teenage girls often found this appealing because they could relate the emotions and catharsis.

I am now wondering about the content about females in emo and the actual females who are present in the emo scene. A long winded wiki search resulted in very few females in emo bands – before my search I could only think of Paramore and a small duo of sisters called Meg and Dia. The Hush Sound has a girl and is on Fueled By Ramen, but I think most consider them to be more indie. How to proceed from here…I am unclear. I am most interested by the content and the females present in this scene, but sorting through more than pictures of fringe and eyeliner to find content, ideas, and attraction to the genre is proving difficult, especially with very little scholarly or overarching works on the topic. My second search results were more helpful though.

Ethnography Notes 2/23/09

Urban Dictionary:

Emo girl

Emo girls

Emo guy

Emo guy/girl

Emo girls kissing:

#5) What happens when two emo boys kiss. There's no such thing as a female emo. All emos are homosexual boys.

Guy 1: Check it out! Over there! Two emo girls kissing!!
Guy 2: Umm... Emo girls don't exsist, dude. Those are two little emo fag boys kissing....
Guy 1: Let's kick their asses.
*Hilarity ensues.*

Much more information on emo girls on this site, with some claiming to be emo, others clearly not fans of emo. Much of it seemed to be the stereotype I had heard but have never actually encountered. This last entry was the most interesting – no such thing as female emo.

There’s apparently a book called Nothing Feels Good, by a guy named Andy Greenwald. It discusses how emo is something sprung from punk and hardcore. He “makes the case for emo as more than a genre – it’s an essential rite of teenagehood.”

Thesis by Matthew J. Aslaksen – Middle Class Music in Suburban Nowhere Land: Emo and the Performance of Masculinity
Pg. 93 starts section on the audience. Pg. 105 – 113 has a section titled “Hatred of Women?” Author asks people about the content of many emo songs in which the all-male groups sing about rage or violence against women. Some state that it is not a poor view of women on the whole but against certain individual women who have hurt them in relationships. Fans think that bc it’s in a song does not make it outwardly violent. They believe it is an emotion that ppl identify with and is cathartic.

Many sites are saying that emo is emotional hardcore and emotional hardcore punk. It’s an umbrella term to cover a lot of styles, but also not a way to describe music so much as a style and attitude. I may need to pick a branch, though I’ve never heard of a majority of bands on this one site of “top emo records.”

Wikipedia seems to separate emo into three separate ways – First wave, second wave, and mainstream which is 2000 to present. I suppose I will mostly be looking at the latter, because it is more familiar and seems to be where there are more female fans and more female-related content rather than simply emotional content in the early waves.

Wiki’s list of emo bands includes very few females – The Anniversary, Boys Night Out used to have 2 females, Rainer Maria, Paramore,

Going back to my idea to focus on Fueled By Ramen, there list of active artists includes the Hush Sound, Paramore, and Versaemerge.

Ethnography Notes 2/19/09

Decided to look at a bunch of music videos and blogs because I was told I would find that women were obscured and men were very feminine. They seemed pretty even handed in the end though...

Screw Rock & Roll – The Girl All the Boys Wanna Dance With

- About Paramore, being female-fronted.

- “Which is an accusation, that, like a lot of Hopper's statements is sort of interesting and sort of true, but also way too shrill and not as meaningful as she thinks it is. I mean, yeah, there are some (many?) pretty misogynistic emo tracks out there, but let's face it: the genre, being what it is, has a whole lot of break-up songs in it, a lot of them rather angry. It's a bit much to criticize artists doing break-up tracks for not being nicer about their exes. No one says "Hit 'Em Up Style" is misandrist.”

- Female-fronted emo band named…

Paramore Blog – Band members blogging

Tickle Me Emo – Mad TV sketch

Fall Out Boy – Sugar We’re Going Down off of Take This To Your Grave (while still on Fueled by Ramen)

- Girl is actually a nice character. Can’t see her much.

Will focus on artists on Fueled By Ramen – generally thought to be the emo label. Includes Pete Wentz’s Decaydance Records, which is a “vanity label,” meaning it’s a little brother label under Fueled By Ramen.

FOB – Saturday
- Mostly men moshing around, but do see some females in the crowd. Queen of Hearts is the death card in the storyline.

FOB – Grand Theft Autumn
Girl in it, can see her face. Somewhat sexual, she dresses, leaves the house and makes out with the guy before just walking away.

All American Rejects – Swing, Swing
Guy and girl seem in a good relationship, they fight and she breaks it off. Doesn’t seem as bad as I was expecting. Only notice that it seems like the men are emotional and the girls are fairly cold. Perhaps it’s different in later work, or perhaps I’m simply used to female depictions.

Looked at All American Rejects next big hit “Dirty Little Secret.” A song about hiding a relationship with someone. The video didn’t actually feature anyone but the band bc it was all postcards from the Post Secret Project where ppl wrote their secrets on postcards. Women did seem to be posting “I don’t really love him” and men “I love her but I can’t say,” but I think I’m stretching.

FOB’s Dance Dance came out on the 2^nd album

- Only the hot girls seem to be sexual objects. There are nerdy girls, dressed similar and acting similar to the boys that are portrayed favorably.

FOB Thnks fr th Mmrs

- Has only one woman who is solely for sexual purposes and then is a backstabber.

P@TD’s Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking her Clothes Off is like a romance. Sad but the girl is faithful. In I Write Sins Not Tragedies () the woman leaves the alter and is caught making out with someone else. This seems to be the only video that matches the storylines in these songs.

Just to look into women, here’s Paramore’s Misery Business. The woman is basically portrayed as a bitch but not all the women.

Maybe the video depictions are not the place to look. Perhaps it is more important the gender issues in the bands themselves – the make up, the lyrics, the emotions. If I compared the way male and female fronts act maybe I can see that the women are acting more male and men are acting more female?

Looking at the lyrics could lead me into a totally different direction, but those are seemingly more about emotion and break ups and are less favorable toward women, and yet women are fans.