The Legacy of Emo: Is It Gone for Good?

The music industry was a very different time in the early 2000s. Rock, as always, had evolved in new directions, spawning new genres and new iterations of previously founded genres through the digitization of music and the boom of the internet. Emo was one genre to see a new evolution in that era, with bands like My Chemical Romance taking over the airwaves and the attention of moody youths.

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Despite the doom-and-gloom nature of 2000s emo, it was a great time in retrospect. At the very least, it was creative and glorified actually caring about things enough to be sad about them. Plenty of 2000s kids nowadays long for the richness and emotional depth of 2000s emo and pop punk. 

One can’t help but wonder: Is emo gone for good?

Is Emo Music Really Gone For Good in the 2020s?

When emo boomed in the 2000s, quite a few music critics thought it was a passing fad. They weren’t entirely right about that. Emo endured for years, even into the 2010s. Even more than the music, the physical labels of emo lived on through band merch, skinny jeans, studded belts, eyeliner, hating the town you’re from, you name it.

Part of what kept emo afloat in the sordid waters of music fads was the fact that it was one of few genres at the time to discuss taboo subjects like mental health, mental illness, grief, and coming of age in a time when adolescents were just starting to have their lives put on display via the internet. 

The internet was a tool that made emo so big, too. You didn’t need to leave behind your whole life to join in on the movement, as the hippies and punks did decades prior. You could participate in the community from your desktop computer. It was an accessible time, without a doubt.

So, is emo gone for good in the 2020s? We’re not so sure. Rock music as a whole has seen a downturn in recent years, but that doesn’t mean that subcultures and musical styles have completely gone out of vogue.

TikTok is one social media platform that has brought a lot of emo music back from the dead, among other nostalgic elements of the turn of the Millennium. Artists like Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo have implemented emo and pop-punk elements into their music in this decade. My Chemical Romance got back together, too. 

It seems like the last evolution of emo left behind by Millenials is now being picked up again by Gen-Z. And I’m not mad about it.

Photo by  Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

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