Nine Fifth Wave Emo Bands Worth Checking Out​

Emo has a habit of being pronounced dead every few years, right before a new crop of bands revives it under a slightly different name. The current revival is no exception. People call it the fifth wave, and while the label is loose and a little contested, it's the term the scene uses for itself. What emo actually is If you're not familiar with what emo is, the word is short for "emotional hardcore." It started in the mid-1980s in Washington, D.C., when bands like Rites of Spring and Embrace took hardcore punk's volume and intensity but wrote about interior life instead of politics. The name was meant as a slight and stuck anyway. From there the genre branched a few times: First wave (mid-80s): Rites of Spring, Embrace, Dag Nasty. Hardcore kids writing about feelings. Second wave (mid-90s): the Midwest scene, Sunny Day Real Estate, American Football, Cap'n Jazz. Quieter dynamics, cleaner and more intricate twinkly guitar work. Third wave (early 2000s): emo crossed over. My Chemical…