Emo

*Emo* is a slang term used to describe fashion styles and goth-like appearances of a certain group of teenagers. Emo music, derived from emo, is a genre of hardcore punk, known to use emotions, and often, very suicidal messages.

## Pre-Emo Days - Angst and Linkin Park

The first emo site was made by the user evers, better known for the Stapler fad. It showed a diagram showing how to cut an arm, with "Screaming Infidelities" by Dashboard Confessional in the background. Most sites though were relating to Angst (examples: It's time to A-A-A-A-A-A-ANGST, Sponge bob is Angst (now Synchronize)). These sites used the song "Crawling" by Linkin Park, which was known for the following lyrics:

*Craaawling iiin my skiiin! These wounds, they wiiill not he-al!*

## Emo and the Rise of Simple Plan

During the months of August through October of 2005, the emo fad began to emerge. On August 9, the user fendraki created "The Emo Song", a ytmnd that features the song "The Emo Song" by Adam and Andrew in its full entirety, accompanied by a collage of emo-looking kids. The collage was originally used for a previous emo site. The site enjoyed early popularity and amassed a ton of views quickly. Recently though, there has been criticism regarding the site and the song, as the ytmnd holds a 3.93 rating. The Emo Song currently is the 4th most viewed ytmnd, behind How to prank a Telemarketer, Blue Ball Machine, and Batman: ualuealuealeuale. Very few fad sites actually use The Emo Song.

Around the month of October, an excerpt from the song "Untitled" by Simple Plan showed up. The excerpt was then used for a site by uberwolf called "EMO ORANGES," which consists of a photo retrieved from the Flickr photo repository consisting of four oranges who have had the rinds and meat peeled to give them the personification of crying (for those interested, there is a flash movie based on this, created by atomicbolt). Thanks in part to this site, Simple Plan's Untitled became the #1 choice for emo sites. These sites would show people feeling sad or preparing to cut themselves.

## Myspace Suicide

On the morning of November 29, 2005, Josh Ballard posted a suicide note on a MySpace bulletin and went on to commit suicide. The bulletin was quickly made into a ytmnd and ushered in a massive fast-growing fad. Sites parodied the original suicide note and used Simple Plan once again.

## Criticism and Overuse

The emo fad has led to many sites on ytmnd, but it has also brought a huge amount of negative feedback. The most common complaint is the overuse of Simple Plan's Untitled, being used in over 3,000 sites (one of the most-used sound assets on ytmnd). Others criticize the lack of originality, as the majority use sad pictures or poorly done photoshopped images of people looking sad. The fad has been commonly associated with NARVs.

### Emo Music?

Another criticism is that the music used is almost never emo, but usually nu-metal (in the case of Linkin Park) or pop punk (Simple Plan), and on occasion, even black metal. While there have been attempts at using actual emo music on sites, these have never really taken off, possibly because actual emo music doesn't actually sound that wangsty; The Emo Song actually sounds more like actual emo music than the more commonly-used song choices.

## Links

http://emo.ytmnd.com/ - Original site by **evers**

http://emosong.ytmnd.com/ - Another with "The Emo Song" by **Fendraki**

http://emowetcat.ytmnd.com/ - Another with "Untitled" by **rodionpunk**

http://yu-gi-angst.ytmnd.com/ - Another with "Crawling" by **Luminar**

http://emotutorial.ytmnd.com/ - Another by **Poho**

http://hitlerareemo.ytmnd.com/ - Another by **Mancer**

http://emooranges.ytmnd.com/ - Another by **uberwolf**

http://sbia.ytmnd.com/ - Another by **apesofdoom**