EMO, rockabilly, psychobilly...Young DUers

[shugah]

help an old lady out! what is "EMO?" what is "rockabilly?" what is "psychobilly?" and what do "punk" and "goth" mean these days?

it's just so difficult to stay informed anymore!

[ButterflyBlood]

1. emo does not mean whiny crap like Dashboard Confessional

or indie pop, regardless of what anyone tells you. It is an abrasive, harsh and rather unaccesible genre of music. www.fourfa.com gives the whole lowdown but you likely won't get much from it since you probably don't know the first thing about the bands or points of references he mentions, so think of a song that has about 3 minutes of slow minimalist buildup, then about 3 minutes of lots of crazy screaming and thrashing, then just sort of fades away with no one bothering to play in key.

rockabilly...think the Stray Cats.

[shugah]

2. i like the stray cats!

but emo seems to encompass more than music. there seems to be a style of dress that goes along too? or not? i have to admit, emo has me really confused.

[ButterflyBlood]

4. there is a style of dress, but it's basically a joke

or at least started out as one, too many then took it seriously...

there is more to it in terms of style other than the music, emo band still tend to release lots of vinyl, and put all sorts of inserts with their records like little diary writings of theirs, random assorted pictures, and other stuff that pretty much anyone outside of the band won't understand. as for the stuff you usually find on inserts, you might get a lyrics sheet with the lyrics written in an unintelligible font, and the band members' first names.

and of course, it's not uncommon for an emo record to go out of print a few months after it's released, and then kids go crazy for them on ebay. just look under records on ebay and search for indian summer or orchid or usurp synapse or evergreen. or search for "emo" or "screamo" under records and look at all the ridiculous results.

[shugah]

13. so, you're saying

beyond the music is the "wannabe's?"

"emo" on ebay or google turns up multitudinous responses.

[shugah]

14. hey! did you edit that post to be condescending?

don't presume to know what i do or do not know the first thing about! sheesh! these emo kids! ;-)

[NightTrain]

3. Rockabilly dates back to the 1950s.

Essentially, it was an amalgam of country music and rhythm and blues. Examples of '50s-era rockabilly would be Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" and several of Elvis Presley's recordings for the Sun label (such as "That's All Right (Mama)," "Good Rockin' Tonight," and "Mystery Train"). There also are modern-day rockabilly bands, the best known of which probably was the 1980s group, the Stray Cats, whose chart hits included "Rock This Town," "Stray Cat Strut," and "(She's) Sexy and 17." Also around at that time was Marshall Crenshaw, whose rockabilly-flavored "Someday, Someway" went Top 40 in 1982.

To this day, there are bands (composed of people ranging in age from their 20s - their 60s!) all over the world playing genuine rockabilly music. In fact, we have quite a few RAB bands right here in stoic New England,like Boston's Raging Teens, and my next-door neighbors in Rhode Island, the Gamma Rays and Jack Smith & The Rockabilly Planet.

Psychobilly is a latter-day genre that merges rockabilly and punk. Its better-known proponents include the Cramps, Southern Culture on the Skids, and the Reverend Horton Heat.

Hope that helps! :)

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. Don't forget Dwight!

Dwight Yoakam falls in this category with "Little Sister" and "Guitars, Cadillacs..."

:hi:

[shugah]

12. generally i am no fan of country music

but for some reason, i always kinda have liked dwight. maybe because his music is not "so" country, or maybe because he always wears tight jeans and has such a CLA (cute little ass ;-) )

[FDRrocks]

5. In my mind...

Rockabilly is just rock... with an edge and a certain feel i cannot pinpoint. Social Distortion is the quintessential rockabilly band in my mind. Gotohells come to mind too. Psychobilly, no clue. Emo supposedly stands for "emotional". I think it stands for... crap. It's whiny guys with tatoos and acoustic guitars, who somehow convince people they have anything to do with punk rock. It's sickening, like punk needs another stab to die.

[ButterflyBlood]

8. see, that's a huge misconception about emo

real emo is nothing like that crap at all.

[FDRrocks]

10. What's it like?

cause thats what its generally accepted as, in the real world. And I am sick of seeing it attached to punk, heh. Seriously, it pretty much killed the local scene here in Scranton, Dashboard and thier hellsent descendents that is.

[ButterflyBlood]

15. bleh, Dashboard is just for girls who outgrew N Sync

check that link I gave above: www.fourfa.com

It basically started in the 80s as punks writing songs about their lives instead of politics, and then developed into kids with bedhead hair thrashing and giving grindcore screams about ex-girlfriends, their LiveJournal entries and obscurish arty poetry.

[theoceansnerves]

16. but!!

bright eyes makes me cry! it's EMO :P

[theoceansnerves]

7. yeah

for some reason sellers on ebay like to prefix any kind of off the wall or unusual trendy clothing (i should clarify trendy with some kids, not with the mainstream) with "emo" and "rockabilly" even if it has nothing to do with emo or rockabilly music.

[ButterflyBlood]

9. lots of people look on ebay for emo records

so they just do searches for "emo" quite often. therefore lots of people just put emo in their subject line to show up on those searches regardless of it has any in common with emo. try screamo, that could be even worse.

[theoceansnerves]

11. right

i think it has to be near useless now though, wouldn't you say? i mean emo is in every title, if you are looking for emo records you're gonna pare it down to the music category only and won't even be seeing all the clothing, etc.

[Susang]

17. Psychobilly's been around for quite awhile

Don't have to be a "young DUer" to have heard about it. ;-)

There was a big psychobilly scene in Detroit back in the early eighties. I kind of hung around the fringe of that scene, but I didn't really get too into it, the fashion was a little too oppressive for me. I couldn't take all the vintage gear, all the time. I had too many personalities to express back then. :-)

[dbt]

20. Johnny Cash knew about Psychobilly

Check the end portion of "One Piece At A Time" wherein Cash declaims,

"Yeah, this is the Cottonmouth in the Psychobilly Cadillac."

:evilgrin:
dbt

[shugah]

18. so it's the music?

the current terminology refers to the music? and the ebay listings and google results are indicative of those that are trying to "be cool?"

DU, it seems, is too cool to have emo, rockabilly, et. al. posters - at least beyond the music. thanks all! i was wondering about the phenomena as well. i appreciate your purity, but was wondering about mainstream :shrug:

[Bridget Burke]

21. Rockabilly & Psychobilly have been around a while.

As musical styles. Starting with the original Sun Records guys & their contemporaries, through the revival (Stray Cats) & on into weirdness. Some fans do dress the part--holdovers from the old days & younger revivalists.

If you're looking for the latest hip lifestyle trends, let me warn you that some of us at DU are old farts. And I don't consider ebay the arbiter of hipness; more a good source for chartreuse Fiestaware & other arcane bits of crockery.

I Googled a bit on Emo & found a lots of info for later investigation. (Does it have any connection to the Austin club, Emo's?) It's fun to keep an eye on what the young whippersnappers are up to. There is information out there.

Ah, happy psychobilly memories. At one Cramps show I attended, the opening act was Houston's all-girl punk/new-wave band--the Mydolls.

[argyl]

19. Starting out in his career Steve Earle did some great rockabilly.

Now I guess the style he's using depends on the song he's singing.Great talent.

[buddhamama]

22. for some good ole rockabilly i recommend Kim Lenz

Texas native who plays a mean guitar.