Melodic emotional hardcore

Emo
Emo band Dashboard Confessional
Other names	Emotional hardcore emocore
Stylistic origins	Original Post-hardcore hardcore punk Subsequent Indie rock pop punk
Cultural origins	Original Mid-1980s Washington, D.C., U.S. Subsequent Early–mid 1990s New York Seattle, Washington California Arizona
Typical instruments	Vocals guitar bass guitar drums
Subgenres
Emo pop screamo
Regional scenes
Washington, D.C. Midwestern U.S. Central U.S. New Jersey Long Island, New York
Other topics
Alternative rock grunge math rock melodic hardcore

Emo /ˈiːmoʊ/ is a genre of rock music characterized by an emphasis on emotional expression, sometimes through confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of post-hardcore from the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered by Washington, D.C. hardcore bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace. However, as the genre was taken up by a new generation of musicians in the early 1990s, its sound and meaning shifted and changed and it was reinvented as a style of indie rock and pop punk by bands such as Jawbreaker, Sunny Day Real Estate, Weezer, and Jimmy Eat World. By the mid-1990s, numerous emo acts such as Braid, The Promise Ring, and the Get Up Kids emerged in the Midwestern and Central United States, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the genre. Meanwhile, a more aggressive style of emo, screamo, had also emerged, pioneered by the San Diego bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow.