Post-emo

Emo
Embrace at Food for Thought on July 28, 1985. From left to right are Chris Bald, Ian MacKaye, and Mike Hampton.
Other names	Emotional hardcore emocore
Stylistic origins	Original Post-hardcore hardcore punk Subsequent Indie rock pop punk
Cultural origins	Mid-1980s, Washington, D.C., United States
Typical instruments	Vocals electric guitar bass guitar drums
Derivative forms	Midwest emo
Subgenres
Screamo
Fusion genres
Emo pop emoviolence melodic emocore
Regional scenes
Washington, D.C. Midwestern and Central United States New Jersey Long Island
Other topics
Alternative rock (timeline) melodic hardcore

Emo /ˈiːmoʊ/ is a loosely categorized rock music genre characterized by expressive, often 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 bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace. However, as emo was echoed by contemporary American punk rock bands, its sound and meaning shifted and changed and it was reinvented as a style of indie rock and pop punk encapsulated in the early 1990s by bands such as Jawbreaker and Sunny Day Real Estate. By the mid-1990s, numerous emo acts formed 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.

Emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s with the platinum-selling success of Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional. In the wake of this success, many emo bands were signed to major record labels and the style became a marketable product. By the early 2010s, the popularity of emo began to decrease. Some bands moved away from their emo roots and some bands disbanded. An underground "emo revival" emerged in the 2010s, with bands drawing on the sounds and aesthetics of emo of the 1990s and early 2000s.