From en.wikipedia.org:
[Aggressive subgenre of emo] [date=June 2021] {{Infobox music genre | name =
Screamo | other_names = Skramz | image = Orchid - Stierch.jpg | caption =
Orchid performing in 2000 | image_size = | stylistic_origins = [Emo] |
cultural_origins = Early 1990s, San Diego, California, U.S. | subgenres =
[Pop screamo] | fusiongenres = [Emoviolence] | other_topics = * Bands
- metalcore
}} SCREAMO (also referred to as SKRAMZ[1]) <!---please do not remove this
sourced term without explanation-->is a subgenre of emo that emerged in the
early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and
dynamics".[2] San Diego–based bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow pioneered the
genre in the early 1990s, and it was developed in the late 1990s mainly by
bands from the East Coast of the United States such as Pg. 99, Orchid,
Saetia, and I Hate Myself. Screamo is strongly influenced by hardcore punk
and characterized by the use of screamed vocals.[3] Lyrical themes usually
include emotional pain, death, romance, and human rights.<ref name="Jimd" />
The term "screamo" has frequently been mistaken as referring to any music with
screaming.<ref name="ScreamoAM" />[4]
** Characteristics
{{listen | filename = Bang_Yer_Head.ogg | title = "Bang Yer Head" by Portraits
of Past | description = An example of early screamo by Portraits of Past, an
influential band which helped define the genre.[5] | filename2 =
Thursday_Cross_Out_The_Eyes.ogg | title2 = "Cross Out the Eyes" by Thursday |
description2 = An example of screamo's influence on mainstream music,
popularized by Thursday in the early 2000s.<ref name="ScreamoAM"/> | filename3
= Loma_Prieta_-_Fly_By_Night.ogg | title3 = "Fly by Night" by Loma Prieta |
description3 = An example of contemporary screamo by Loma Prieta, featuring
harsh vocals, stylistic transitions, and emotional lyrics. }}
<!--- DO NOT remove the 3 sound files demonstrating various eras of screamo and screamo-influenced music. There are references in the body supporting each. --->
Screamo is a style of hardcore punk-influenced emo with screaming.<ref
name="ScreamoAM" /> Alex Henderson of AllMusic considers screamo a bridge
between hardcore punk and emo, and Andrew Sacher of BrooklynVegan states the
genre is "built on chaos."[6][7] The term screamo is a portmanteau of the
words "scream" and "emo". Screamo uses typical rock instrumentation, but is
notable for its brief compositions, chaotic sounds, harmonized guitars, and
screaming vocals.[8] Screamo is characterized "by frequent shifts in tempo and
dynamics and by tension-and-release catharses."<ref name="JohnNYT" /> Many
screamo bands also incorporate ballads.<ref name="SanDiegoReader" /> According
to AllMusic, screamo is "generally based in the aggressive side of the
overarching punk-revival scene."<ref name="ScreamoAM" /> Screamed vocals are
used "not consistently, but as a kind of crescendo element, a sonic weapon to
be trotted out when the music and lyrics reach a particular emotional
pitch."<ref name="JohnNYT" /> Emotional singing and harsh screaming are common
vocals in screamo.<ref name="ScreamoAM" />
Screamo lyrics often feature topics such as emotional pain, breakups, romantic
interest, politics, and human rights.<ref name="Jimd" />[9] These lyrics are
usually introspective, similar to that of softer emo bands.<ref
name="ScreamoAM" /> _The New York Times_ noted that "part of the music's
appeal is its un-self-conscious acceptance of differences, respect for
otherness." Some screamo bands openly demonstrate acceptance of religious,
nonreligious, and straight edge lifestyles.<ref name="JohnNYT" />
Many screamo bands in the 1990s saw themselves as implicitly political, and as
a reaction against the turn to the right embodied by California politicians,
such as Roger Hedgecock.[10] Some groups were also unusually theoretical in
inspiration: Angel Hair cited surrealist writers Antonin Artaud and Georges
Bataille,<ref name="Heller" /> and Orchid lyrically name-checked French new
wave icon Anna Karina, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, French
philosopher Michel Foucault, and critical theory originators the Frankfurt
School.[11]
** Etymology
While the genre was developing in the early 1990s, it was not initially called
"screamo."[12] Chris Taylor, lead vocalist for the band Pg. 99, said "we
never liked that whole screamo thing. Even during our existence, we tried to
venture away from the fashion and tell people, 'Hey, this is punk.[' "][13]
Jonathan Dee of _The New York Times_ wrote that the term "tends to bring a
scornful laugh from the bands themselves."[14] Lars Gotrich of NPR Music made
the following comment on the matter in 2011:<ref name="NPRorg" /> {{cquote
|The screamo scene [has] change[d] a lot in the last 10 years. There used to
be more creative bands like Circle Takes the Square and City of Caterpillar.
And then it took this route where screamo got really streamlined and
unrecognizable to the point where someone hilariously invented the term
_skramz_ to distinguish the first wave of screamo bands.}} In the 2000s, the
term "screamo" began being used loosely to describe any use of human vocal
instrument growled-word vocals (commonly termed screamed vocals) in music.<ref
name="ScreamoAM" /> It has been applied to a wide variety of genres unrelated
to the original screamo scene.[15] Juan Gabe, vocalist for the band Comadre,
alleged that the term "has been kind of tainted in a way, especially in the
States."[16] Derek Miller, guitarist for the band Poison the Well, noted the
term's constant differing usages and jokingly stated that it "describes a
thousand different genres."<ref name="Screamo" /> Bert McCracken, lead singer
of The Used, stated that screamo is merely a term "for record companies to
sell records and for record stores to categorize them."[17] Quinn Villarreal
of _Sirius XM_ observed, "If a song had singing AND screaming in it, your
grandmother and/or school bully probably called it screamo."[18]
** History
*** Origins (1990s)
[Emo#Screamo] Around 1990 and 1991, a number of bands began pushing the sound
of early emo into more extreme and chaotic territory. The earliest of these
acts were New Jersey's Iconoclast and Merel, however the most influential acts
were those from San Diego and signed to Gravity Records.[19] In particular,
Heroin are the band generally cited as either pioneering screamo or being the
band that inspired the earliest acts in the genre,<ref name="Sfetcu-2006"
/>[20][21] with other notable bands from the city, including Angel Hair,
Antioch Arrow and Swing Kids.<ref name="Sacher-2020" /> These early San Diego
screamo bands were sometimes called "spock rock" by fans due to many of them
dyeing their hair black and cutting straight fringes similar to the _Star
Trek_ character Spock. This, in combination with their geek-chic style of
dressing would prove particularly influential on the development of the
subsequent emo and scene subcultures.[22]
In New Jersey, the genre continued to grow, soon expanding into New York City.
Native Nod, Rye Coalition, 1.6 Band, and Rorschach all became prominent in
this scene, which was centred around ABC No Rio,[23] while the sound expanded
to elsewhere in the United States with Universal Order of Armageddon (from
Baltimore) and Mohinder (from Cupertino, California).[24] In San Francisco,
Portraits of Past were one of the earliest groups to merge the primitive
screamo sound with post-rock, a combination that Funeral Diner would then
continue, while also embracing the influence of black metal.<ref
name="Sacher-2020" />
At the same time, many bands in the southern United States began pushing the
early screamo sound even further sonically. Columbia, South Carolina band
In/Humanity coined the term "emoviolence" to describe this sound, played by
them, as well as Florida bands Palatka and the End of the Century Party. When
coined, the term was a tongue in cheek portmanteau of "emo" and
"powerviolence", two genre descriptions the members of In/Humanity maligned,
as well as a reference to the album _Emotional Violence_ by funk band Cameo,
however as subsequent bands took influence from the sound of these groups, the
term became increasingly widespread.[25][26]
Towards the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s, Virginia developed a large
and influential screamo scene: Pg. 99, who continued in the extreme and
chaotic screamo sound; City of Caterpillar, who were one of the most
influential early bands to merge screamo with post-rock; Majority Rule who
merged the genre with metalcore; and Malady who merged post-inflected screamo
with indie rock. All of which released albums which _BrooklynVegan_ writer
Andrew Sacher called essential albums in the genre.<ref name="Sacher-2020" />
One of the most influential bands to come from the New York City screamo scene
was Saetia, who formed in 1997 and created a sound influenced by math rock,
jazz and Midwest emo. Following Saetia's 1999 disbandment, its members formed
the similarly influential bands Off Minor and Hot Cross. Other impactful
groups in the genre at this time included Jeromes Dream, Neil Perry, I Hate
Myself, Reversal of Man, Yaphet Kotto and Orchid.<ref name="Sacher-2020" />
*** Mainstream crossover (2000s)
By 1995, the term "screamo" drifted into the music press, especially in the
journalism of Jim DeRogatis and Andy Greenwald.[27] Following the release of
their 2001 album _Full Collapse_, New Jersey's Thursday were the first
screamo–influenced band to gain significant media attention.[28] The following
year, saw the release of Canada's Alexisonfire's self-titled album, which
_Metal Hammer_ writer Matt Mills called "key in legitimising the screamo
sound".[29] In the following years, the Used, Thrice, Finch and Silverstein
all gained significant attention for furthering this sound.<ref
name="ScreamoAM" /><ref name="JohnNYT"/> In contrast to the do-it-yourself
screamo bands of the 1990s, screamo bands such as Thursday and the Used signed
multi-album contracts with labels such as Island Def Jam and Reprise
Records.[30] However, this style's connection to the genre has been disputed,
with some referring to it as "_MTV_ screamo"<ref name="MetalSucks-2010" /> or
"pop-screamo", and many bands more commonly being categorized as post-hardcore
or metalcore.[31]
In the underground screamo scene, post-rock became an increasingly prominent
influence amongst bands. The most prominent and influential of these acts was
Richmond, Virginia's City of Caterpillar,<ref name="Sacher-2020" /> who _Vice_
writer Jason Heller stated "encompass [the] era".[32] Music critics coined the
term "post-screamo" to refer to this sound.[33][34] Other prominent acts
making this sound at the time included Circle Takes the Square, Raein, Envy
and Daïtro.<ref name="Sacher-2020" /> Fluff Fest, held in Czechia since 2000,
was in 2017 described by Bandcamp Daily as a "summer ritual" for many fans of
screamo in Europe.[35]
*** Revival (2010s)
[Emo revival#The Wave and screamo revival] In the early 2010s the term
"screamo" began to be largely reclaimed by a new crop of do-it-yourself bands,
with many screamo acts, like Loma Prieta, Pianos Become the Teeth, La Dispute,
and Touché Amoré releasing records on fairly large independent labels such as
Deathwish Inc.[36] In 2011 _Alternative Press_ noted that La Dispute is "at
the forefront of a traditional-screamo revival" for their critically acclaimed
release _Wildlife_.[37] They are a part of a group of stylistically similar
screamo-revival bands self-defined as "The Wave," made up of Touché Amoré, La
Dispute, Defeater, Pianos Become the Teeth, and Make Do and Mend.[38][39] As
well as, California's Deafheaven, who formed in 2010, having been described as
screamo, in a style similar to that of Envy.[40] _Alternative Press_ has cited
a "pop screamo revival" along with this, with bands like Before Their Eyes,
the Ongoing Concept, Too Close to Touch and I Am Terrified.<ref
name="Altpress-2016" /> alt=Ostraca In August 2018, _Noisey_ writer Dan Ozzi
declared that it was the "Summer of Screamo" in a month-long series
documenting screamo acts pushing the genre forward following the decline in
popularity of "The Wave," as well as the reunions of seminal bands such as Pg.
99, Majority Rule, City of Caterpillar,[41] and Jeromes Dream.[42] Groups
highlighted in this coverage, including Respire,[43][44] Ostraca,[45]
Portrayal of Guilt,[46][47][48] Soul Glo,[49] I Hate Sex,[50] and Infant
Island,[51][52][53] had generally received positive press from large
publications, but were not as widely successful as their predecessors.
_Noisey_ also documented that, despite its loss of mainstream popularity and
continued hold in North American scenes, particularly Richmond, Virginia,[54]
screamo had become a more international movement; notably spreading to Japan,
France, and Sweden with groups including Heaven in Her Arms, Birds in Row and
Suis La Lune, respectively.[55] Also in 2018, Vein released their debut album
_Errorzone_ to critical acclaim and commercial success, bringing together
elements of screamo, hardcore, and nu metal.[56][57][58] This underground
cohort of acts was primarily released by independent labels like Middle-Man
Records[59] in the United States, Zegema Beach Records[60] in Canada, and Miss
The Stars Records in Berlin.[61]
** Subgenres and fusion genres
*** Emoviolence
Some screamo bands borrow the extreme dissonance, speed, and chaos of
powerviolence. As a result, the term EMOVIOLENCE was half-jokingly coined by
the band In/Humanity to describe the fusion of the two styles which applied to
themselves, as well as other bands including Pg. 99,[62] Orchid,<ref
name="Greg-2010" /> Reversal of Man,<ref name="Greg-2010" /> Usurp
Synapse,[63] and RentAmerica.[64][65] Additionally, bands such as Orchid,
Reversal of Man, and Circle Takes the Square tend to be much closer in style
to grindcore than their forebears.[66][67] In contemporary times, the genre is
no longer as prevalent or widespread as it had been in the past, yet it still
remains as a notable and prevalent force in underground screamo. A revival of
the genre has occurred internationally with regional scenes in Southeast
Asia[68] and South America[69] taking prominence.
*** Post-screamo
Bands including City of Caterpillar, Circle Takes the Square, Envy, Funeral
Diner, Pianos Become the Teeth,[70] Respire,[71] and Le Pré Où Je Suis
Mort[72][73] have incorporated post-rock elements into their music. This
fusion is characterized by abrupt changes in pace, atmospheric and harmonic
instrumentation, and distorted vocals.<ref name="interpunk 1"/>[74] Similarly,
bands such as Heaven in Her Arms and the aforementioned group Envy, use
elements of shoegazing.[75]
*** Sass
SASS ([s], also known as WHITE BELT HARDCORE,[76] SASSY SCREAMO, SASSCORE<REF
NAME=":0" /> or DANCEY SCREAMO)[77] is a style that emerged from the
late-1990s and early-2000s screamo scene.[78] The genre incorporates elements
of post-punk, new wave, disco, electronic, dance-punk,<ref name="A.V. Club"
/> grindcore, noise rock, metalcore, mathcore and beatdown hardcore. The
genre is characterized by overtly flamboyant mannerisms, homoerotic lyrical
content, synthesizers, dance beats and a lisping vocal style.[79] Sass bands
include the Blood Brothers, Black Eyes, An Albatross, The Number Twelve Looks
Like You, the Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower, early Daughters,
later-Orchid[80][81] and SeeYouSpaceCowboy.[82]
*** Pop screamo
" POP SCREAMO" and " MTV SCREAMO" are terms used to describe
screamo-influenced bands who use metallic instrumentation and pop song
structure to form a more commercially viable sound than traditional screamo.
The style developed and gained mainstream success in the early-2000s.<ref
name="Altpress-2015" /><ref name="MetalSucks-2010" /><ref name="Altpress-2014"
/> The scene was led by bands such as Thursday, Hawthorne Heights, Taking Back
Sunday, The Used,[83] Senses Fail, Silverstein, Chiodos, From First to Last,
Saosin, Thrice and Finch[84] – as well as now-defunct lesser-known bands such
as Before Their Eyes, Here I Come Falling, Agraceful, Yesterdays Rising,
Chasing Victory, Beloved, Dead Poetic, Burden of a Day and Sever Your
Ties.<ref name="Altpress-2015"/> The genre had a revival in the 2010s,
including such outfits as Before Their Eyes, The Ongoing Concept, Too Close to
Touch, I Am Terrified.[85] _Alternative Press Magazine_ generalized the style
as incorporating "metal-influenced riffs and aggressive, high-end screams" in
the verses of songs, with the song's refrains containing "soaring melodies"
that "carried choruses to new, previously unattained heights."<ref
name="Altpress-2015" /> The magazine also described the style as "Poppy emo
music with screaming in it."<ref name="Altpress-2014" /> Some of these groups
have also been categorized as post-hardcore or metalcore, with some bands
drawing influence from both to varying degrees.<ref name="Altpress-2015"
/>[86]<ref name="MetalSucks-2010" /> Quinn Villarreal of _Sirius XM_ noted
that the acts in this movement sounded "darker than pop-punk [and] lighter
than metal" and that they "lean on progressive writing and storytelling[,] and
of course, _emotion."_[87]
** See also
- List of screamo bands
- Post-hardcore
** References
[Reflist]
** External links
[wikiquote] [hardcorepunk] [emo]
Category:Emo Category:Counterculture of the 1990s Category:1990s in music
Category:Hardcore punk genres Category:Rock music genres Category:American
styles of music Category:Youth culture in the United States