It may seem more likely that 00's glam rap is, but to be honest I think that that will be looked at the same way nu-wave of the 80's and grunge of the 90's was looked at - as all three were the driving forces of pop music for most of their respective decades, up until the last few years anyway. Emo and hairmetal have so many similarites it's scary - from the negative critical reception, to the appeal toward mainly young women, to the formulaic happy bands that emerge after the genre breaks, to the 24 hour image aired on their respective music channels (for hairmetal it was MTV, and for emo it is Fuse), to even the bands themselves denying their respective labels. Metro Station's "Shake It" may just be the second coming of Poison's "Unskinny Bop." Myspace might actually be to pop-emo what LA was to hairmetal. The genre is being milked to beath by record labels who refuse to give anything else a chance, by Fuse, and by MTV Hits, and already people are getting sick of it. Is 2008 to emo what 1988 was to hairmetal? Is Metro Station the next Poison? By 2013 will this genre be dead and buried? What are your thoughts?

I thought Emo was more of a imitation of Goth in general. ??? ???

Because Hairmetal, at least to me, doesn't seem Goth-like. Alot of Hairmetal in the 80s to early 90s seem to focus more on having fun and partying.

Edit: Stupid grammer mistakes in my post. :P

Emo is a modern take on music that sucks ass

Emo is a modern take on music that sucks ass


I've haven't paid much attention to the Emo genre myself.

Emo seems to derive more from bands like The Smiths and the Violent Femmes...unless Emo has changed significantly in the past few years.

Modern day hairmetal to me is like Buckcherry, Hinder, Nickelback, Saving Abel, Theory of a Deadman, *insert monotonous bland sappy band here*.

Hurray, yet another discussion about the dying trend of Emo.

As far as your topic goes, you can find parellels in anything to be honest.  Commercialism, over-exposure, formulaic bands, etc. all happen to every form of music once it attains mainstream success.

Being a bit more serious, Emo is nowhere near as popular as Hair Metal was at its peak.  Hair Metal had songs (usually ballads) regularly charting in the Top Ten.  Not the case with Emo.  When you look at how successful Emo is chart-wise, you can see that Emo's popularity has always been extremely overrated, even at its mid-00s peak.

As for 2008 for Emo = 1988 for Hair Metal, that isn't accurate either.  Its more like 2008 for Emo = 1992 for Hair Metal.  Dying off and hated more than it is liked.  Dead and bured by 2013?  Try 2010.

Hurray, yet another discussion about the dying trend of Emo.

As far as your topic goes, you can find parellels in anything to be honest.  Commercialism, over-exposure, formulaic bands, etc. all happen to every form of music once it attains mainstream success.

Being a bit more serious, Emo is nowhere near as popular as Hair Metal was at its peak.  Hair Metal had songs (usually ballads) regularly charting in the Top Ten.  Not the case with Emo.  When you look at how successful Emo is chart-wise, you can see that Emo's popularity has always been extremely overrated, even at its mid-00s peak.

As for 2008 for Emo = 1988 for Hair Metal, that isn't accurate either.  Its more like 2008 for Emo = 1992 for Hair Metal.  Dying off and hated more than it is liked.  Dead and bured by 2013?  Try 2010.


I guess I should have made myself a bit more clear - I really mean pop-emo rather than emo itself. Pop-emo is far more popular now with bands like Metro Station than emo itself was back around 2005 with the likes of My Chemical Romance. And yes, there have been cases where pop-emo bands have hit the top 10 (the most recent being "Shake It"). So, though I agree that hairmetal was much bigger in '87 than pop-emo is now, you cannot deny the numerous similarities that they share...which is even more odd seeing that they preach seemingly opposite lifestyles. I agree that the original emo scene earlier this decade is pretty much gone, but this poppier version may end up lingering for a few more years, and actually may have yet to reach its peak.

I guess I should have made myself a bit more clear - I really mean pop-emo rather than emo itself. Pop-emo is far more popular now with bands like Metro Station than emo itself was back around 2005 with the likes of My Chemical Romance. And yes, there have been cases where pop-emo bands have hit the top 10 (the most recent being "Shake It"). So, though I agree that hairmetal was much bigger in '87 than pop-emo is now, you cannot deny the numerous similarities that they share...which is even more odd seeing that they preach seemingly opposite lifestyles. I agree that the original emo scene earlier this decade is pretty much gone, but this poppier version may end up lingering for a few more years, and actually may have yet to reach its peak.


True, Emo is mostly replaced by Pop-Emo by this point.  Ironically enough, Pop-Emo bands have seen more success on charts than true Emo bands.  Real Emo is going extinct at this point due to the massive backlash against it.  Heck, even the usage of the word "emo" as an insult ("stop being so emo!") is indicative of this.  Pop-Emo has large sucess because they appeal to teenage girls, who are the main fans of Pop-Emo bands, and because it doesn't have the stereotypical "depressingly suicidal heartbroken" Emo image to it.

I think Pop-Emo has already reached its peak as well and is currently in decline.  However, it will last longer than real Emo will.  Pop-Emo will remain popular (although not as popular as it was at its peak) all the way through the end of the decade.  Whereas real Emo will be dead and buried by 2009 (if not already), Pop-Emo will be dead and buried by 2011.  That or it will be so commercialized that it will no longer be "Pop-Emo" but just plain old "Pop-Rock".

Modern day hairmetal to me is like Buckcherry, Hinder, Nickelback, Saving Abel, Theory of a Deadman, *insert monotonous bland sappy band here*.
Those are actually Post-Grunge.

Somehow I have ever thought of Bret Michaels as "emo" like...

Modern day hairmetal to me is like Buckcherry, Hinder, Nickelback, Saving Abel, Theory of a Deadman, *insert monotonous bland sappy band here*.



Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Even though they are Post-Grunge, songs like "Addicted" by Saving Abel and "Animals" by Nickelback are lyrically just like Hair Metal even if they don't sound exactly the same.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Even though they are Post-Grunge, songs like "Addicted" by Saving Abel and "Animals" by Nickelback are lyrically just like Hair Metal even if they don't sound exactly the same.


Yeah it's post grunge of course but to me post grunge has become the same kind of embarrassment that hair metal is seen as. I guess you could say the same about emo or modern hip-hop but post-grunge today is probably the closest comparison to the generic sappy late era hair metal.

Somehow I have ever thought of Bret Michaels as "emo" like...


Now that I think about it, some of the contestants on Bret's "rock of love" reality show well could be Emo aficionados.  But other than that I see no connection between emo and the hair band phenomenon.

No, Glam Rap is like Hair Metal, EMO mid 2005-mid 2006 is more like 80's New Wave because it(EMO) has infuences from 80's New Wave.