Brief Comparison: Emo and Goth

     Emo is a little harder to explain than goth, and this is coming from a person who has friends who are part of the scene itself and has some traits that could be attributed to the scene. I don't exactly look out of place when I hang out with one of my emo friends, we dress in a very similar manner, a large amount of black, usually with a t-shirt of a band, mine are usually My Chemical Romance, Black Veil Brides, Nirvana (yes, I'm a grunge rock fan!), or something like that, and sometimes a bracelet; usually adorned with a band's logo, and something's up with our hair, one of my friends has his hair brushed all to one side, and another cut her hair really short and dyed it purple, and on top of that, she sure uses a lot of mousse. What I'm trying to say here is that goths and emos share a lot of similarities subculture-wise, no matter how hard they are to see, I don't know many people of the goth subculture where I live (if I know any at all) so usually I'm watching a horror movie or listening to a certain, dark laced band with one of my emo friends, and I admit, before I decided to explore the dark, velvet-lined gothic subculture, when I saw a black-clad person with a hairdo that involved unnatural color and asymmetricality, I really couldn't tell whether they are emo or goth, (I sometimes have trouble even today, not as common as it used to be, but it does happen). As there is a ridiculous, stereotypical explanation to goth, there is also one to emo, the most popular one among my non-goth/non-emo friend's minds is the one about the "overwhelming depression over nothing in particular", the reason for this is that emos are (don't deny it) more prone to wallowing in emotions, such as sadness or anger, but for their own reasons, really emo is a way that people like to use to express themselves, it has been used to describe hairdos, and a type of music, which has splintered into many types, such as Indie or Screamo (if you're interested in Indie, I recommend Weezer, and for Screamo fans, I recommend Asking Alexandria) and I've even seen a certain type of music be described as emo pop (Fall Out Boy, if anyone cares, is a personal favorite of mine). The emos I know where I live are more keen to living on top of the line that separates goth from emo (me included, to some extent), and like to live the best of both worlds, even if they deny it, and I can't tell you how much I enjoy seeing both subcultures meeting in masses under the same roof at a horror movie premiere. This is a short explanation, as opposed to the one I actually had planned before I sat down in front of the PC, but this one is easier to understand. I wanna end this with the same words of encouragement that I always give my rapid readers, it doesn't matter whether you're a goth, emo, or any other following that's out there, don't take crap from anyone.

Signed,
The Darker Son

     P.S.- I want to give a shout out to my emo friends, thanks for being my friends, thanks for the music tips, and thanks for the sanity checks, you guys rock!