Ignorant--Just what IS the difference between goth and emo?

[-Resurrected Writer-]

tragikk

-Resurrected Writer-

Well if this helps you at all,
The basic foundation of goth is listening to bands like:
Bauhaus
Joy Division
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Sex Gang Children
The Cure
Cinema Strange
Christian Death
Switchblade Symphony
The Cruxshadows
Voltaire

and having an interest in/being involved in the goth community.

The basic foundation of emo is listening to bands like:
Rites of Spring
City of Caterpillar
Embrace
Moss Icon
Heroin
Jimmy Eat World (some of their stuff, though most of it is pop rock)
Cap'n Jazz

and beyond that, I don't know if there is such thing as an emo community.

As for personalities, a lot of goths tend to appreciate darker, misunderstood, or deep ideals of life - death, romance, and other various philosophies. They also tend to be pretty creative, and believe-it-or-not, a lot of goths are actually happier than most "normal" people (probably because we feel very accepted within each other)

The emo personality I'm not quite as sure of, as well. My best bet for that is that they are much more at ease with conveying their feelings (the whole range, not just angst) than most people. Also - like goths - emo is a very introverted style of music, which separates it from the extroverted, aggressive world of punk rock which it sprang from.

I wrote a blog thingy on Goth and Emo. Describing what they actually are, on my... er.. Bebo blog.
^^

I'm not actually a Goth myself, but I like lots of the music.
I heard someone say once though, that the Goth community is all about being accepted, having different interests, different styles, ect, but being bought together by the music.
Very romanticized, but what do you think of that?

Sounds a little feel-good, really. I've seen plenty of elitism (which I've occasionally been guilty of) and some with inflated senses of self. The part about music may hold true, but then there is a second camp that believes goth is all about a mindset rather than holding to the music scene.  

[Teachidoll]

MediaclCunt

unibrowgirl

listen to the song. see if that helps.

emo kid by adam and andrew

if it doesnt, goths are cooler.

im an emo kid myself. that's who i am.
(plus there are less of us)

Nowadays there's more. Why do you think Hot Topic changed their stores? To keep up with fastly growing Emo and Scene trend.

I fear that goth is dying.When was the last time i saw someone wear black lipstick.  

[-Resurrected Writer-]

Teachidoll

MediaclCunt

unibrowgirl

listen to the song. see if that helps.

emo kid by adam and andrew

if it doesnt, goths are cooler.

im an emo kid myself. that's who i am.
(plus there are less of us)

Nowadays there's more. Why do you think Hot Topic changed their stores? To keep up with fastly growing Emo and Scene trend.

I fear that goth is dying.When was the last time i saw someone wear black lipstick.

I think we can safely keep black lipstick out of this, as the people who can actually pull it off are few and far between. The real question is this: when was the last time you saw a group of people acting hammy around a stereo playing "Bela Lugosi's Dead"?  

[Rellik San]

You lot complainging goth are dying...

Last week I went to a wedding, the groom, hair down to his a**, tail coat, the works, bride in a black corset, lots of frills etc. their first dance was to a Type O Negative song.

Now tell me goth is dying.  

[Henneth Annun]

Rellik San

You lot complainging goth are dying...

Last week I went to a wedding, the groom, hair down to his a**, tail coat, the works, bride in a black corset, lots of frills etc. their first dance was to a Type O Negative song.

Now tell me goth is dying.

You know, maybe it's just where he lives....*shrug*  

[Rellik San]

XWraith_LordX

Rellik San

You lot complainging goth are dying...

Last week I went to a wedding, the groom, hair down to his a**, tail coat, the works, bride in a black corset, lots of frills etc. their first dance was to a Type O Negative song.

Now tell me goth is dying.

You know, maybe it's just where he lives....*shrug*

Quite possibly is. At least pop culture is doing its part to not only make the distinction but show goth favourably... well South Park is anyway, anyone else notice the Goth Kids getting much more screentime then normal lately?  

[Spike23080]

So basicaly both goth and emo came from punk, but thats were the similarity between the two end. With goth we came from punk, turned into a sub-culture and then into our own culture. As I see it, goth is still evolving with more and more music and more styles of clothes then there was when goth became a subculture. With Emo it looks like it came from punk and died off in the late 80s, and now Emo looks to have become nothing more than a trend to alot of teens trying to fined there selfs. Now if anyone is offended by that please say so, and please tell me if im wrong about the hole thing.  

[Rellik San]

Lord Delacroix666

So basicaly both goth and emo came from punk, but thats were the similarity between the two end. With goth we came from punk, turned into a sub-culture and then into our own culture. As I see it, goth is still evolving with more and more music and more styles of clothes then there was when goth became a subculture. With Emo it looks like it came from punk and died off in the late 80s, and now Emo looks to have become nothing more than a trend to alot of teens trying to fined there selfs. Now if anyone is offended by that please say so, and please tell me if im wrong about the hole thing.

I'm offended not enough emo ******** emo half-faggots... all of them should given a good beating.

If your interested in learning more about emo, please join:
The Gaia Emo Guild - Captained by yours truly.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/?guild_id=4571

Or

Emo Corner, where I am a senior moderator.
http://www.emo-corner.com/forums/  

[SADERR]

Well, first off I'd like to point out that this "poseur emo" everyone speaks of is simply the new wave of emo. Goth went through it, too. However, Gothic Culture lives on. The original Emo Subculture does not thrive as it did before. Emo is now simply the new wave teens you see.
And to take the confusion farther, the new wave emo has gotten large enough to mix with prep style aswell to form what many would call "Scene".

Many confuse emo with goth because they both tend to wear a fair amount of black. And not all emos are whiney or cut themselves, but they do usually appear to be withing that stereotype. Original Emo was a subculture..it was like..it started how goth did, but it just didn't catch like Goth did. It just sort of died after a while. New emo is a sort of fad, as is this offshoot of it being Scene (which many will say started over the internet. But that's bullshit. Whether people posted pictures of themselves dressing scene on myspace or not, they sstill dressexd like that day to day).
So, we have fad on one end, subculture in the middle, and culture on the other end. Goth is arguably a culture, where as Emo is a bit in between a subculture and a fad. Scene is moreso a sect of emo, like Cybergoth or Victorian is to Gothic.
Though most people will deny it, it is VERY clear that new emo did take certain fashion aspects from goth.

So, I'll go through the differences in sections as well, because I don't have anything much better to do and I'm really getting into this:

Fashion
The similarities:
-Both goths and emos sometimes take a large influence from Punk.
-Both often sport the colour black. However where goths use it as a base, emos use it morso as they would any other colour.
-Both are stereotypically known for Hot Topic clothing
-Both often wear makeup. It is rather similar.
-While not connected to either styles, some goths and some emos both like to sport anime-inspired things.

The differences:
-Goth has many, many more different styles.
-Emo is known for their fringe haircuts. Goth does use this at times, but the style is usually quite different.
-Emo is known for skinny jeans. Very few goths wear skinny jeans.
-Emo uses a much more mainstream style of dressing.

The Music
The similarities:
-Both sprouted from punk rock.
-Band members often dress either goth or emo. Sometimes a mixture of the two which can contribute to the confusion

The differences:
-Gothic music is often dark and low tone
-New emo music is simply a wee bit darker then your average pop punk band.
-While actual emo music isn't very popular at all, new wave "emo" music is very popular.
-Goth music has gotten some popular attention (The Cure had a few big hits), but it has managed to stay mostly underground.

The People
Okay..I'm going to try to be harsh and real here..but I don't want anyone to get pissed.
Goths are often very deep, mature people. They often have a large interest in things like literature and art. Goths are very rooted to their culture, chances are they will not change unless it is necisarry.
Emos are usually attention seeking. They are often fad-jumpers, and they may not be emo for much longer. New wave emo is dying as most are moving onto what is known as scene. Though I do call it a sect of emo..this is what makes it different. Most people are placing their apples in this basket now, instead of new wave emo.
I mean no offense against any emos. I'm simply saying that in general they are often going with the flow. The number of emos grew here in North America with a few things (that are not even related to emo, mind you);
1.My Chemical Romance (Band, classify themselves as Pop-Punk.)
2.Naruto. (Anime Series. A few of the characters resemble slightly the emo style)
3.Twilight. (A book series that takes the usually gothic character of vampires and makes them into a more mainstream thing).

--------------------------------------------------
Now, i don't know if MCR, Naruto or Twilight have had an effect on the Emo/Scene style anywhere else, but it has been drastic in North America.
It can be even more confusing that most of the goths that don't quite fit the personality traits of a goth (Such as the pothead goth kids in highschool and such) have moved on to being emo, with they're only change being the tightness in their clothing and their word of mouth saying that they are emo.

So, I hope that this cleared it up.

I have hung out with emo and scene kids in the past. I don't anymore, they create drama, and most of them think I'll be cool to hang out with because I'm goth and they're emo, and they are dissapointed to find I am not at all interested in parties, drugs, and Fallout Boy (Yes, I like some of their music. I cannot stand talking about any one band for over 15 minutes). After they are done talking and whatnot, I find they are also not appealing to my interest in literature, phsycology, philosophy, and many thinsg people would consider "nerdy".

So..No offense torwards emos. There is nothign wrong with doing what they do. They are staying with fashion trends (I am actually interested in modern, mainstream fashion), they like a certain type of music that does appeal to me, but is not my favourite, and they can be overall nice people.
I'm sure many of them feel the same way. We are all nice people, we just lead different sorts of lives.  

[SADERR]

GilAskan

Bands listened to in the fake emo culture include Hawthorne Heights, Fall Out Boy, Cute is What We Aim For, Bright Eyes, Aiden, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Such bands tend to be either post-hardcore or pop-rock.

Now now, Panic at the Disco lost a lot of their emo following when they went from emopop to baroque pop, with the classical sounds. I've met quite a few goths who like their music off the album Pretty. Odd because it's got a nice sound to it. Fake emos/new wave emos dislike things like that. xP  

[Angel of the End]

Jonathonn, I agree with you completely 3nodding you said exactlywhat I was about to say. It's kind of like how me and my friend's explain the differences to people who see no difference (sighs at this sad fact), basically, the way we say it is:
First there was Elvis, then later came the hippies, they decided to change the world with love, and coexisted greatly and mostly with the beginning of rock as we know it. Then, the punks came around. Instead of wanting to change the world with love, they said, "This world sucks!" and were angry about it, again, they coexisted with the rock movement of the time. Next came the goths, who were an off-shoot from Punks, who instead of yelling with anger, "This world sucks!" where more peaceful and if anything mourning than their angry punk cousins. Then, as a mixture of mainstream and goth, came the emo kids of the 90s (which is when more of the goth subculture started to die off in alot of places), they where more depressed than goths and instead of saying, "The world is a black abyss", their view was "My life is a black abyss." Usually, emo kids only last during that: kids, unlike punk and goth. So, by the mid-2000s, the emo-kids had moved on and the new generation of Scene, which mixes emo and prep, came along. Scene kids are like emo kids, except way more fabulous.

-note: we are leaving out the origional wave of emo, which was much more different than the modern association with the world... unlike the goth community that combined all the differences within, these two sectors of emo seem to remain very distant from each other.  

[Rellik San]

Jonathonn

-Goth music has gotten some popular attention (The Cure had a few big hits), but it has managed to stay mostly underground.

True Fact - In England, The Cure are actually considered to be a pop band.  

[Necrodancer Ghost]

In fact, many early goth bands are pretty solid mainstream names.
Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy, bauhaus, Southern Death Cult(granted, they have more mainstream success under their current name, The Cult), etc.
All mainstream bands.

 

[Rellik San]

Nightstalker Blade

In fact, many early goth bands are pretty solid mainstream names.
Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy, bauhaus, Southern Death Cult(granted, they have more mainstream success under their current name, The Cult), etc.
All mainstream bands.

Which just goes to show maybe goth isn't as alienated as one would think, its just the self reighteous attitude of those most vocal about it and how no one understands them that drives goth to be mocked the way it is.

As a side note... I recently listened to a supposedly emo band 'Fugazi'... all I can say is... definitly not emo, not this pop punk junk and not emotive hardcore.  

[xX Lord Despair Xx]

Funny you should ask that question as I had to spend some time learning about being an emo to write my latest novel, and I have to say the only difference between goth and emo is how the darkness is portrayed. Goths love to express the darkness while emos enjoy making misery from it to express themselves.