Emos and Goths

[RatRace123]

Goths are a culture and have their own fashion.
Emos are whiny teenagers who hate the world and think that no one understands them.

Also, goth chicks are hot.

 

[Tokokizora]

Goths complain less about how "bad" their lives are

 

[Icehearted]

It wasn't goth when I was doing it, it was just "Stop being a brooding little dick and take off those sunglasses while you're in class!" Not painting fingernails, but we wore black trench coats in the summer, The Cure was mandatory, Docs were optional, Docs with red laces got you jumped. We weren't anti-establishment, we didn't give a shit about conforming or being non-conforming, we just didn't give a shit... at all.

It was never about a style, there was no "elegance" to it, it was just what we were. Kids these days... yeah, whatever...

 

[KefkaCultist]

Here's an example of a goth band and an emo band

Spoiler: goth

69 Eyes

Spoiler: emo

My Chemical Romance

Not only does the goth band look a lot cooler, but they also sound way better too.
Personality wise, emos tend to whine more

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Goths are kind of annoying.

Emos are really annoying.

I'm oddly attracted to females from both groups, but I hate how you have to double check gender with the emos.

Edit: to clarify, I think goths are far more likely to have the courage of their convictions.

 

[ioxles]

Goths: people who have made a lifestyle around certain music and certain clothing.

Emo: people who have made a lifestyle around certain music and certain clothing er.....

You get the idea right? Totally different.

 

[viranimus]

A quote from a friend who passed about a year ago.

Goth is a very narrow term for a broad scope of people and ideologies. The center around Anger, resentment, vile, venom. Knowing the world is a pile of shit, and being able to rise above the swine that wallow in it. Goths channel their pain and use it to overcome to ensure those who had made them suffer, suffer greater in kind.

Emo is a broad term for very narrow ideologies. Centered around similar themes of anger and resentment but coupled with angst, self loathing and depression. Knowing the world is a pile of shit but refusing to do anything but get buried under it, and let the swine walk over them. Emos draw pain into them and wield it blindly causing as much pain to themselves as they do to those who cause it to them. They endure, because they know nothing but to endure the slings and arrows.

To me personally. I think Emos and Goths are not really all that dissimilar. I think it has a touch of Emos basically being the confused baby goths who have not yet properly learned to channel their anger and hatred and learn to overcome their anxieties. What I think is funny is goths looking down on Emos and forgetting they were once a misunderstood fringe group too.

But I guess that might be too positive of an outlook. I mean history can show you the difference between goths and emos.. on 4:20 1999, 2 kids who identified with goth culture killed 15 and injured 24 with a total of 39, breaking down to a ratio of almost 20 to 1. An upset emo is likely to upload 20 videos to youtube discussing how X topic evokes Y emotion.

So I guess it boils down to motivation and having the fortitude to actually do something about it.

 

[SturmDolch]

Goths hate you.

Emos hate themselves.

I love this definition.

I always thought goths are more like geeks than emos, except they went all out. They like indie horror films, indie horror music, indie horror clothes, etc. Emos like mainstream sadness.

 

[Thamux]

As a former Goth who now just does his own thing, yeah we used to joke that Goths hate everyone while Emos hate themselves

 

[Nukey]

Goth is a somewhat of an offshoot of punk-rock, changing the "there's a lot bad shit in this world and that makes me angry" to "there's a lot of evil in this world and that makes me sad". Goth is, despite the stereotypes, very melancholy. Voltaire is a good example of Goth.

Emo is closer to the Goth stereotype, although far more whiny.

 

[octafish]

To put in a punk perspective Goths are Sex Pistols, New York Dolls, The Clash, The Ramones, X, The Saints, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Emos are Blink 182.

 

[Fanta Grape]

Goths are awesome, emos are stupid. End of story.

 

[Feylynn]

Gothic is an art style and architecture form adopted to fit a music and fashion style.

Emo is a music and fashion style.

End of story, there is no more to it. Cutting and whining and satanic ritual are depression, spoiled childhood, and satan worship respectively.

It's offensive and no less than diabolical evil that people have associated depression with that kind of hate or put a standard on style/life quality.
Emo is not a derogatory term for depression and used as such is prejudice and verbal harassment.

Edit: Coming from a community of gamers that don't like being prosecuted for their beliefs and hobbies... This is some pretty weak shit I'm reading.

 

[PrototypeC]

THESE ARE TOTAL GENERALIZATIONS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. Oh yeah, and I don't hate either group.

OK, now that's out of the way lemme see what I can do here... first of all, Goths are interested in the romantic, the Edgar Allen Poes and H. P. Lovecrafts and such. They're usually also big on horror. Ravens, black butterflies and moths, graveyards and such are good motifs. Photography is a bigger Goth thing rather than Emo thing (except for self pictures). Black, white and sometimes another colour like red or dark purple are the usual. Jewellery is crosses, bats, spiders, spikes, etc. Music ranges from dark classical to heavy metal, and can even overlap(!). Goths are usually without feeling, and don't complain (except in poetry).

Emos are a very huggy bunch, all about feelings rather than the lack of them. From a distance you can tell them from Goths because Goths look like the walking dead and Emos look like a walking rainbow. Black is still a big part, though, making the bright colours look brighter in comparison. Checkers are a big thing rather than lace or nets, although some do wear nets as well. Tight pants are popular. Self-pictures, usually with some Photoshop filters, are a telltale sign. While a Goth usually can't stand cute things, Emos love them. Cute pets, cute stories, cute dinosaurs, cute chibis (Emo kids may be big on anime/manga as well), you get the picture.

Shared Characteristics: butterfly jewelry, wearing black, dyed hair, feminine-looking men, preoccupation with feelings (or lack thereof), emotive poetry, Tim Burton films, striped things

 

[GofficK]

ITT: A bunch of people who have no idea what they're talking about.

OT: The difference? They're separate sub-genres of punk. That's it. Goth was a more brooding, melancholy chanting and moaning (Bauhaus, The Cure, Siouxsie, etc) while emo. (short for emotive punk/hardcore) was more punk that drew from emotion or invoked emotion (Fugazi, Moss Icon, Sunny Day Real Estate, ect). Goth fashion was pretty minimalist, and emo. didn't have a fashion as it was just lumped in with punk, only less eye catching. Good examples of these are in the movie "SLC Punk".

Both of these genres of music (and their scenes) are dead (punk is dead, get the fuck over it) and their followers are pretty scarce. Industrial came about and mucked up the goth scene and emo. turned into that indie/hipster garbage that you see running about all over college campuses drinking their Starbucks and PBRs and protesting. (Not to be confused with hippies, who do the same thing with less coffee and booze and more pot and acid).

The thing you're all referring to as "emo" is some new mish-mash of pop and alternative that crawled out of the local Hot Topic about mid 2005. It's called "scene" and it's really quite popular among preteens and high-schoolers. It's got some terrible music that no one really likes (like indie, only auto-tuned and remixed over and over again because the makers are pedophiles with no talent), and it's really over the top and eye burning. All the boys look like girls and all the girls look like dolls made out of cotton candy.

My question to you all is this: why the fuck do a bunch of game nerds even care about the difference? This is The Escapist, not Preteen Digest.

 

[PrototypeC]

Seriously, why are you all freaking out about this? It's not as complicated as you make it sound. It used to be about music; it's not anymore.

The way I see it, it's not about what you would call them but what they would call themselves. If you want I can change every time I said, "Emo" with "scene" but does it really matter? They're both generalizations to begin with. I will never understand why the same person will say, "thank you" if you say they're a new-age reject-poser scene kid type B, but get furious if you call them Emo.

 

[Macheteswordgun]

Fuck both of those groups i got mistaken for both of them to bad im a god damn metal head

 

[GreyEarth]

Quoting an old favourite. "I wish my lawn was emo, so it would cut itself"

 

[SquashedFly]

A lot of my favourite bands tend to get put under Goth, despite the word not really being used around the time they made their "darker" music, and of course nearly all of them loathe the tag. I find it hard to blame them. The goth music of today is completely different. Bands like the Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees,Joy Division(many more). They were raincoat bands, post-punk, not Goth. Robert Smith started out with short hair and wore regular suits, braces, at most a leather jacket. In fact the less "Goth" Cure music became, the more his image became "Goth". The Pornography album and subsequent tour was the pinnacle of the bands dark era, and throughout most of that tour he wore white shirts and regular black trousers. He had always worn make up but he actually took his trademark look after his tenure in the Banshees, taking much inspiration from Siouxsie herself and at this point the bands music became much more diverse and at times poppy. The Cure, SATB, Their music has always had melody, yes some of it has a darker atmosphere, but to counter their One Hundred Years there has always been an Inbetween days. In fact most people probably know of the band from their pop singles right? More people know Friday I'm In love than they do a Forest, or the Hanging Garden I would guess. and FDIL is such a goff anthem isnt it? :| Joy Division live were a punk band. Goth now seems to tie in more with metal. More something you would relate to bands like the Sisters of Mercy. Its never been just about the music. Because bands that aren't goth have always been called Goth because they look a bit Goth. Even then thats a big difference to how the average Goth looks.
Sorry for the almost rant like nature, but musically for the most part, some Goth bands that are labeled so just weren't that Goth. Dark? at times yes, atmospheric? absolutely, Goth? Not in the sense the word is used now.

I don't know much about emo tbh So I shall leave that to others.

But yeah not that it really matters haha, oh well. Nothing wrong with some polite discussion

Also I don't think I will ever use the word Goth as much in a piece of writing again ever XD

 

[Thee Prisoner]

To put in a punk perspective Goths are Sex Pistols, New York Dolls, The Clash, The Ramones, X, The Saints, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Emos are Blink 182.

For Goths you forgot "The Sisters of Mercy".

I'm not Goth but I do love those bands, except Blink 182.