Emo isn't just a subculture, you know. It's a form of music. Well, two forms of music. Three, if you count screamo, which is essentially emo with lots of screaming. Emo itself (the music) is typically characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It grew out of the Hardcore Punk and Post-hardcore scenes in Washington DC in the mid-eighties, with bands like Rites of Spring, Minor Threat, Fugazi, and Embrace rising in popularity as a response to the perceived violence in the punk movement. While the DC scene would fade out by the end of The Eighties, by then it had spread across the country, with bands like Seattle's Sunny Day Real Estate and San Francisco's Jawbreaker carrying the torch of emo through The Nineties. Thanks to the rise of Grunge and the boom