Emo, as a genre, is most strongly associated with the music and social phenomenon in the mid-2000s around key bands like My Chemical Romance, Thursday and Fall Out Boy. The word has an inherent cringe factor for most, an aftertaste of a common but awkward teenage phase. That period was definitely the genre’s peak in terms of popularity and glamour, but people were playing emo long before Panic! At the Disco were invited to that beautiful wedding.

The 90’s saw the initial blooming of the genre, primarily in the Midwest US, the obvious touchstones being American Football and Mineral. Many of these key early bands experienced little to no success during their active years – they often didn’t last and only really blew up after they broke up 

(- something that has become a bit of an emo trope). A lot of these bands have been doing reunion tours in recent years, due to the renewed popularity of the 90’s emo style – going from playing in basements to few people when they were active, to selling out tours in theatres.