You'd have to have been living under a fairly large rock not to have registered the rise of emo - one of music's most misunderstood genres and a fashion code to boot.
Adored, demonised and ridiculed in equal measures, it's a moody genre which has proved custom-made for grabbing column inches and consoling angsty teens.
When a group of My Chemical Romance fans marched on the offices of the Daily Mail to protest at the paper's negative depiction of the band, it marked the latest step in the scene's emergence into public consciousness. Here we take a short overview of its history, its raven-haired acolytes and its key characteristics.
Finding emo
While its mainstream status has never been greater - and its panda-eyed poster boys never more squealed over - the genre has its roots in the 1980s. Its name is short for "emotional" and was initially coined to describe a hardcore punk scene in the States.
Fringe-tastic emo fan
The term "emo" has since gone on to encompass numerous types of sentimentally charged rock music, as well as defining a dramatic attitude to, you know, crying and stuff. Fans call it heartfelt and impassioned, detractors call it bleak. Classifying what is and what isn't emo is far from simple - some bands embrace the tag, others loathe it.
