What is EMO?

We live in a generation where music has been classified into 'genres'. Throughout history, music has grown so diverse that it is impossible to keep all the albums in one stackpile and arrange them alphabetically. During my parents' generation there were only a handful of musical genres which included folk, rock, jazz, classical, and disco. The 80's introduced New Wave, Punk, Rap and Heavy Metal. The 90's gave us Alternative, Grunge, House and Trance without asking our permission. The new millenium has had the decency of crapping on us more musical genres like Chillout and NuMetal. Then I heard about EMO.
Usually, it was I who gets to answer questions from my friends about which band or singer belongs to which genre. I could usually slot each artist into its genre like Miller on the three-point range. But now, Im stumped with this EMO thing.
I once asked a workmate what EMO really is. And what constitutes this musical genre. He said that it was a genre that dealt more with content rather than style. The lyrics and melodies and chords are more melancholy and sullen, in other words "emotional" therefore, EMO. I stared at him like a dog through a glass window in bioresearch. Though I laud his very thourough and articulate description and definition of this enigmatic musical genre, I was never more confused in my life.

I used to openly proclaim that I hated EMO. Because my initial understanding of what EMO was is found in UrbanDictionary.com:

Punk music on estrogen. Often acoustic guitar with soft, high male vocals that dwell exessively on the singer's feelings, especially melancholy remembrances of past relationships/mistakes in life. A form of music that diverged from punk in the '80s, the name "emo" is derived from the emotive style of the lyrics and music. This genre has lately been marketed heavily by the music industry to teenagers with bands such as Dashboard Confessional and Taking Back Sunday, and has seen much commercial and mainstream success. The music has also spawned a subculture which conforms to certain conventions in dress such as tight sweatshirts, tight band T-shirts and horn-rim glasses. Adherents profess to exessively melancholy temperments.

These are the kind of bands I was referring to in one of my earlier blog entries, Our Generation. This refers to people with no 'real' problems and just hate everything for no reason. My mom and dad refer to this as noise (but they're into The Beatles and a lot of early rock). I later learned it as EMO.

Then again, if my friend was right, EMO would also include bands like Incubus, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, heck, even Simon and Garfunkel would be classified as EMO.

Another great definition:

"Like a Goth, only much less dark and much more Harry Potter".

My favorite definiton of EMO is this:

EMO = (e-mo); Emu spelled incorrectly.

i.e. "That emo sure is fast!"