emo is alive and kicking at Barbican retrospective

An emo music retrospective has been a long time coming. There has been extensive work before now to archive and celebrate the cultural memory of this 2004-09 scene, whose name is short for emotional hardcore, but rarely has it been the sole focus of a public exhibition in the UK.

Located at the Barbican Music Library in London, I’m Not Okay: An Emo Retrospective by the Museum of Youth Culture offers an inviting mix of nostalgia and dynamic documentation.

The exhibition claims to focus on “a pivotal era when [US] bands like My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and Finch sparked a transatlantic exchange, fuelling a distinct UK movement led by acts such as Funeral for a Friend”. Indeed the exhibition’s title is borrowed from a My Chemical Romance song of the same name. These are all bands that, to my delight as an emo fan, toured the UK in recent years, reflecting the ongoing appreciation and demand for such music.

Much more than just spotlighting bands and musicians, the Museum of Youth Culture’s exhibition takes visitors on a trip down memory lane. It allows you to revisit digital culture from the days of file-sharing software like Limewire and the blogging and social media sites Myspace, LiveJournal and Xanga.

The retrospective is a snapshot of the world of emo around 20 years ago, shaped by people’s recollections of their bedrooms, youth and digital culture, in addition to depictions of emo gigs and gatherings.

The exhibition charts key points in emo’s 2000s era, from its origins in Washington DC’s post-hardcore scene in the mid-1980s. By bringing together people’s memories of emo from various parts of the world, the exhibition also tracks the ways that the internet, fandom and globalisation were experienced then.

This is captured by the opening line of text displayed at the beginning of the retrospective: “I’m Not Okay is a rallying cry from a generation whose identity was spread across virtual infinities against the uncertain futures of a new millennium.”

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In the exhibition, excerpts from people who embraced emo in the 2000s (and beyond) paint a picture of digital culture as being key to the genre’s beating heart. The importance of early social media sites such as MySpace and Bebo is mentioned several times.

Despite its relatively small scale, the Barbican show covers lots of different dimensions of emo between 2004 and 2009. It touches on matters as diverse as the rise of smartphones, the messiness of MSN messenger and online forums, and the specifics of being Black and emo.

Emo at home and abroad

Many of the memories documented in the exhibition point to the way that music and popular culture from North America had, and continues to have, a significant impact on youth culture and music in the UK. But the retrospective also makes clear that there was and is no absence of homegrown talent, spirit and scenes. These subcultures are firmly rooted in the realities of local life in the UK.

In the 2000s, emo emerged and developed in distinctly regional as well as national ways. Stories about its uniqueness in certain towns, cities and states, sit alongside memories of learning about and yearning to experience its idiosyncrasies in different countries.

Statements adorning the exhibition walls include people’s recollections of growing up in rural areas, where they were one of few emo kids. Again, what ties those thoughts together is the role of the internet in connecting people to and through emo, as well as the meaningfulness of trips to nearby bigger places with more of an underground scene.

Within such retrospective reflections are memories of young people’s experiences of a third place. Places that are not home and not a place of study or work, such as public squares, skate parks and club nights, that have increasingly diminished, been unfunded, or become more policed since the 2000s. Through these reflections, the show examines how places and spaces – both online and offline – have changed since the 2000s, in ways that impact young people and music today.

I’m Not Okay: An Emo Retrospective takes seriously the significance and brilliance of emo. Illuminating elements of youth culture, digital culture and the layered history of emo music and subcultures, this retrospective is a reminder that while the internet of the past is long gone, emo remains alive and kicking.

I’m Not Okay: An Emo Retrospective is on at the Barbican Music Library until January 15 2025.

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