Emo / ˈiːmoʊ / is a music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and post-hardcore from the mid-1980s Washington, D.C. hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands Rites of Spring and Embrace, among others, pioneered the genre.

Emo is a kind of music which is short for "emotive hardcore." The style first formed in the mid-1980s, taking the musical sounds of hardcore punk and post-hardcore and combining them with sad and sensitive lyricism (words) that emo has become so well known for. In the mid-1990s, emo incorporated indie rock elements.

Emo is a style of rock music characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore" and pioneered by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace.

Emo, whose participants are called emo kids or emos, is a subculture which began in the United States in the 1990s. Based around emo music, the subculture formed in the genre's mid-1990s San Diego scene, where participants were derisively called Spock rock due to their distinctive straight, black haircuts.