*Keep in mind, I was going to do a "Punk v. Punk" and a "Goth v. Goth" rant as well, but one attack at a time. I'm erratic right now and I havn't had my daily dose of the sun yet. Plus, this is just my opinion, my human opinion that is just as flawed and interjectable as anyone else's.*

Alright, so there's apparently this whole "metal is better that emo" thing going around the schoolyard and people who are still mentally in high school. I became aware of this long ago and in my days of working at Tower Records, it became more evident that there is not a lot of love for the Emo crowd. My supervisor Kevin has the emo look and was extreamly intelligent and well-spoken when defending himself against people who attacked emo. The metal people that I've tried to probe about this issue didn't really defend themselves very well, saying that metal is better because "emo sucks" but wouldn't really elaborate on the issue. Maybe it was unfair of me to compare the insight of a 22 year old musician/music background who's mentallity isn't stuck in the realm of drama and hesaidshesaid to some who's are. Maybe it was also worse that I asked an older metal person on the idea with the same background and couldn't get anything but a string of curse words and yelling, but I digress.

-The whole thing that triggered this was the witnessing of a ganging up (and almost beating up!) on an emo kid against about 4 metal kids in the mall. Has it come to this?!-

Here's the deal: METAL AND EMO ARE BOTH MUSIC!!!!! They're both established, vague, and sometimes misunderstood gengres of music that have a huge following and have a fashion following. Metal has the comman misconception of being only affiliated with either Satan worshippers or Athiests. Emo has the misconception of being all about cutting yourself while you cry in a corner. What's the prob? Why is it that there has to be some kind of bullying that has to occure between the two specifically, especially since the metal crowd is constantly trying to make the statement, "I'm me, fuck you!" but then won't someone else express themselves in their own way. Is their way better than the other way? If we all convert, will it be better and we'll all live in a happy little metal world? Come on!

Usually, when someone or something rejects a far-off ideal or concept, it is because there is a certain amount of fear of self-realisation and facing what you really are in front of you. Are metal people afraid to face any emotion other than anger and rage? Are they so afraid of showing vulnerability and weakness that they have to squash that projection in the form of an emo kid? Opposer may say, "Hey, metal isn't all about anger!" To them I say, "Emo isn't all about sadness!" If you say prove it, I'm going to have to ask you for your proof, too. Tis only fair. And the idea that all emo people do is cut themselves and cry can be justified with the idea that all metal kids do is trash hotels and do drugs and hail Satan. If you don't like the stereotypes associated with it, don't listen to it. If you can't ignore it, change it. If you can't change it, live with it. If you can't live with it, bitch about it until someone listens to you. If you can't do anything about it or are so ignorant that you have to resort to name-calling/bullying/violence/just plain stupidity, please choke on a guitar string and die politely.

And it is so highschool to want to try to break down someone else's spirit for being different. Are some people so antaganizing and dense that they have to resort to childish antics to try and stop something? Taking away someone's identity at the time (and being in highschool, identity's change) is the same thing they did in Soviet Russia. Conformity and haulting revolutions and movements (as small and strange as they want to be) are what some ideals of music are AGAINST!!!! Are there more of these hypocrits around? (yes there are! but that's a rant for another day)

And to all the metal kids: I'm not just attacking you or anything, it just seems like everytime I hang out with you metal people, the first things out of your mouths are Fuck Emo! And when I hang out with the Emo people, they're usually under attack by the metal people. And if you guys say, "Well, emos are always crying about something!", well, genius, what do you think the metal kids are doing about emos? BITCHING ABOUT IT!!! Same shit, different spin any way you look at it!

The bottom line is: ANY AND ALL MUSIC IS BASED ON SOME KIND OF EMOTION, WHETHER IT BE LOVE, ANGER, SADNESS, REGRET, ETC. ! YOU TAKE AWAY THE EMOTION IN MUSIC, YOU END UP WITH SHIT!!!! LEAVE EACHOTHER ALONE OR LEARN TO CO-EXIST WITH EACHOTHER BECAUSE NO ONE IS GOING NO WHERE AT THIS POINT! IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T BITCH ABOUT IT, DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE ABOUT IT INSTEAD OF BEING A BRUTE ABOUT IT!!! AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU HEAR, DON'T LISTEN TO IT OR CHANGE THE STATION!

and to prove this is a fairly objective veiw of my stance on this: I listen to both gengres of music. I enjoy them both immensly. I was raised on disco/oldies/hip-hop, so my upbringing has no holding on what my opinion on each subculture has. I'm not attacking either side, I'm just expressing the fact that this metal beating up emo happens almost everywhere I go and that if you can't enjoy another person's music, remember that you are a human with the God-given right of FREE WILL that allows you to enable your hand to turn it off or change the station.

I welcome any feedback/debate/opposing views/interjections/hate mail. :D Just be smart about it and defend yourself with something other than "EMO RULES!" or "METAL RULES!"