No longer totally in the dark

A few websites (especially some webcomics I read) were using a term I had never heard before.
Emo might be a west-coast thing, because I was (for once) totally clueless.

This isn't as strange as it might seem. I have no idea how to even start categorizing the music I like. I've got both classical and Punk (by dictionary definitions) in my CD wallet. I've also got blues, Jam band, and a ton more. I'm not even very comfortable classifying this broadly. So why, I ask, do these labels, especially the more specific ones, even matter, when they almost always end up as meaningless marketing tags for more mainstream pop bands? What is really the point?

My (cynical) guess is that the music is almost irrelevant, and it is really the cultural trend that people care about. I don't think I like that very much. Give me good music, music that I like at least one day out of the month. Screw both the big music market executives and these here-today-so-yesterday-tomorrow cultural trend setters. If you happen to be in either of these groups, think about it. You may very well be an idiot.