‘I’m Not Okay’ exhibition celebrates Emo culture at its finest

Crack out your darkest eyeliner, put on My Chemical Romance and prepare to yell “I’m not o-f*cking-kay” because there’s a new exhibition on at the Barbican Music Library in London that celebrates emo culture at its finest.

Or darkest. Whatever applies.

Currently on and with doors open until 15 January 2025, “I’m Not Okay (An Emo Retrospective)” explores the rise of Britain’s Y2K subculture, focusing on the first-generation Emo scene from 2004 to 2009.

For those of you scratching their heads and not currently vibing to Fall Out Boy, here’s a quick refresher.

Emo is a music genre that stems from the word ‘emotional’ or the term ‘emotional hardcore’ – a style of music in the mid-80s that was characterised by songs’ introspective lyrics and influenced by The Smiths, Joy Division and The Cure.

Stereotypically, Emo tends to be associated with sensitivity, shyness, or a bucket-load of angst – which often translates as social alienation and introversion. More controversially, the stereotypes extend to destructive behaviour and depression or self-harm. But unless you have a subscription to British tabloid Daily Mail, Emo is a subculture that offers a vehicle for creativity and self-expression, and is not characterised by harmful clichés linked to anger and extreme sadness.

In the 00s, Emo was reinvented by alt rock and indie bands like Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy – to name a few – and their albums gained mainstream success.

The summer of 2002 was a huge time for Emo culture, with Jimmy Eat World’s ‘The Middle’ topping the charts and paving the way for the likes of Good Charlotte, Bullet For My Valentine, The Used, Panic! At The Disco and Paramore.

The subculture also extended to fashion, as tight / skinny trousers, band t-shirts, studded belts, jet-black hair and clothing, as well as plenty of black eyeliner, were musts for “emo kids.” 

There. You’re mostly caught up.

“I’m Not Okay (An Emo Retrospective)”, which is named after the My Chemical Romance hit ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ from the band’s second LP ‘Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge’, is a collaboration between Barbican Music Library and the museum of Youth Culture.  

According to the Barbican, the exhibition highlights how the ethos of emo “resonated deeply with a generation, channeling collective teenage melancholy into a transatlantic subculture that thrived in cyberspace just as well as in the basement venues of grotty pubs.”

It features photos snapped on early digital and mid-00s phone cameras, and explores how the subculture became a positive force when it came to addressing issues of mental health, identity, sexuality and belonging.

The Museum of Youth Culture’s Creative Director Jamie Brett said: “As well as the content that we unearthed digitally, we are very grateful to everyone who remembered how Emo culture helped shape their lives and answered our shout-outs for visual material for the exhibition, essentially, giving them a degree of ownership of it.” 

“We are all hugely proud of ‘I’m Not Okay (An Emo Retrospective)’ and over the course of its four-month run at Barbican Music Library, the Museum’s team is looking forward to hearing how it evokes vivid memories of this pivotal time in people’s lives,” added Brett.  

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So, go down down in an earlier round because sugar we’re going down swinging to the Barbican website for more information. We’ll see you there – and open to sharing our moving rendition of Fall Out Boy’s ‘Sugar, We’re Goin Down’ should the Barbican get in touch.  

“I’m Not Okay (An Emo Retrospective)” is now open at the Barbican Music Library until 15 January 2025.   

Additional sources • Barbican, NME