There is one important thing in the emo lifestyle: Emos don't drink alcohol, don't smoke and don't take any drugs. These rules we have thanks to our ancestors: Straight edge. In this chapter I'll tell you where these rules are coming from and why this is a part in our lifestyle. Here is some emo history.

It all started with punk. Punks had their own political statements and wanted to make these statements clear to the rest of the world. They did this by writing political lyrics in their songs, clothes and they had a verry rough behavior. In the 80s a new subgenre of punk formed: Hardcore-punk (a rougher style of punk mixed with heavy-metal). Ian MacKaye (the frontman of Minor Threat) and his band mates were disgusted about the alcohol and drug behavoirs of the punks. How could their political statements ever be taken seriously with behaviors like that? Ian MacKaye wrote a song with his band Minor Threat named Out of step. The lyrics of this song formed the rules of a new lifestyle:

Don't smoke
Don't drink
Don't fuck
At least I can fucking think.

Later the term Straight edge was adopted by an another song from Minor Threat named Straight edge. And a new subculture was born: Straight edge. This new subculture belongs to the hardcore-punk scene.

In history of England and the VS, people that were too young to drink or people that were too drunk got a X written on their hands in pubs, to show they can get no more. Straight Edgers wrote the same X on their hands to show that they don't drink, smoke and don't take any drugs. Some Straight edgers were also vegaterian. The vegaterian Straight Edge lifestyle is also called vegan Straight edge.

Some hardcore-punk bands started to write emotional lyrics instead of political. More and more bands followed this and did split up from the hardcore-punk scene. These emotional hardcore-punk bands started a new music genre named: Emotional-hardcore. And it got it's own fanebase. This means that the first emos were Straight edgers. The first emos didn't drink alcohol, didn't smoke and didn't take any drugs. Straight edge and emo are 2 different subcultures now but In the emo subculture Straight edge is still a part of our lifestyle.

Sources: Wikipedia, Evelyncore