the buzz log
The End of Emo?
How many times have you seen a kid coming out of Hot Topic dressed in full “emo wear” and thought to yourself, “There outta be a law.” Well, Russia’s way ahead of you.
The country is considering “banning” emo clothes and music because it is dangerous to teens. According to Current, “everything from websites to dressing in emo attire will be prosecuted.”
NME.com goes into more detail. Due to fears that emo may contribute to teen depression and suicide, lawmakers are formulating legislation that would “heavily regulate” emo websites and “ban emo and goth dress style in schools and government buildings.” Believe it or not, the bill is expected to pass.
We were under the impression that emo was passé. However, the Search data says otherwise. Lookups on the guyliner-wearing, crusty hair-sporting, black t-shirt-wearing music genre are twice as high as they were two years ago. Additionally, emo-light posterboys Fall Out Boy continue to score in Search.
Whether banning emo is a logical way to help troubled teens, we don’t know. But we do know this. If this law stops just one kid from wearing guyliner, it will have all been worth it.
Filed under: Music, Legal Cases, Emo
Death Hits Hawthorne Heights
Since its creation in 2001, the "emo-screamo" band Hawthorne Heights has seen the highs and lows of musical stardom. They've been on top of the world with the #3 Billboard debut of their album "If Only You Were Lonely." They've been mired in the legal muck of court battles with the punk label Victory Records.
Now, the group of Ohio-based rockers has something darker and sadder to contend with: the loss of one of their own. On Saturday, 26-year-old guitarist Casey Calvert was found dead on the band's tour bus.
Word of the musician's death raced across the Web. By Sunday evening, searches for "casey calvert" (+492%) and "casey calvert hawthorne heights" (+496%) had increased sharply. Queries for "casey calvert death" grew nearly 300%, and interest in the band surged more than 400%. Demand for the group's lyrics and news also swelled.
On their official site, Casey's band mates assured fans that the guitarist was "not doing anything illegal" when he died. They also wrote, "Today is probably the worst day ever." Judging from the outpouring in Search, they're not lonely in their grief.
Ready, Set, Emo!
Ask 100 tormented teens what "emo" means and you'll probably get 100 different answers. Difficulties in pinning down the term lead to searches on "what is emo," "how to be emo," and "what is the definition of emo." The Urban Dictionary lists over 100 definitions for the word and Wikipedia provides more theories but few definitive answers. Although it's hard to get a fix on what emo is, the confusion surrounding the term hasn't hurt sales of black nail polish, hair mousse, or Dashboard Confessional albums.
After searches on "emo hairstyles" doubled over the weekend, we delved into the world of melodramatic despair. Searches on "emo" are flat over the last week, but it's a trend on the rise. We graphed emo searches over the last two and a half years and found the style still hasn't faded to black...
In fact, "emo" pouts around in our top 1,000 searches and is responsible for many devastatingly emotional related queries. We put down our mascara long enough to count down the top 20...
Filed under: Emo
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nidal Malik Hasan | Breakout! |
| 2 | Fort Hood Shooting | Breakout! |
| 3 | Tyrannosaurus Rex | Breakout! |
| 4 | Fort Hood | 43518% |
| 5 | Tropical Storm Ida | 4377% |
| 6 | Willie Aames | 3325% |
| 7 | Shannon Dedrick | 3299% |
| 8 | Gretchen Rossi | 2702% |
| 9 | Epic Mickey | 2583% |
| 10 | Lee Harvey Oswald | 1907% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danica Patrick | +194 | 207 |
| 2 | Fort Hood | +185 | 185 |
| 3 | Angelina Jolie | +114 | 164 |
| 4 | Rihanna | +39 | 157 |
| 5 | New York Yankees | +54 | 154 |
| 6 | Alicia Keys | +139 | 153 |
| 7 | +1 | 153 | |
| 8 | NFL | +6 | 138 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.