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I believe it's safe to say a large amount of people dislike screaming music. Usually it's just parents and older folks who didn't grow up during the time the genre first started to come out and become popular. There are also younger kids who are more interested in other genres of music which aren't at all like screamo.
I realize a lot of people simply don't like screaming, and so, they don't like the genre. However, there are others who not only dislike it, but they insult it. As if their preferred genre of music is so much greater. By this I'm not saying that screamo is the very best genre of music out there, but I believe screamo to be a very misunderstood style of music.
Most of these people who don't like screamo often question why others do. I'm not sure if you've heard this, but the response I typically get when I listen to it is: "How do you listen to that?" "Can you even understand what they're saying?" "It takes no talent at all to do whatever it is they're doing" and my all time favourite: "You can't even sing along to that sort of stuff."
Well, to clear some things up, I, along with many other people who listen to screamo quite obviously because we enjoy it. If we didn't, we probably wouldn't be listening to it. This would lead to the question, "why do you like it?" I am unable to speak for the millions of people who listen to screamo, but I know that I listen to it because there is a large part of me inside that is angry, for this or that reason. When someone is angry at something or someone, they yell (or scream). Correct? I'm not really the kind of person who enjoys yelling or screaming, and I avoid confrontation whenever possible. In f act, I don't even enjoy listening to people actually yell or scream at others. Who does? I'm sure very few, if anybody. So I question those of you out there who do yell and scream at others when you're angry but do not like screamo, why do you yell or scream if you don't like listening to screaming? The same question could be used against me, since I do not like to listen to it when it's directed at someone. I like it because instead of the screaming being directed at me or someone else, it's directed at other things. In essence, the bands who create the music may be screaming just because they're angry in general or maybe just for the hell of it.
You could "take" the screaming of the music, and envision it coming from yourself, you could say. I think it's actually a great way to subdue anger. Instead of unleashing it upon others, you can simply listen to the music and wallow in your emotions. It takes less effort to turn on some music than it does to express your anger physically upon everything you're angry at.
As for understanding the lyrics, it comes with time. I can't even understand some of the lyrics of songs that aren't screamo. If you play the songs enough times, you usually tend to get around to understanding them. If that doesn't work, you could always look up the lyrics.
Does it take talent to make screamo music? Go listen to a screamo song, and ask yourself if you can seriously do that correctly. There is method to it. If you do it incorrectly, you could destroy your vocal cords, but these music artists are able to do it for the thousands of shows they have and their vocal cords are fine.
There are ways to sing along with screamo, if you know how to scream correctly or are practicing how to. However, it's not mandatory to sing along to the music you listen to. I give more credit to screamo music artists simply because it takes more skill to do what they do. If it didn't, why doesn't everyone who listens to screamo scream along to it? The answer is simple enough - they can't. That's like asking whether good Catholics can sing along to Gregorian chants. I would be supprised if more than two people per parish would be able to accomplish the task or even know what Gregorian chant is. It's a style of music I'm sure each person who regularly goes to church hears (or if you've ever played any of the Halo games), however, I'm sure they are unable to replicate it or even know what the lyrics are.
In conclusion, I believe screamo to be hated because it is so anger-filled and consists of screaming. I'm not telling anyone not to hate screamo, but I think it's unfair to hate it for the wrong reasons. So many times I've seen the music disregarded for its content, when it's compareable to any style of music in terms of why it's listened to, the talent and passion that goes into it, and the respect it deserves as a genre of music.
Cody Hammons of Our Endeavor
