What were you like as a teenager? Did you often find yourself crippled with social anxiety, blasting My Chemical Romance at full volume in your bedroom, back combing a side fringe to frightening new heights? Well, you were not alone.
Championing what was arguably the last proper music-meets-fashion subculture, ‘I'm Not Okay’ is an audience-created love letter to all things emo, created in partnership with the Museum of Youth Culture via an open call to the internet for submissions.
If you were there, you’ll remember downloading the latest, pirated The Used album onto your iPod Classic, and using up all the storage on your Motorola Sidekick taking blurry gig shots and snapping your friends rocking smudged eyeliner and bright red, orange or black hair, all of which is documented on the walls of the Barbican’s Music Library.
The exhibition's main draw is a collection of photographs and video footage dredged up from forgotten MySpace and Bebo pages. There’s even a screen showing footage of people’s bedrooms, as they talk you through their Kerrang! poster collections and piles of dusty CDs, local gigs and snaps of friends messing around.
It captures the community spirit that was an inherent part of the subculture
Though the stereotype of an emo is a loner, the exhibition does well to capture the community spirit that was an inherent part of the subculture. Screenshots of MSN chats and MySpace profiles illustrate how these early social media platforms allowed people to make friends across the country, maybe even on the other side of the world, based on their mutual adoration of Gerard Way.
But it’s not just digital ephemera; there’s plenty of IRL nostalgia to pore over too. A scuffed up teenage diary sits in a display case next to a pair of Drop Dead-branded pink Vans (Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oli Sykes’ fashion brand has donated a few key pieces to demonstrate their influence on the culture) and there’s also collection of ticket stubs, badges and CDs from the key bands of the time; Paramore, My Chemical Romance, Brand New, Pierce The Veil etc.
Though it may be small in scale (it’s a bit of a stretch to call it an exhibition, more like a display you can whip around in less than half an hour), this is a charming time capsule of an era that many look back to fondly, even if they did find teenagedom agony at the time. The emo era was once seen as cringe by outsiders, but there was something beautiful about its sense of community, which is evident from the moment you walk into the Barbican Music Library.
I dare you not to scribble a RAWR XD on the guest book on your way out.
