Today is the first of May, which can mean only one thing. No, it's got nothing to do with the international socialist movement. Think bigger, more exciting, more significant to humanity around the globe. Yes, that's right, it's user feedback time, and boy were you guys prolific in April.

The first thing that struck me was how much public opinion has changed in five months. I got the mauling of my journalistic life last December for suggesting Robbie Williams' career might be on the slide. Now it barely seems controversial at all. Having questioned his Ivor Novello nomination for the musical car crash that is Rudebox, I was braced for the sort of name calling, accusations of jealousy, and general abuse I got last time.

It turns out my concerns were almost entirely misplaced. I mean, this was pretty typical:

"Ok Im going to hate myself for saying this but... you're spot on. The video made no sense, nor did the lyrics and Robbie sounded like he was the Chav leader talking to his fellow cronies. I have loved Robbies music for the past decade and I can say with confidence, this is the first song I didn't like. Hope he gets sorted and writes the songs he is so capable of."

In the end, perhaps the most vitriolic response was:

"Fair enough he was on the verge of a break down but give the guy some credit other than a sympathy vote ... For me rudebox represents how brave he is and no matter what state he's in wether it be top of the world or the lowest of low he will supply his fans with something that says this is what my life's like just now!"

 Just as I was musing on how lightly I had got off, this email ended with:

 "thanks i hope i wasnt too mean to u"

 Well, what can you say? Seems like Robbie fans have gained a sense of perspective in 2007.

And so to the other end of the spectrum. Now, I knew that attempting to define emo was asking for trouble. I also knew I wasn't the best person to do it, what with being 32 years old and having no history of self-harming, not even when I was 15 and REALLY, REALLY depressed. I'm being a bit flippant but you get the point, unless you consider yourself to be emo, in which case flippancy would seem to be anathema to you.

I'll say one thing for this emo lot though. Judging by the emails I've had on the subject, they're an articulate and (mostly) polite bunch. And they care passionately about their music, which I found genuinely touching. 

I considered editing this email for the sake of brevity but then decided against it:

OH MY GOD!!!

I am a MASSIVE MCR fan! And was once again enraged by the use of them to describe an EMO BAND as they were in your article.

MCR have gone down on record many times, not least in the book My Chemical Romace: Something Incredible This Way Comes, as HATING EMO BANDS!

My Chemical Romance are not an emo band! Although they might sing about death they do not ENCOURAGE IT! In fact they are the complete oposite! Gerard Way at nearly every gig screams to the crowd something along the lines of... 'IF YOU ARE DEPRESSED TELL SOMEONE, TELL THE PERSON NEXT TO YOU, TELL YOUR BEST FRIEND, TELL YOUR GIRLFRIEND OR BOYFRIEND, TELL A PARENT, JUST TELL SOMEONE, DO NOT SUFFER ALONE!'

For years Gerard Way battled with depression, and so did his brother, and the bands bassist, Mikey Way. They would never encourage someone to keep it locked up inside, and to find relief through self harm or suicide, they encourage people to talk to others if they feel depressed.

MCR go OUT OF THEIR WAY CONSTANTLY to help their fans who may be depressed, although it sounds cliche, MCR have saved my life. And pretty much any fan at one of their gigs will give you an answer to that effect, or something along those lines.

In all honesty, I don't think many bands want to be classed as emo at all. Fall Out Boy really have no idea what the emo genre means and bands like Panic! At The Disco are now changing the way they sound to avoid the Emo pigeon hole. But MCR have never been considered emo, even witht he lyrics they sing, untill now... and I don't know why, because nothign can be farther from the truth.

No wait, people, since the article in the Daily Mail people having been calling MCR emo, but lets face it, this IS the same article that called the quite clearly PUNK band Green Day emo...

I'm sorry for all the caps, but I can't stand my favourite band being labelled as something that they're not, or more importantly as something they cannot stand to be called. And I'm especially sorry for the caps if you were not responsible for calling MCR an emo band, but I really needed to vent and this is something that you can obviously tell I feel very passionate about... I was hoping that maybe you could have them taken off the emo section?"

I'm happy to be corrected on this stuff. The introduction to my article reads "It happens to us all eventually. It doesn't matter who you are, one day you'll wake up and realise you haven't a clue what music the cool kids are listening to." I probably shouldn't admit this but I was talking about myself as much as anyone there.

However, in my defence, I also said, "In truth, the term is now sufficiently broad to encompass a relatively wide range of music, leading to much debate as to who does and does not qualify as emo." This would seem to be born out by the response the piece got.

For example, this user (and MCR fan) had no problem with the definitions:

"I would just like to praise the fact that you have described the genres emo, screamo and grime into definitions that I feel are most appropriate and what most people are not fully aware of"

She wasn't completely happy though:

"However ,I am slightly against the 'What's the look/attitude?' sections.
 
As an open-minded enthusiastic music fan, I respect all genres of music, as long as they sound catchy and their lyrics are appealing, on the other hand I have a particular liking for the band, My Chemical Romance. A couple of friends and myself are all huge fans of this band and I understand that they named their album 'The Black Parade', which could get people to typically dress in black, however we do not follow this fashion 24/7, nor do we feel the need that is is necessary that every part of our body should be caked in black. You take another band like Fall Out Boy and after looking at their crazy videos, I don't exactly see the majority of people in them copying the emo 'look'. In fact, most emo bands come out with melodious and meaningful lyrics, however at concerts, which my friends and I have attended, you will not find a 100% black infested army of emos"

She continues:

"Music is all about the sound and what you hear, but it has nothing to do with appearance and what you see. Different kinds of music appeal to different people and it affects them on the inside, yet in my opinion it is quite pathetic that music should be made visible on the outside too. There's that saying 'Don't judge a book by it's cover'. Likewise, don't judge music by clothes. To have everyone look like clones depending on a music genre lacks originality and it would be really hard to say that everyone is different in their own way. The truth is, everyone is in their own way and that's one of the messages a band like My Chemical Romance have been trying to point out to their fans time and time again, which is why I have always liked them for their music and not what most of their fans wear."

In keeping with the civilised nature of this month's feedback, she finishes:

"Whether or not my argument has made a difference, I am glad that it is being heard."

By this point I was thinking I should throw it open to the floor and get a debate going as to what constitutes emo and whether bands like MCR and Fall Out Boy qualify. There's a link to the message board at the bottom of this blog entry if you can't wait to get involved.

However, I thought it worthwhile to throw one final impassioned emo's view into the mix.

My new fan writes:  

"Once again the press gets it all wrong. Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco and My Chemical Romance are stupidly stereotyped emo bands that dont deserve the label. They are so mainstream its stupid, yes they may be subject to my own prejudices but its well known those 3 bands are total sell outs. Real emo is the stuff that can bring you to tears because of the power of the lyrics, not dance about in a frenzy of childish excitement because some silver haired tit is talking about a black parade or w/e.

You want real emo bands? Check out Hawthorne Heights, The Used, From First To Last or Funeral For a Friend.

Oh and ive never heard of those 3 screamo bands mentioned so im just gonna assume james got that wrong too.

Screamo bands that people know are Bullet for my Valentine, Atreyu or Underoath. The thing is, you dont really know what emo is unless you live like one with the fashion, music, friends, lifestyle etc. Its why most of the press will never ever get it right with us lot.

Please feel free to assume I'm wrong if I mention things you've never heard of before. More seriously, please feel free to kick this discussion off. I want you to tell me what emo really means.

• Join the Great Emo Debate here