I still find this strange - I grew up in the Bay Area in California, and a lot of those prescribed labels were held onto by kids who really had nothing else to go off of other than TV.
The surfer bros were by far the worst, most vile, cliche jock types, while the football players were mostly people of color or dorks and/or both that I actually got along with. All of the baseball players were kinda weird and aloof, the cheerleaders were all on honor roll, and the band geeks were higher than anyone you'd ever meet as an adult.
I had a denim vest with patches, hair down to my shoulders and used to getting tossed around at thrash shows which were more like house parties than something depressive, and yet some weird people obsessed with degrassi considered me an emo kid who listened to screamo. If emo kids got hit by couches while moshing at Municipal Waste shows, I think this whole thing would be turned on its ear.
At this point, I live in New York - everyone wears black. Everyone.