Profiles

[Jebadiah]

On Bookwormgrrl's intro I just commented on her profile, and it got me thinking... I'm amazed at how much I find myself in agreement, on the many cornerstones of importance...with everyone here (atleast with the profiles I checked out).

There's a Goth down the road, who's like 22 and I've known him along time (our families are old friends), But we don't see eye to eye on anything. He for the most part never heard of the old classic Goth, or even Punk bands, and I consider him more of metal head, but He believes he is Goth.

If I didn't mention it there is a generation gap.

[StolenName]

haha.

Ok. I'm an old grunger/metal head/industrial/everything else fan. I'm surprised by my friend heidi, 2 years younger, that doesn't know bands like Alice In Chains .. .. ..

[DeviantMommy]

Wow,you know,lately I just feel really old..unless the person I'm talking to is like,30 or older,they have never heard of any of the bands I love.

It's like no one has a sence of musical history anymore,if it's not on the radio it doesn't matter.

I guess I'm just a freak,even when I was 12-13 I was constantly seeking out new music,from the past,present,whatever...some music is just classic and needs to be preserved as such.

And really,what's up w/ these "goths" who've never heard of Bauhaus,but would have Slipknot's babies??

[Mindgames]

If you calculate your position based on others and not on yourself, there comes a point when you become 'old enough', and about fifteen minutes later you become 'too old'.

If you forget about the folks you meet as being gradeschoolers, mall rats, young parents, old parents, grandparents or Evan Rachel Wood, then pretty much everyone has a personality that doesn't match their age. I've worked with teenagers who are wildly into '40s swing, and had a producer well into his 80s that had Trivium cued on his iPod - why is that a problem? I've probably got the same tastes as I did at 18, but being around "before rap" has no bearing on if I like it or not.

The 'goths' that haven't heard of Bauhaus can't be blamed - if they don't know about the band, and it's not on airplay, then it's not some federal crime to prefer the stuff they've been exposed to. Expose them to it, then wait for them to decide.

If 'goth' means that you have to like the original bands and know their musicology by rote, then I'm pretty safe to say you're all out of the loop. Goth was a pseudo-punk London underground scene for the first two or three years, and for those who hung around the 1979-1981 gigs people like Siouxie and The Cure weren't even on the same songsheet. Talk to the "modern American goth" and you'll hear how Bauhaus and The Sisters of Mercy are sooooo "da bomb", but find me one that's listened to Joy Division, UK Decay and Southern Death Cult and I'll eat mah pointy-poed boots.

mG

[DeviantMommy]

<~~listens to Joy Division

[DeviantMommy]

Ok,I just feel like I have to expand on this a little bit. It's not my place to pass judgement on anyone,that's not my intention.I just feel like if your going to make a big deal out of wearing a specific label,then you should atleast know what is says before you slap it on your forehead or you could be walking around w/ a great big,"I'm a pretentious poseur!" sticker up there,you know? Walking around saying..I'm so..fill in the blank...or such and such band is so..fill in the blank...when it's the farthest thing from the truth,just makes you look stupid. People could save themselves alot of embarressment if they just took some time to research the roots of "goth","punk" or even "swing" before they lace up their Doc Martin's,aquanet their mohawk,or slip into their zoot suit.

Also,I really find it sad that the majority of today's youth will never hear centuries worth of wonderful,life changing music because it wasn't forcefed to them by Clear Channel. Anyhow,that's just my opinion,and as I've said,everyone's entitled to one of those,like it or not.

[aXa]

i think what we need are more 'new' bands covering older songs. it keeps things fresh and bridges that generation gap. let the musicians in bands share the influences and music they grew up with with their fans.

[funkatron]

haha.

Ok. I'm an old grunger/metal head/industrial/everything else fan. I'm surprised by my friend heidi, 2 years younger, that doesn't know bands like Alice In Chains .. .. ..

Dude. I feel you. Mothefuckers never listened to "Dirt!"

[Mindgames]

The kids who need to wear their label on their sleeve are usually the ones that don't care about researching what it means - it's the music equivalent of being happy with a fake Gucci bag so long as it's got a big enough G on it. If all they want is the look, then take it as a complement not an insult - someone thinks your style is so cool they want to copy it.

I've dealt with fans that only ever liked one song and looked at you blank when you asked about a track that wasn't on airplay, and with fans that compiled school grades and old addresses just in case they explained an obscure early semicolon in a backing track. I don't see either as particularly healthy, but folks are folks - some watch Casino Royale and go buy all the books, some watch Casino Royale and go rent the DVD, but some watch Casino Royale and just walk past a mirror and shoot themselves with a finger.

As to the dissemination of old material, you're paying the price for choice by not being able to choose everything. There are so many thousands of tracks on current release that the broadcast and promotional media have their hands full just listing them - no time to run a special promo of a 1980's album unless it's going for reissue. If you're actually looking for stuff then it's far easier to find than ever before, as the multitude of webradio and *cough*sharing sites can play you a track in a few minutes instead of having to trawl a record store - but the idea there's something 'old' out there worth looking for has to come from the fans themselves, and it's never going to be tube-fed into the mainstream media, particularly where the IP has been shattered.

When I was a mere boi and the world was flat, before Reagan put down the chimp and before Iowa had the telephone, you only became 'goth' because you met people. Very little alternative music was on airplay, so when you found music you liked, there was an instant education system in place where ideas were passed about on everything from new bands to hair bands. These days you can randomly find the music online without ever talking to a human being, and 'punk', 'goth' or 'faux French new-wave trance expressionism' is an off-the-shelf product you buy ready to wear. Can't say it's a good thing, but people seem to like it that way.

mG

[bookwormgrrl]

I went through a series of "finding myself" moments that, at points, had truly embarrasing effects (I try every day to forget "wave" bangs, pants with a waist four sizes too big paired with a top two sizes too small and dancing quite enthusiastically to SWV), soon after I was introduced to Goth culture (such as it was for my highschool friends) and found it meshed in most of them with punk and grunge creating, at least musically, a number of Goth hybrids. My initial Goth music intro was Concrete Blonde (it was a poor musical education, but later on I sought out others on my own, being the audiophile that I am). I do agree that it is a bit sad about the generation gap... particularly with those who refuse to consider that there may have been a starting point for the counter-culture before they started wearing black nail polish.

Just my two cents.

[StolenName]

Dude. I feel you. Mothefuckers never listened to "Dirt!"

MY POINT EXACTLY!

Zappa/Jane's Addiction and yeah .. Joy Division haha.

[Jebadiah]

I remember in my early years meeting a 70's Punker now and again. And I would sit and listen, wide eyed with my chin in my hand and beg to hear more about the great concerts and whatever Punk experiances they may have had.

Maybe I expected the same.

Yeah damit, wheres my adoration? Frickin,fracken,sumptunorudur!


Oh yeah, who didn't listen to Joy Division?

[Morning Glory]

I know that's how it was for me too (where the only way you could get into "the scene" was through other people that were in it.) I do really hate how they bastardized "alternative" culture into just another marketting angle, but on the other hand I think the way that we did it was pretty snobby bullshit elitism too.

[Velvet-Tongue]

There is a pretty high quanitity of good people on here ^^

[LoraLie]

I remember in my early years meeting a 70's Punker now and again. And I would sit and listen, wide eyed with my chin in my hand and beg to hear more about the great concerts and whatever Punk experiances they may have had.

Maybe I expected the same.

Yeah damit, wheres my adoration? Frickin,fracken,sumptunorudur!


Oh yeah, who didn't listen to Joy Division?

Dont hate on the young too much . . . . we're not all snotty nosed elitist pricks ^.^ (cause I'm still a bit of a youngin)

I listen in adoration when those older than me talk about music & other things . . . . but I dont really have anyone who likes the things I'm into . . . . plus I'm just a kid who is amused by the past.
A lot of kids I know . . . if it didnt happen in the small time span that they have lived they just dont care, and thats not just for music its for anything in history . . .

The internet opened up a whole new world to me too.
That has helped educate me. ^.^
so instead of listening all wide eyed in adoration
I just read

[TheQuietPlace]

Paintball has consumed my life to the point that when you say Joy Division I think of a Swedish professional paintball team, and then I realized you were talking about music heh. Go me!

[Jebadiah]

Dont hate on the young too much . . . . we're not all snotty nosed elitist pricks ^.^ (cause I'm still a bit of a youngin):

Oh, I don't hate the young, youth is great, if I could, I'd take it from you and use it for my own selfish purposes.



But no, please understand I was just making fun of myself.

And I think Morning Glory was saying that we were elitist in the past, not the youth of today. Early on, I know I was a snob to all but Punk types, but also I think that was just a result of everybody hating all but thier own kind, you know the preps, jocks, metalheads, hics, and so on, and so on.

Generally, people today seem to do alot more blending, and hanging with whoever and whatever,
and in theory thats beautiful.

[KilLAtomiK]

i think im in the youngster category, i mean ive heard of some of the groups mentioned before and ive tried to listen but they just dont catch my attention. I heard some joy division a while back and i just thouth it was ok nothing id listen to evry day but i wouldnt mind evry now and then.

[Gabriel]

I'm in the "youngster" category too, as Ian Curtis' death occurred before my birth.
My philosophy on picking a subculture label is to let the people around me classify me. Although I feel that I identify most with the "goth" culture, my co-workers and friends frequently tell me that I'm "so emo", despite the lack of zippers on my arms. There seems to always be a few people who do their own thing, and a lot of lemmings who follow without understanding why. It's the nature of life and the reason religions work. I'm gonna have to agree with Mindgames on this one and quote the green goblin: "And those teeming masses exist for the sole purpose of lifting the few exceptional people onto their shoulders. You and me… We're exceptional."

Take it as a compliment, but don't try too hard to make them think, most of them aren't ready.

[StolenName]

Hahaha. Zippers? Could always be on your leg! Something you're not telling us?!

Joking joking. Fuck categories no one really cares anyway. I thought emo meant you had to listen to My Chemical Romance over and over and over and over again?

[Black Spiral Dancer]

Joking joking. Fuck categories no one really cares anyway. I thought emo meant you had to listen to My Chemical Romance over and over and over and over again?

It does, doesn't it?

I go to a club that doesn't play "Emo" bands. They play old Trad-Goth songs, as well as Punk, Industrial and Alt-80's stuff and things like that. The DJs see it as a way of "educating" the younger generation that there was Music for the Darker side of Life before Slipknot/Limp Bizkit and friends!

[Gabriel]

Hahaha. Zippers? Could always be on your leg! Something you're not telling us?!

Joking joking. Fuck categories no one really cares anyway. I thought emo meant you had to listen to My Chemical Romance over and over and over and over again?

Was a joke from the Michigan Ren Fest... "I'm so emo I've got zippers on my arms!" ostensibly for easy razor-blade access.
It just kinda stuck with me.

[Janiac02]

It is in fact possible to like multiple styles of music, and dress anyway the spirit (if you believe in that sort of thing...) moves you without it being important to fit into a category.Those categories are what the media thrives on, and are largely why we have a hot topic, and an abercrombie and fitch... and also why you can't walk into Hot Topic wearing say, and Old Navy sweatshirt without being harrassed.(Apparently the employees there weren't educated about how to put saftey pins and holes in their own clothing). What I'm trying, however nonsensically(bet I totally made that one up) to get at is that these subcultures were/are largely based on belief and attitude, so it just seems odd to me that one might expect to get along with someone based on how they look, or what music they listen to, or worse yet try and determine whether or not someone fits into a certain category if they listen to band "a" and "c", but have never even HEARD of band "B".

[Kat]

haha.

Ok. I'm an old grunger/metal head/industrial/everything else fan. I'm surprised by my friend heidi, 2 years younger, that doesn't know bands like Alice In Chains .. .. ..

I'm with you on that one, although I'm almost young enough to have missed the grunge scene - got the last few years of it though. Almost none of my friends who are within 5 years of my age have heard of any of the bands I like.

I've been training my younger brothers to like older music, rather than just the current popular stuff.