Hot Topic, and the further demise of the goth/industrial scene

[DeviantMommy]

Just got the 2006 Metropolis sampler...um,not as good as previous years..a few decent tracks though..

[Black Spiral Dancer]

I was talking about EBM and Futurepop. Hell at my local "goth" night they often have DJs that play fucking Trance music.

This is a problem we had at our local "Goth" night a few years ago. They listed Ministry of Sound's Trance Nation as one of the main sources of their music. That club is now defunct, since people got pissed off with it. Now if you want to hear Goth music in Newcastle, there's only one night that plays TradGoth, and due to what happened to the previous club, there is a limit on the EBM that is played.

[Oil~Boy 26]

I buy spikes at that place and not much else maby a b-day present or 2 over the years. Oops almost forgot the pair of dragonfly shorts I got there as well.

OB~26

[VoldtaEngler]

So i walked in the Hot Topic at the Mall of Georgia and even though there was more emo/hardcore/thrash cds..in the very front of all of them was Combichrist: What the Fuck is wrong with you people, Assemblage 23: Binary and Skinny Puppy: Mythmaker. All hope is not lost!

[Velvet-Tongue]

And Cruxshadows =))

[Morning Glory]

great post, mr.goff, I didn't notice that one till now.

Combi really isn't my thing, but I must say, I do like that album title.

[Lady Alias]

Wow, Assemblage 23? The last one I went to didn't even sell music.

[cheshire centauri]

OK well hot topic is in the mall just think about that. I have never seen anything good about the mall in the 1st place. Fuck big chain stores. The scene needs to take care of it self. not big chain stores. Do you think they give a fuck about you? NO why should they. All they wont is your cash. If you're looking for Lip Service go to the web site and git it there. I don't like Hot Topic I have seen so much bad Body Jewelry come from there and it hurts the kids that use it some I had to tell to go to a doc. and have it removed. I don't like the fact the store sells piercing tools. Now kids can go and git their hands on this stuff and not only hurt them selfs but other kids as well. and it makes body piercing look bad like we did this. Hell I have seen a pierce your tongue at home kit in the mall. Nothing is sterilized in that kit. Why can't we wake up from this G.W.Bush wet dream? I can remember the good ol days going out to look for that rare red wax trax vinyl. but not any more, no more record stores. they died cause of napster.If you wont to save the scene support your local biz and local music they do care about you and what you think.

There is no evil empire out to get you, you can't blame corporations for crack-whoring the system that we all live and work in, blame the system: when everyone frequents the independent stores they will eventually become larger stores, then chain stores and eventually with a change in management they invariably become bottlesquashing coachroach monsters. Your 'scene' is bought and sold without your consent, your 'freedom' has come at a price and this is it. Its like people complaining about tv, when all they really want is to be on it. This is not GWB's wet dream, it is yours and mine and every other brainwashed pigfucker's too.

[Roxy Contin]

Think yourselves lucky you've had Hot Topic in the first place! The only goth chain that used to exist in Newcastle was the Phaze clothing shop, which closed many years ago. I find it very difficult to find a decent pair of Skin Tight jeans for men, that aren't hipsters or "cut for a woman's body" sall we say.
Phaze didn't carry music, but most of the independent music shops here have moved away from the tradtional goth music in favour of the emo.
We don't get Metropolis samplers, so don't know how good the are.
As for the clubs, the only true goth club in Newcastle is the one run by my friends, because they were sick of the local "Goth" Club playing Ministry of Sound:Trance Nation and far too much EBM. It got so bad that I spoke up about it and became Cyber-Goth Enemy Number 1 for quite a while, earning a threat of violence from a Cyber-Goth DJ, amongst other things.
People in the scene up here know that I am very vocal in things that annoy me, so I guess I'm now infamous for things I've said in the past. (I accused the Cyber-Goths that used to be Trad-Goths of wearing far too much PINK, my view being that PINK isn't really a Goth colour and the next time we went out almost no-one was wearing pink. The only one wearing pink was a girl that is renowned for being so out of it, she probably thinks she's wearing nothing!) I guess I was just saying what other people had been thinking for years, yet I was still "The Bad Man" because I'd dared to question the Status Quo.

what's wrong with pink?

[Amelia G]

There is no evil empire out to get you, you can't blame corporations for crack-whoring the system that we all live and work in, blame the system: when everyone frequents the independent stores they will eventually become larger stores, then chain stores and eventually with a change in management they invariably become bottlesquashing coachroach monsters. Your 'scene' is bought and sold without your consent, your 'freedom' has come at a price and this is it. Its like people complaining about tv, when all they really want is to be on it. This is not GWB's wet dream, it is yours and mine and every other brainwashed pigfucker's too.

Uhm, I don't think there is anyone on planet Earth who believes that Hot Topic grew organically from and independent punk rock store which expanded due to massive popularity and unwent an unfortunate change of management. That notion is . . . you know . . . laughable.

I think most people believe they were a massively capitalized, Experian-informed, carefully planned business venture with the benefit of a board of directors cherry-picked from top corporations and expert in marketing both pop culture and clothing.

Gotta do your research better to troll effectively on Blue Blood.

[a_small_death]

All I know is that hot topic has crap now. Thank the gods for ebay

[Cafe_Post_Mortem]

Wasn't Hot Topic originally mostly the Teenage Mall Metal Store? I recall they used to be more metal clothing and accessories way back in the way back. Metal survived the loss of hot topic. Sure it slowed down, but it also evolved. It's what scenes do. All the scene is really doing is becoming less marketable for a while. Hopefully the smaller stores will survive and go online (as well as keeping the old brick stores, I am not a fan of shopping online) to provide an outlet when the scene shrinks. Hopefully another NiN will bounce along and bring some new blood into the scene. The scene has died a couple times before and evolved into something a little different. The old timers have creeped out to add a little old school style and make fun of the new kids and it happened again. At least that's what I saw.

I wonder if in 10 years the emo kids will be having this discussion...

[Janiac02]

Maybe I just suck, but I like Hot Topic alright, for what it is. I've found some costume stuff there have I've fallen in love with, shoes, piercing jewelry, and a really nifty pirates blanket. It just really isn't any different from any other brand store, I suppose right up there with American Eagle. Except I fuckin hate that store.

[VoldtaEngler]

Maybe I just suck, but I like Hot Topic alright, for what it is. I've found some costume stuff there have I've fallen in love with, shoes, piercing jewelry, and a really nifty pirates blanket. It just really isn't any different from any other brand store, I suppose right up there with American Eagle. Except I fuckin hate that store.

They do sometimes have their rarities. It's like a garage sale when I go in every once in a great while. I got my TUK Combat's there for 15 bucks. Best deal I've ever had there.

[Janiac02]

Occasionally they do have really good sales. And t-shirts...

[thomasroche]

what's wrong with pink?

Oh my God, Roxy. I gape in awe at the coolness of your name. Love it.

[motormenace]

It's a love/hate relationship for me. I always feel dirty when I go there. Though, I've gone there recently and bought two pairs of Tripp bondage pants for $20 each. The only thing good to do is go to the clearance rack. There use to be a couple of boutiques (Stikky Fingers, Chat Street, etc.) around here, but they've all closed in the last couple of years, so Hot Topic is about the only place, unless I want to go out of state.

Also, If anyone is talking about the big corporate empire that Hot Topic is, then yes they are. There are reasons why companies like Dogpile doesn't sell there anymore (no, it's not that they want to go to the roots of punk). Hot Topics tells vendors that they will buy 100 pieces, only if they do it for a certain price. This is why certain clothing lines look different at Hot Topic compared to the higher priced one at a boutique store (Example: the Hollywood Geisha line by Lip Service having less trim and cuts for Hot Topic). Then again, at least they carry this stuff when no one else has it. Oh, the irony......

[HempKnight]

Phew. I was starting to worry no one but Forrest was going to get my, uhm, literary allusion. I think we have a disturbing overlap in our Venn diagram of interests.

If I had seen it before now, I'd said
something... but kudos.. a bit late.

[HempKnight]

Oh boy... gee, lemme see, the last
time Muse and I went into a local
Hot Topic... ummm... they had $4
- 20 oz bottles of Faygo.. for the
Juggalo/ette crowd... which for me
is so very disappointing, because
being from Detroit.. I REALLY MISS
FAYGO... especially the 69 cent 2
liters... fuck if I'll pay FOUR DOLLARS
for a 20 oz of Frosh or Candy Apple.

Even more disturbing is when I first got
here from Detroit, there wasn't anyone
rocking ICP, Twiztid or Esham... and I
did mostly for the 'what the fuck' effect
it would have on other people... plus I
know most them fucks and their crews.

Now walking into HT back east was a
different story... none of the staff was
under 30 and when you said 'punk'
they'd tell stories about hanging out
with Iggy or Rollins.

Same as it ever was, same as it never was...
the more it changes, the more it stays the same,
business is business, it ain't Burger King...
you CAN'T have it your way.
Get over it and cry emo boy, cry.

[Amelia G]

It's a love/hate relationship for me. I always feel dirty when I go there. Though, I've gone there recently and bought two pairs of Tripp bondage pants for $20 each. The only thing good to do is go to the clearance rack. There use to be a couple of boutiques (Stikky Fingers, Chat Street, etc.) around here, but they've all closed in the last couple of years, so Hot Topic is about the only place, unless I want to go out of state.

Also, If anyone is talking about the big corporate empire that Hot Topic is, then yes they are. There are reasons why companies like Dogpile doesn't sell there anymore (no, it's not that they want to go to the roots of punk). Hot Topics tells vendors that they will buy 100 pieces, only if they do it for a certain price. This is why certain clothing lines look different at Hot Topic compared to the higher priced one at a boutique store (Example: the Hollywood Geisha line by Lip Service having less trim and cuts for Hot Topic). Then again, at least they carry this stuff when no one else has it. Oh, the irony......

The reason those boutiques went under is, in the opinions of many people including former punk store owners, because Hot Topic made a concerted deliberate effort to put them out of business. Many former zinesters and former clothing company designers say that Hot Topic killed them by placing unusually huge orders on credit and then either not paying, paying incredibly slowly, or refusing the order on a technicality after it had already been manufactured.

I think that it does not just seem as if they are killing your scene. If you support an organization which is methodically coopting and destroying your culture, you pretty much deserve what you get and you'll get what you deserve -- a lifestyle which becomes hollow and shallow.

The only problem is that this takes everyone else down too. Now that HT is the only game in town, can new zinesters and new clothing companies and new shoppers boycott it and still do what they do?

[Buster Friendly]

i'd tend to agree with you Amelia, i had two friends who both design, and make their own art t-shirt lines who were contacted by hot topic but the terms that ht demanded were insane, and would have crippled their ability to afford to make their shirts the way they wanted them, so they both said no...

...the whole 'wal-mart strategy' of business where distributors make ridiculous demands of their suppliers has really been a blight on the current market place. i worked for a company that started to do that shit, refusing to pay for stuff they'd already recieved, and demanding more orders, and exclusivity... etc. i split, but at last glance the company has still been doing well... (although they've changed their name to try to distance themselves from their shady past.)

it would be interesting to know the ins, and outs of who really runs, and owns hot topic, who exactly was making these decisions, and was responisble for such stuff.. i wouldn't doubt that there was a possibly corrosive agenda behind it all.

actually it's facsinating to watch how companies are run, and how things go down... having been privy to both my own biz experiences, and those in large corporations of friends and family, as well as randomly meeting folks involved on the inside of the whole Enron thing as it was going down... has anyone seen "Enron:The Smartest Guys in the Room"? absolutely riviting documentry about the current "I gots mine, bitch!" corprate additude that seems to prevail these days...

....yeah, just who does own hot topic?

[motormenace]

The reason those boutiques went under is, in the opinions of many people including former punk store owners, because Hot Topic made a concerted deliberate effort to put them out of business. Many former zinesters and former clothing company designers say that Hot Topic killed them by placing unusually huge orders on credit and then either not paying, paying incredibly slowly, or refusing the order on a technicality after it had already been manufactured.

I think that it does not just seem as if they are killing your scene. If you support an organization which is methodically coopting and destroying your culture, you pretty much deserve what you get and you'll get what you deserve -- a lifestyle which becomes hollow and shallow.

The only problem is that this takes everyone else down too. Now that HT is the only game in town, can new zinesters and new clothing companies and new shoppers boycott it and still do what they do?

AMEN SISTER!!!

This is why it has made shopping for any subculture is getting harder. I've stuck to the internet for most of my shopping (this is the only place I can get a good pair of creepers nowadays). The only problem sometimes is that manufacturers like Tripp, don't sell directly to the public unlike Dogpile and Lip Service.

Also, I highly doubt that Hot Topic will ever sell anything Blue Blood or Lip Service's Fucker line in the store to content.

[Amelia G]

AMEN SISTER!!!

This is why it has made shopping for any subculture is getting harder. I've stuck to the internet for most of my shopping (this is the only place I can get a good pair of creepers nowadays). The only problem sometimes is that manufacturers like Tripp, don't sell directly to the public unlike Dogpile and Lip Service.

Also, I highly doubt that Hot Topic will ever sell anything Blue Blood or Lip Service's Fucker line in the store to content.

Actually, while I might like to claim that purity . . . Hot Topic has carried and sold many thousands of magazines with content produced by Blue Blood, ditto for books and T-shirts as well.

While some of what I believe about them is based on what I hear other people say or on research, a bunch is based on personal experience.