Last month, while waiting in a long line of indie rockers and
punk rockers at a hardcore punk show, I noticed a boy with a green
mohawk a few feet ahead of my friend and me, talking on a cell
phone. I had to point him out and laugh about it with my friend,
not because we were making fun of him, but because of the great
irony of it all.
As my friend said, it pretty much defeated the traditional punk
concept of DIY (“do-it-yourself,” i.e., don’t
rely on commercial products or socially constructed ideals). The
second we concluded this conversation, there was a ringing sound
next to us.
We turned to see another boy in line, wearing the standard
indie-rocker ensemble ““ Converse, jeans and vintage T-shirt
““ answer his cell phone.
The more I thought about this situation, I realized that what I
thought was inherent irony wasn’t irony at all. This was
definitely not the first time I’ve noticed such
“normalcy,” such status quo trendiness being embraced
by people who are supposed to be different.
So what’s going on here? Have so-called punk kids suddenly
shunned all their grass-roots ideals; has “the scene”
been corrupted; is there no such thing as independent or punk rock
anymore?
Well, not exactly.
When I really started thinking about the differences between
“normal” and “abnormal” people, I came to
realize that there are very few. Everyone is a conformist in some
sense; virtually no one is immune to things like consumerism and
commercialism. Virtually everyone cares what others think of them,
deep down, and follows trends and socially set rules. And,
certainly, people outside of the mainstream are no exception.
It’s just that, oftentimes, they like to pretend that these
things aren’t true.
Perhaps Mike Watt said it best at the This Ain’t No Picnic
festival on July 2 of this year: “Everyone’s trying to
be different, but all in the same way.” He was actually
referring to the Warped Tour, an alternative and punk rock festival
he had played at earlier in the week.
But I think his quote applies to just about everyone. People, be
they surfers, frat boys or Riot Grrrls, all want to stand out and
be noticed, but this often comes across in an unoriginal manner.
Does anyone remember the wave of young women getting their belly
buttons pierced in the early ’90s? Ironically, I found This
Ain’t No Picnic to be a perfect example of people trying to
be different in the same way.
Throughout the day, I counted several of the same band T-shirts,
countless pairs of the same kind of shoes, and the same clothing,
hairstyle and jewelry trends over and over.
Lest I sound condescending, I was no different. I own many of
the band shirts I saw that day, and I was sporting one of the same
brand of shoes that I kept noticing over and over. I think the only
real difference between myself and many of the people whom
I’ve described is that I no longer hold any illusions about
being different and unique. Those terms are all relative. Of
course, I have my tastes and attributes that I would like to think
are rather rare, but I can no longer pride myself on the fact that
I’m some big revolutionary punk rock freak about town because
I’ve realized that that’s not true.
Basically, groups or communities such as the indie rock and punk
scenes are really just microcosms of general society, wherein
people adhere to basic standards and expectations. Likewise, people
within “underground” or non-mainstream communities
adhere to basic standards and expectations, though they don’t
always realize it.
For example, there is a general consensus among us so-called
counter culture people that we don’t accept homophobia, that
we appreciate art, that we support independent music and films, and
so on and so on. These things may make us a little different from
the status quo ideals, but does that really make us different in
the long run? We’re pretty much clones of one another, in
dress, style, and beliefs tastes, and the same goes for other
easily-identifiable groups.
Think about it ““ would a preppie be called a preppie if he
wore ripped jeans and a flannel? Would a hippie be labeled that if
she were a corporate lawyer? These are simplifications, but the
point is that most social groups, while they may be subcultures,
have very ritualized and specified codes of appearances and
behaviors. And, as the boy with a mohawk and cell phone proved to
me, subcultures are not free from following some of the same trends
found in the mainstream.
The way in which underground communities mirror mainstream
society goes farther than just simple uniformity. It’s
obvious that people in the mainstream compete to be the coolest,
the trendiest, the most well-dressed or best-looking. I recall
those junior high school days when I desperately wanted to be
trendy, to impress people with my cool threads and appearance
““ until I realized I couldn’t, and didn’t really
want to participate in that game anymore.
In underground society, the game probably has less pressure, but
it’s basically the same. Indie and punk rock kids compete to
be the weirdest, the most strange. It’s all about getting
attention, getting noticed, getting cool points for having the most
piercings, for having liked a certain indie rock band before they
signed to a major label, etc. And we often compete against the
mainstream, not just each other. We want to be the most shocking to
our parents or to stand out the most among our “normal”
classmates. It’s no less pointless than the popularity
contests in the rest of society, and it’s no less juvenile an
endeavor.
Unfortunately, a lot of indie and punk kids don’t see
through their behavior and this often means they take their
presumed superiority out on other people. I can’t tell you
how many times people, including myself, have labeled
“normal” people as lemmings, followers, sheep, etc.,
and criticized them for their tastes and opinions. My friends and I
have laughed at the competitiveness of teenage mallrat girls;
we’ve ridiculed people that enjoy mainstream pop; we’ve
put people down by saying that they want to be just like everyone
else. And we continue to do so. But how does that make us any
better than “everyone else”?
This is just reverse snobbery. Just as some sorority girls in
spandex tops, black stretch pants and platforms sometimes sneer at
my used clothes and short hair, I think it’s safe to say
indie and punk rockers would sneer at such a person and their style
if they ever came to, say, a hardcore punk show.
What this stems from is a refusal to understand that all humans
have a basic desire to belong. We’re all people, and
we’re all searching to identify as part of a group, and to
get acceptance within that group. In one particular group, that
acceptance might come from wearing a Bebe shirt. In others, it
comes from not wearing, and not even considering wearing, a Bebe
shirt. To say that, among “alternative” people, this
desire to be a part of some kind of homogeneous group and to adhere
to their standards doesn’t occur in some form is just wrong,
not to mention idealistic and arrogant.
No one is truly original or unique when it comes to dress, style
and tastes. Therefore, it’s ridiculous to consider yourself
better than someone else, especially on the basis that that type of
person is allegedly conformist, while people in subcultures or
separate social groups are non-conformist.
Sorry, but that’s just not true.