Hipster thing

[slobake]

Not soon enough. In fact, the hipster epidemic is only growing in San Francisco as more and more areas gentrify (now mom and dad can pay their kids excessively high rent in even more areas of the city). At the very least, the entire Mission, Duboce, Lower Haight areas have been completely overrun with the little clones.

Bernal Heights has become a "trendy" neighborhood. If I hadn't move in 23 years ago I couldn't afford to live there. Some things are better some are worse. At least the crack house up the steet is gone.

 

[Snarf]

EDIT 2: Oh, I forgot. By and large, in my experience, REAL hipsters believe Ron Paul will save the nation, if they can muster up enough energy to care about politics - which, surprisingly, they tend to take pretty seriously.

Definitely not IME. Most hipsters I know desperately want communist dictatorship because Che was just a super cool guy and not a tyrant or anything.

RP2012 . . . . (hopefully) keeping the hipsters away.

 

[slaps76]

They supposedly love to buck trends, but they all drink the same crap beer(PBR). Way to go against the grain.

 

[hover]

I've started a few hipster threads here, and I think the whole thing is funny but you have to realize hipsters have been around forever and will be forever as long as there are 20-30 year old counter-culture loving beatniks (they really are interchangeable apart from their respective eras)

I don't see the harm. And I think it's funny that they are looked upon with such disdain. There are the leaders and the followers, and it's the followers wearing the requisite hipster "uniforms" described over and over and drinking the hipster swill, with no sense of irony...maybe that's why you hate them?

 

[Boot Soul]

It's your thing. Do what you want to do.

 

[neurotictim]

I don't see the harm. And I think it's funny that they are looked upon with such disdain. There are the leaders and the followers, and it's the followers wearing the requisite hipster "uniforms" described over and over and drinking the hipster swill, with no sense of irony...maybe that's why you hate them?

I don't hate them any more than the "emo" craze or the grunge/industrial/hippie/etc of each generation. I just wish these people, in their search for individuality, would stop ending up being a carbon-copy of each other. It could be safely said that I don't care what you look like, if it's who you are, but stop being different for the sake of being different.

I've never been a "counter-culture" guy - nor have I been a "culture" guy. I just do my own thing, and if it's "mainstream" then so be it. By the same token, if it's not mainstream, well, so be it. But to be anti-everything for the sake of being anti-everything is just glaringly immature, IMO.

YMMV and all that.

 

[Let It Fall]

I was an outsider immersed in the hipster culture about a decade ago when an attractive female of their community chose me as her project. I learned they ride mopeds, like PBR (but only from a can as previously mentioned), hate all things corporate, like dudes who wear glasses (I didn't at the time and she mentioned it more than once how cute it would be if I did...), and especially LOVE weird obscure music that no one else knows. I had just come back from living in France for a year and was listening to a multi-cultural band called Manu Chao that I had heard over there, and it was apparently weird and obscure enough that she latched onto it completely, putting it on at all her parties, etc.

Wait.... I'm starting to feel like IM a hipster? Ok somebody tell me if I meet the hipster profile.

I think people who ride mopeds are bad ass, I like the idea, but don't have the balls to be caught on them, I much prefer my Yamaha r6

I don't drink pbr, because I can't stand the taste of beer however, of I did drink it would never be a normal Budweiser or miller blah blah

I have been developing a anti corporate attitude

I wear black framed glasses!

My favorite band is pretty obscure and I can't get any of my friends to like it,

I have a beard!

I love whole foods and have been considering becoming vegetarian or at least strictly free range omnivore

I been developing a like of zip up hoodies sometimes without a shirt?

I love and only drive foreign vehicles, VW LR AUDI BMW MERC

But I'm 23 and am married and have had a career for the past 5 years I'm an electrician and work 40-84 hours a week and parents have ever bought me anything

 

[Let It Fall]

stop being different for the sake of being different.

I've never been a "counter-culture" guy - nor have I been a "culture" guy. I just do my own thing,

i know it's not what your saying but its pretty funny, your being "non conforming" from culture, and the other half of culture who thinks their "non conforming" ie carbon copies, which is what all the emos/goth/hipsters say. I'm not like everybody else. Ok sorry I thought it was funny

 

[neurotictim]

i know it's not what your saying but its pretty funny, your being "non conforming" from culture, and the other half of culture who thinks their "non conforming" ie carbon copies, which is what all the emos/goth/hipsters say. I'm not like everybody else. Ok sorry I thought it was funny

Oh, I totally got the irony of writing that as I was typing, no worries.

My point is that I don't make it a point to conform or NOT to conform, whereas the "counter-culture" - hipsters, emo, goths, etc., go out of their way to be non-conformist, and as a result ending up conforming along with all the other non-conformists.

 

[tZer]

I think the presumption that people join distinctive sub-groups to be "non-comformist" is a misnomer. They may not want to be identified with another particular sub-group (preppy, burn-out, gangsta, emo, goth, whatever) - but I think it's pretty obvious that the want to belong to SOME group. Who doesn't want to feel like they belong, have peers and are accepted? Laughing ironically at their feeble attempt to be non-comformist is typically laughing at something you just made up to explain what you are seeing. If they have friends, they are conformist - and most of these folks who are adopting a particular look tend to have a group of friends who do the same.

I think watching kids try to find themselves and somehow create an identity as individuals can be entertaining. I admit that I don't get most of the fashion trends today, but when I was a kid (80's, gulp...) my "fashion" was defined more by not wanting to look 'preppy' as opposed to wanting to look like anything - so I dressed in an understated way that also tended to have a practical component to it. My denim Levi's jacket had inside pockets for me to keep my cigs and other portable pleasures. I usually wore a tee shirt or jersey with some logo on it - band or beer or nothing at all - and over that, a flannel. This because I live in the Midwest where fall, winter and spring tend to be chilly and because I spent a disproportionate amount of time avoiding school, I tended to be outside a lot and needed to be able to both be warm in the morning and be able to peel layers as the sun rose. This usually resulted in what much later became the iconic 'grunge' look with said flannel (and even the jean jacket) tied around my waist. Who knew we were starting a 'trend' with our pragmatic style of "I don't want to be preppy or go to school" dress...

 

[spade2you]

Can't wait for this fad to be over. They irritate me. Kinda sorta decided to take a break from music because they were starting to dominate "the scene".

Then they HAD to get into wanna be biking on their hipster fixies. I was at a bar and some beard dude with sleeve tats decided to "educate" me about real cycling and how geared bikes weren't rea. He then tried to educate me about a smooth pedal stroke. At the time I was just coming off a time trial win. I smiled, nodded, and got out of there ASAP. Didn't want to argue with such a know-it-all legend-in-his-own-mind. What do I know about cycling?

 

[nortonrider]

I have drank PBR since I was old enough to buy it (actually even before that).
Not because I am a "hipster" but because I'm a broke redneck.

There are not and hipsters around here, it must be more of a "big city" type of thing.

 

[neurotictim]

I think the presumption that people join distinctive sub-groups to be "non-comformist" is a misnomer. They may not want to be identified with another particular sub-group (preppy, burn-out, gangsta, emo, goth, whatever) - but I think it's pretty obvious that the want to belong to SOME group. Who doesn't want to feel like they belong, have peers and are accepted? Laughing ironically at their feeble attempt to be non-comformist is typically laughing at something you just made up to explain what you are seeing. If they have friends, they are conformist - and most of these folks who are adopting a particular look tend to have a group of friends who do the same.

Semantics. Obviously most people want to belong to some group, theoretically with people who have similar tastes. The group these people want to be a part of operate on the idea of being different for the sake of being different, both seriously and ironically.

I didn't just make something up to explain them - as part of the local Occupy movement I got to experience the current "counter-culture" group pretty up close and personal, and I'm seriously NOT making up the idea that they are being non-conformist for the sake of it - not because it's just who they are. They purposefully search out obscure music, regardless of whether they actually like it or not, BECAUSE it's obscure. Same with movies and books, and philosophies. I kid you not, hearing someone deride Socratic method as "having cool ideas, but it's just too mainstream" is a bit much.

Again, however, I want to couch this anecdotal point in very specific IME, IMO, YMMV disclaimers.

 

[metron]

Hipsters are about due for a south park episode. They have been around forever though. Around here at least. Boulder is a hipster creating machine. So non-conformist yet so similar to each other.

 

[Frank Tuesday]

I fully expect Def Leppard to be the next big hipster thing. The guitarist from Sleigh Bells mentioned them as a big influence in a few interviews. Sure enough, SXSW comes around and there are Def Leppard t-shirts everywhere. Pyromania, High 'n' Dry, and On Thru the Night for the cool kids. The ones who don't get it will probably wear Hysteria shirts, and not realize how ridiculous they look. Pity the ones who get an Adrenalize shirt.

 

[tZer]

Semantics. Obviously most people want to belong to some group, theoretically with people who have similar tastes. The group these people want to be a part of operate on the idea of being different for the sake of being different, both seriously and ironically.

I didn't just make something up to explain them - as part of the local Occupy movement I got to experience the current "counter-culture" group pretty up close and personal, and I'm seriously NOT making up the idea that they are being non-conformist for the sake of it - not because it's just who they are. They purposefully search out obscure music, regardless of whether they actually like it or not, BECAUSE it's obscure. Same with movies and books, and philosophies. I kid you not, hearing someone deride Socratic method as "having cool ideas, but it's just too mainstream" is a bit much.

Again, however, I want to couch this anecdotal point in very specific IME, IMO, YMMV disclaimers.

I hear you and get what you are saying. I do have some questions and comments.

I have similar experience being close to young people today who embrace the ubiquitous trappings of "non-comformism" - and who do so proudly stating that's exactly what they are doing - not conforming - even though they are admitting outright to conforming - just not to 'that group. So you are right, they are doing it because they believe it is what they are doing - even if their observable actions prove otherwise.

I am curious about your characterization of hipsters seeking obscure music not because they like it, but because they want to claim knowledge of obscure music. Are you saying they put a great deal of effort into seeking music that they ultimately don't listen to or like?

If so, what observable evidence to you have to support that? Did they actually tell you "Yeah, I don't like this crap. But it's so obscure it has to be cool!" It was people who actively sought new, obscure music who made my life in a young, obscure band in St. Louis feel like there might be an audience out there who is actually interested in something other than what's on the charts.

I am not trying to be obnoxious. I am genuinely curious how you conclude what motivates a hipster to do such things.

 

[neurotictim]

In my experience, it has much more to do with name-dropping than real quality. Being able to name an obscure band and claim they're underrated is "mega-anti-cool-points" in the crowd I associated with. Much of the time, though, I noticed people playing acoustic guitars or whatever, they were playing the standard mainstream stuff.

In MANY of the hipster folks in this group, there was sort of an ironic attitude that the worse the music was, the "cooler" it was. They would play songs through their phones to others, and it was plainly obvious they weren't particularly enjoying what was played, yet they would play the part - "that's real emotion there, you don't hear that on the radio" or "it's amazing what you can do if you don't use 'standard' tuning." A lot of these comments got me wondering, so I asked - and yeah, they literally search out obscure, typically folkish (or Casio electronic) music that they don't like, and then 'acquire a taste' for them. I was amazed at the very idea of intentionally looking for stuff you don't like and then listening to it until you do. From what I gather, liking a band isn't as necessary as knowing names and albums and being able to discuss them intelligently.

Paradoxically, I've discovered some music I really like - I'll put links up after work - but for the most part I can't stand it. Also, when one of these groups reaches a certain point of popularity, hipsters are very quick to disown them - all the while stating (truthfully in many cases) that they "liked them before they were cool." Which leads us to that new meme that's been floating around. After a band reaches major label ("mainstream" or "corporate" no matter how small) success, they lament how said artist/group has sold out, even if they are making essentially the same music they were making prior to success. A couple of great examples of this are Mumford & Sons, or Kings of Leon.

Both of which I really like, btw.

Anyway, that "find obscure stuff you may not like, learn to like (or at least be able to speak of intelligently) then name-drop" mentality is sort of a catch-all for the hipster community in my area.

 

[tZer]

@neurotictim

I appreciate your clarification.

One counterpoint I'd like to offer is the idea that seeking out obscure music that one may not currently have an affinity for and learning to like it is not necessarily a bad thing. While it might appear to you (or others) that they are doing it for effect, I don't necessarily think it's a defining element of the so-called "hipster" movement as those people have been around forever. I can see how a person who does that sort of thing just to gain some version of "cred" is sort of silly - but if they actually do end up liking what they find, isn't that just people seeking out new music that has not yet gained any popular acclaim and giving it a chance? Your editorial comment that they are "seeking music that they don't like, then claiming to like it" feels a little off to me.

I won't argue against the point that there are pretentious posers out there who will do things for the sake of appearance alone - and I am sure the "hipster" fad is no different. But I think the act of actively looking for new music and giving it a chance even if on the surface it appears to be "bad" or "very different from what's considered 'good' today" is a pretty critical element in musical evolution. If people didn't seek obscure, different music, we'd still be listening to Pat Boone (***Monkey-Shriek!!!***)

I do get the overall point about posers posing, FWIW.

 

[pie_man_25]

Let's see.... wearing a plaid long-sleeve shirt right now? CHECK.

Moustache? Check, I thought it looked kinda cool, especially if/when I wear a suit next.

Drink PBR? Well, sometimes, to be honest, when I grab a beer that I just want to pound back after work/on the weekends, I have a few brands that I know aren't TOO bad. Keep in mind though, I also have an affinity for craft beer - that can also be another hypster cred. point.

Glasses? Nope, don't wear 'em.

Do I listen to obscure bands? not really, is Rancid obscure? How about the Descendents? I dunno, I'm going through a bit of a pop/punk and psychobilly thing right now.

Skinny jeans? not really no, I like having room for my junk.

Do I consider myself a hypster? I guess so, I don't really care all that much.

 

[Tractorr]

See as people offer these varying takes we start to see that it is not exactly the same everywhere and it matters what your subject position is.

For instance, I have some friends who live in Williamsburg Brooklyn which is most often thought of as one of the hipster meccas. All of their friends would most likely be considered hipsters, yet many of the stereotypes that people are mentioning about hipsters (outside of clothing) don't really hold true. Most of these people are gainfully employed and are often entrepreneurs. Most of the conversation have little to do with out hipstering everyone else and more to do with projects they are currently involved with. Sure there are those fringe folks who do play the most obscure band game but that is not the norm. Then again it is NYC so who knows what rules apply as opposed to elsewhere.