Rant.

There are two things that really get me about stereotypes. Well, maybe not the actual stereotypes but the try-hards and “hipsters” that comply with them.

1) How fickle people can be when “choosing” labels for themselves

2) The complete lack of passion associated with various labels nowadays

Now.

Not even two years ago, near enough anyone slightly “alternative” and up their own arses was embracing the whole “Scene Kid” trend of swallows, knuckle dusters, leopard print hair extensions and Bring Me The Horizon. That would be all very well and good if the people actually cared about their label enough to actually stick with it.

But oh no. Come Spring 2008, Indie appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and all of a sudden it was all about “geek” glasses, floral dresses and boys in long coats with acoustic guitars. Pills and cider were traded in for red wine and horse tranquilisers and Scene Kids were seen as the lowest of the low.

And now all the Indie kids have gone Dubstep. Now, I’m not saying that nobody who enjoys Indie music should not even give Dubstep a try. I like Dubstep. It’s pretty hard not to. HOWEVER, I don’t go around bitching about everything I used to listen to just to be deemed “cool” by other “cool” people.

I am not ashamed to listen to a variety of music, wear clothes that I actually like instead of ones that make me look like a clone of 3947893473 other people in Manchester and hang around with people who dress completely differently to myself. In my opinion, individual is the coolest thing you can be: no-one likes a sheep.

This brings me to my second argument with pretentious arseholes.

None of these labels have any real passion or cause attached to them and I think that this is the reason why people are so quick to jump from one to the next.

When Punk first originated in the late 70s, it wasn’t about the mohawk, the safety pin, the drainpipes. Of course, these things came along with it but the whole essence of punk was controversy, rebellion against the system, Marxism. Punks felt mistreated by society and so when Punk Rock music reared it’s ugly head, all the misfits had something to cling on to, a scene to which they belonged and felt accepted. A cause that was their own.

It’s the same with all the Hippy free love, LSD scene. People didn’t wear dreadlocks and flowers for the sake of it. They wore them because they went along with the values of that particular social group.

Social groups have changed now in that they aren’t based on shared beliefs. Your acceptance depends on the clothes you wear and the music you pretend to listen to rather than what actually comes out of your mouth.

Suckers.