Can I keep this going for a minute? It’s also abundantly clear that the person wearing the shirt is spoiled and probably think it’s funny that some people have to work in a gas station instead of getting their money from mom.
As mentioned, On the Road sucks. If Kerouac really wrote it in three days, it means he didn’t read what he was writing - because he would have been bored to sleep. Hunter S. Thompson could write about crazy shit because he had the sense not to drug himself to the gills before working.
Napleon Dynamite was dull and unfunny. It was the same movie as the director’s next movie, Nacho Libre, except everybody noticed that Nacho Libre wasn’t funny. Although actually, Jack Black is funnier than anything in ND.
The guys at Williams Street (adult swim) aren’t funny. Non sequiturs followed by long pauses aren’t comedy, they’re boredom incarnate. If your viewers have to buy drugs to make your stuff funny, that means it sucks.
Is South Park something that’s big among hipsters, or am I thinking of the wrong kind of crowd? Because those guys wouldn’t know good satire if it bit them on the ass. Which I hope it does.
Appreciating everything ironically has gotten stale and needs to go.
This earlier thread on You Can’t Like That! I Like That! has some interesting insights into hipsterdom and possessive, “I was into them before they were famous” exclusivity. I pretty much figure that just 'cos I haven’t heard of it doesn’t mean it isn’t shit; just 'cos I have doesn’t mean it is.
So am I the only one around here who really likes Patti Smith?
About this “Since U Been Gone” song: is it the one by Kelly Clarkson? I’m thinking of buying it from iTunes but want to make sure it’s the right one.
I used to automatically dismiss any music that used stuff like the letter U instead of the actual words, but got past that when I started listening to Prince.
This is probably heresy because of where I live, but I don’t really like The Minutemen. Maybe if I listen to more of their stuff it’ll grow on me, because I didn’t like Husker Du at first either.
Count me as someone who reads Pitchfork but isn’t interested in all the stuff they hype. I mostly look at their free downloads and track reviews, and look at reviews of stuff I already know.
I really dislike the term “indie music”. A lot of the music it describes isn’t on independent labels and there’s something really self-satisfied about it all. That’s a large part of what I don’t like about hipster culture and why I don’t self-identify as one of them. For example, the buying clothes from thrift stores thing. I think the idea is kind of cool, but I’m not going to go and do it because of all the hipster baggage attached. It comes off now as another hoop to jump through if you want to REALLY be cool.
I agree with what you’re saying, but like I said a lot of baggage becomes attached to something once it becomes a status symbol. Maybe it’s not less cool, but it becomes something to avoid for a while for me. If it’s popular with hipsters I’ll avoid it because I don’t want people thinking that I’m trying to broadcast a message that I’m someone who listens to “indie rock” and tries to hard to be ironic and thinks I’m cooler than non-hipsters.
Yep, it’s sort of the “I Will Survive” of the Aughts. I have to admit, I’ve been known to crank it up in the car and sing along at the top of my lungs. Damn if I haven’t done that since “You Oughta Know”.
I loves me some Patti Smith; Horses and Radio Ethiopia are fantastic albums. I also like the Stooges, the Velvet Underground, John Cale {Lou Reed not so much}, Brian Eno, Wire, Television, Magazine, Kraftwerk and other commonly cited hipster acts.
To balance out the equation, I also like Thin Lizzy, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Slade, Motorhead, T-Rex, Led Zep, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and other greasy-haired and resolutely unhip 70’s bands. If I catch some skinny shoegazer on my lawn wearing a $40 artificially distressed Iron Maiden T-Shirt because it’s “ironic”, however, I shall not be held accountable for further artificially distressing him upside his head with a cricket bat.
Hipster Heresy? I don’t like Joy Division at all. Way too depressing. I like New Order, though, so go figure.
Hardly heresy. Everyone and their dog loved that song. Even Pitchfork. Similar kudos are often given to “Crazy in Love” and “Toxic” (my pick for the best pop song I’ve heard in years.
Nah, it’s easy. Remember the following phrases: “I remember them when they were Underground” and “The Velvet Underground did it better.”
Would all bands without a bass player please go get a bass player or break up? It was a stupid novelty idea in the first place, but now seems to pass without so much as a raised eyebrow. It never fails to go down as cool. I’m looking at you, White Stripes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Black Keys, etc. OK, the Doors kind of got away with it because Ray Manzarek played bass on the keys. The rest need to explain the choice not to have a bass player. No band sounds better without a bass player than with one. I therefore conclude that any band without one has deliberately chosen to go without one for the hipster novelty value. Shame!
In a similar vein, deliberately being out of tune with guitars and/or vocals or deploying a deliberately novelty vocal style. In this category, we have your Will Oldhams, your Antony & The Johnsons and your Devendra Banhardts. Its sooo pretentiously hipster. Tune up. Sing properly. Thanks.
Someone needs to write me a program guide to adult swim. I forget that the Cartoon Channel exists, so I just wander over to it randomly, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the same show twice. I’ve seen a few things that are hilarious, but for the most part it’s like looking over someone’s shoulder as they read “Mark Trail” out loud in a funny voice.
And the joke would be on them, because the old stuff on the VU boxed set is just awful. Lou really wants to be Bob Dylan.
I’m a pretty big sucker for alt-country, but I could never understand why Wil Oldham has a career. I guess for the same reason Jandek exists. Hispters are a sucker for that whole “I’m this close to being institutionalized, please buy this limited-edition cassette I made, if I get a nice review on Pitchfork I’m officially an outsider artist” thing. The truth is that hipsters would make fun of Wil Oldham or Daniel Johnston if they were playing in the subway.
Here’s another hipster literary icon I can’t abide: Kathy Acker. In fact, any literature tangentially associated with punk (that is not written about the music) is almost always awful.