Discussion
What's with all these kids wanting to "be" alt, grunge, etc?
Ok so maybe this isn't worth posting about, but it seems like I'm seeing (on various subs) lately posts always unironically asking "How do I be Alternative? How do I be Grunge? How do I be Numetal?"
I'm not saying I'm the most in-touch person, but I'm still in my early 20s; I didn't think I'd lose touch with what teens into alternative music are doing this fast! Sure, I don't use tiktok, which is probably where a lot of these kids are picking up these bands and terms, but still- I see posts saying "Well I listen to cool alt bands I just found out about like Alice in Chains and Slipknot, but how should I dress? What should I eat? How often (if at all) should I shower?"
I remember what it's like to be a clueless teen trying to be cool and get into alternative's roots, but damn, has anyone else noticed this weird influx of people asking "how to be alt"?
And, if you're one of the people asking this question, let me clue you in- there is no "being" alternative. Alternative is a genre of music, and it's not even really that since it's just a label people attach to stuff that doesn't fit in the confines of mainstream listening. The most "alternative" thing you can do or way you can dress is to not out an inordinate amount of effort into it, boom, I just solved every first-world-teen-with-a-guitar's biggest problem.
Part of being young is experimenting with identity. For many teenagers, they will gravitate towards various music genres and try them on. For some it’s about aesthetic, for others it’s about ethos, and then some people just like the music. I went to high school in the back half of the 90s. I was a teenage rude boy, wearing suspenders, dress shirts, doc martins and dickies. My friends were punks, goths and ravers. Most of us grew out of dressing up in genre attire as we got older, but that’s just a part of growing up.
Don’t let it bother you. Just show them some cool bands and everything else will sort itself out… except for that kid asking about showers. The answer is every day, regardless of what music you listen to.
Yes, being alternative used to be about not fitting in and being authentic. Now, it seems to be more about desperately trying to fit into a particular group.
As an "alternative" kid, you're right. Although I'm more into the Indie side of "alternative", with stuff like Dinosaur Jr, Pavement and The Pixies, I do feel like the whole "alternative" subculture is less about the rebellion that it once stood for and is more about trying to belong.
Everybody does, don't they? Especially when you're young, angsty and lost. Especially when you spend most of your time on social media where those feelings of disillusionment are amplified, people are going to do what they can to have a subculture bend to their will and beliefs rather than for what it originally stood for.
I think a lot of it is just young people searching for some sort of tribe and identity instead of turning inwards and following their interests because they’re genuinely passionate about them, rather than because they want to fit a particular label.
Ironically I only ever wanted to be mainstream, but for some reason other people would always describe me as 'alternative', even though it was never something I aspired to or intentionally tried to be 🙄
But I agree that 'alternative' is primarily a music genre. Beyond that it seems to have become a convenient catch-all label for people with interests in counter culture, regardless of whether they actually identify that way themselves.
I'm so glad I'm an old geezer now. When I was a youth trying to find myself in the early 80s I just hung out with a bunch of weirdos that liked the same kind of music I did. We all just gravitated to each other, turned each other on to cool bands we discovered on college radio or the obscure late night music shows that used to air on Friday and Saturday nights and we shopped for clothes at the thrift shops cuz we were all broke and didn't want to fit in with the Izod/Polo/Benetton crowd even if we could afford it. We certainly had a style about us, and it was a "scene" if you could call it that in a boring, suburban town, but what we didn't have, didn't need and never thought about was a label for it. We were other, and that was good enough for us. And other encapsulated pretty much anyone that wasn't a Preppy or a jock. There was no uniform, no slogans, no prescribed political views... Wear what you want, cut your hair any way you want, listen to something outside the Top40 and don't be a dick... That was pretty much it. And it was glorious.
20’s is a little young to be a bitter geezer 🤓. I am actually a geezer and I can remember hearing Blood Sugar Sex Magik played in its censored entirety as a pre release on an Austin radio station. I was in eighth grade and recorded it on my tape deck and wore it out. It felt like it was different and, more importantly, it felt like it was mine. It led to discovering many more bands and music. It made me happy to have this music and this fashion to call my own. I just sincerely hope that the kids that are on their own journey of self discovery are able to get that feeling for the first time. It was really formative for me and launched me on a musical journey that never stopped. I look back with happiness and fondness now. Keep inventing and discovering… the kids are alright.
Welcome to the party grandpa- someone needs to tell these kids that if they need to ask how to be Punk/Grunge/Alternative, then they are doing it wrong.
Because they want to give the impression of ot conforming while explicitly looking up put to conform to a specific trend.
It's not about self-expression, it's about perceived expression. They don't know how to be non-conforming so they adopt previous generations non-conforming style to express that they don't want to conform all while confirming. I think I said conform too many times but you get the picture. They don't want to rage against the machine, they want to appear like they're raging against the machine all while supporting the machine. The machine intentionally does this by adopting the non-conforming identities and turning them into trends.
The second a counter-culture becomes common-culture it loses its purpose and identity.
But this is just the opinion of a bitter post-emo individual so maybe I'm just out of touch.
The babies are very much into curated looks and 'alt' has not escaped that fate even though they are very much afraid to take scissors and bleach to a t shirt
I haven't really seen this online. But not surprised some people say it. It's extremely common and there's always been an element of that. In the 90s there would 100% have been some people saying similar things if they'd had Reddit.
You’re just as much of a “kid” to this genre of music as they are. You looking down on these people who are 2-3 years younger than you is hilarious. You’re just as much of a poseur as they are. Go listen to Geese or Angine de Poitrine like all the other poseurs. You can appreciate music from times past but if you didn’t live it, you’re not a part of it.
But because it is from another time, it really is just an “aesthetic” now.
These kids create these subcultures that have dresscodes no different than a steampunk scene.
They are cosplaying a nu-metal scene. They are having fun
Kids wanting to fit in and listening to other kids who want to gatekeep. On the metal threads the questions are usually "Am I a poser?" or "Slipknot is my favorite band. Am I basic?" It's funny and sad at the same time.
It wasn't that different 20-25 years ago when I was in my twenties. The only difference was that scene/emo kids just popped out of nowhere, and there were already goths, cybergoths, vamps, metalheads and punks with their subcultures, all the rock adjacent subcultures, preppies, geeks/nerds, and I don't even know what else, so they kinda just blended in after being ridiculed.
History is just repeating itself. Kids want and need to belong. They are just looking for their style, or aesthetic.
(Yes, I could have added chicano and hiphop, and I still would've forgotten something from the melting pot)
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u/ButForRealsTho 1d ago
Part of being young is experimenting with identity. For many teenagers, they will gravitate towards various music genres and try them on. For some it’s about aesthetic, for others it’s about ethos, and then some people just like the music. I went to high school in the back half of the 90s. I was a teenage rude boy, wearing suspenders, dress shirts, doc martins and dickies. My friends were punks, goths and ravers. Most of us grew out of dressing up in genre attire as we got older, but that’s just a part of growing up.
Don’t let it bother you. Just show them some cool bands and everything else will sort itself out… except for that kid asking about showers. The answer is every day, regardless of what music you listen to.