Sinister: important "indie" rantings

[Red Geisha]

Hmmm,

What kind of people are you people meeting?  I've always found this woe is 
me attitude an excuse to avoid meeting and introducing yourself to other 
people.  Your mantra seems to be - I will become a paranoid insular freak 
before I put myself on the line and try and break through the impenetrable 
stuffy attitude of the "other indie hipsters".  What type of mantra is this? 
  Are you growing as an individual or an introvert?  These types of e-mail 
are based on fear more so than one-dimensional prototype indie-kids.  We 
would all like to believe that all those people who appear cooler and 
cliquey are, but I bet you any money those people get their hearts broken 
and their feelings stamped on and are haunted by as many insecurities as 
you.  I was thrust into the same clique mentality not by myself but by 
sniveling losers who had more time to mope around and pick out other people 
than work on their own insecurities.  You people complaining seem to have a 
lot of cyber courage why not exercise it on the outside world.  If you don't 
want these people as your friends and have already pasted pre-conceived 
one-dimension personalities on these "indie cliques" then why are you 
bothering to worry about them?  Obviously you don't respect their lifestyle 
and musical ethics and as such it would be easier to ignore what doesn't 
appeal to you rather than rambling on in a quasi good vs. evil fashion.

As for a lack of diversity, where do you live?  And by what measure are we 
speaking of diversity, as in race?  Let's face it indie music has very 
little monetary power and therefore very little exposure, it has a cult 
following.  Every heard of payola?  It sort of runs the music industry.  The 
indie surge of 93-96 is long past us and few indie bands are garnering any 
type of press outside of Europe and Japan.  You have to respect that it 
takes a little more work as a musical aficionado to uncover indie music.  
This does not mean it is better and I know many people on this list are 
burning cd's for their peers who aren't in the "indie" know trying to expose 
some of this beautiful music.

These type of protective e-mails startle me.  You have made a firm decision 
to not include yourself in a sub-culture which is fine but why is it 
anyone's responsibility to explain that which you don't respect?  Scenes are 
fascinating in their social and psychological dynamics.  I have never ever 
not spoken to someone based on their clothing or clean hair, I myself prefer 
new clothing and clean hair.  My scene is made up of glam, punk, rockabilly, 
mods, goths, rockers, brit-poppers, indie kids, fashionistas, jocks and 
college kids.  There is no bizarre fascist allegiance with any of these 
people, that is purely the invention of someone who is extremely paranoid.  
Just because we like the same music doesn't mean we're always going to click 
as people but why are you taking that personally?  A lot more goes into an 
individual then just the club they frequent, the clothes they wear and the 
music they collect.  Of course there are people I don't get along with but 
it certainly hasn't been because they can't match my collection of 7"'s! 
What do you expect to find at indie rock shows exactly besides fans?  You 
can't ship people from other sub-cultures in against their will...although 
it would be quite humorous.  People who "party" aren't going to see Tahiti 
80 live anymore than I'm going to run out and endure their scene, but at 
least I have tried.

Chris
--Extraordinary how potent cheap music is--
***Noel Coward***



>From: Thefoxxinthesnow at xxx.com
>Reply-To: Thefoxxinthesnow at aol.com
>To: sinister at missprint.org
>Subject: Sinister: important "indie" rantings
>Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 15:46:41 EDT
>
>
>hello there.  for quite some time i've been a lurker, but i feel now the 
>time
>is more important than ever to write, not for any particular reason other
>than to question the whole indie scene (thus encompassing an entire scary
>subculture).
>
>don't get me wrong, i listen to indie music.  but if you saw me you might 
>not
>think it.  i work at (gasp! a corporation) banana republic, and i like my
>hair to look washed (because it is).  i like to consider myself a purist; i
>don't listen to belle to belong to some strange and snobbish subculture but
>instead for the music, plain and simple.
>
>the indie-rock scene lacks diversity.  go to any concert of any other genre
>and you'll find some many "types" of people, people who have joined with a
>similar love for music.  go to an indie rock show and you'll only find 
>indie
>rock people. so silly.  people who will only talk to you if you look like 
>you
>love the music (?!)   
>
>based on my own experiences at indie rock concerts i can conclude that the
>indie rock scene is pretentious, fake, and breeds snobby, judgmental 
>people.
> the music of the indie rock scene is supposed to contain more beauty, to
>have more meaning to the people who listen to it than fans of other types 
>of
>non-indie music yet indie music fans can only turn and judge another person
>on how vintage their clothing is....
>explain how that makes the indie music scene more mature and enlightened 
>than
>any other.
>
>lauren
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        +---+  Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list  +---+
     To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
     send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
     majordomo at missprint.org.  WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper           +-+
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+
 +-+    "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000     +-+
 +-+  "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000  +-+
 +-+  "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001   +-+
 +-+               Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa                 +-+
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