Sinister: Without wanting to sound like a condescending older brother...

[David Clark.]

 ...I feel I have to add to this "indie" thread.

As I haven't been a teenager for ten years I have had plenty of time to
reflect on the things that troubled me then, and some of those things were
the same things that are being talked about now.
    When I was a kid the Dunedin Sound was in full swing, and if you wanted
to be "Alternative" there were a couple of options. You could go Skinhead,
tough, hard, pretty much fucked in the head. You could go Punk, still going
strong in 1988. You could just adopt the black jeans and tatty black jersey
that was the uniform of the New Zealand bands of the time. Or you could go
"Goth".
    I went Goth.
    Now what happens is, you in your need to be "different" adopt the
uniform of other people who are "different". This is fine, nothing to be
ashamed of, and it serves it's purpose well, being both "different" and a
"uniform".
    The problem arises when you start to discover that the other people who
have set themselves apart from the rest of society are just as messed up and
inadequate as you, (that's what attracted you all to the same thing in the
first place). Which means that they are not always friendly, they are not
always approachable,(for some reason people in the underground look to
people who share the same signifiers as suspicious). They are prone to
backstabbing and bitchiness, and then there is the hierarchy.
    Some have been doing it for longer than you, some for less, some
intimidate you with their inherent coolness and some are laughable (oh no,
now you're doing it)
    This can seem like a blow to you, as you are young, isolated (your
parents don't even understand you) and somewhat vulnerable. To make things
worse you are maybe smoking pot or dropping acid, mmmmmmmm PARANOIA!
    The good part is that eventually it won't matter anymore, It was
terrible for me at the time but now it just don't matter. As you grow you
discover more about yourself and your own individuality, you stop caring
what other people think and you no longer have to hide that "embarrassing"
record at the back of the pile or fret about the cut of your pants and one
day you will laugh out loud about it all.
    (it may  be easy for some to dismiss this cos I come from a very small
country in the South Pacific, but if anything the small size of the "scene"
only exacerbates the problems as everything is more insular and all the
"subcultures" have to coexist)
    On another note, Renaldo mentioned the smiths line "it's so easy to
laugh, it's so easy to hate, it takes strength to be gentle and kind". When
my little brother was in high school two "hard kids" had him hoisted up by
his neck against a wall and were about to beat him up so he said that line
to them and they let him go.

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