Why I Don't Like Hipsters.

So, earlier I was doing the rounds on Tumblr, and I stumbled across this in The Clash tag. An obviously fake gig poster with 757 notes. In unison, hipsters disguising as fans of these bands were exclaiming how it's an amazing lineup, how they wish they were there etc. There's just one problem:

It's. Not. Fucking. Real.

I mean, firstly, a gig with that line-up is surely going to enter the history books. It's an epic hypothetical lineup. Five of the best/most influential artists of the 70s/80s. The problem? Ian Curtis of Joy Division killed himself in 1980. The Smiths formed in 1982. Sex Pistols broke up in 1978.... see the problem? There was never a point in history were these groups were all together at once. Any actual fan of Joy Division or Sex Pistols is bound to recognize that. Apart from - of course- the hipsters.

It represents something that worries me quite a lot. I'm very concerned about this growing problem of music being turned into a fashion label. What I mean is the growing trend of people wearing artist t-shirts and not listening to them, or just pretending to listen to the artist full stop. It's fake and frankly stupid. It's a total joke. I just don't understand how the hell people that do that are actually happy. Trust me - I've been there. I was badly bullied at school and because I was left with such little self esteem I tried to win the respect of my peers by pretending to like artists in the charts at the time more than what I did. I did quite like the artists but I pretended to love them. Did it work? Like hell it did. It just made me feel worse. I still didn't win them over and I was lying to myself, which is the worst person you can lie to really. After about a month I realized how ridiculous my new behavioral pattern was and quickly abandoned it. I'm a lot happier now that I've embraced my interests, however unorthodox they are, I assure you.

I also feel that the problem creates issues for real fans. I mean Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures cover imagery is one of the most frequently worn music shirt designs I'd say. It's incredibly common. What's not that common though are people that wear the shirt because they love the album. It's become so rife now that a lot of fans simply presume that if you're young and wear the shirt you probably don't listen to them. I've adopted a similar mentality myself, and I'm 19. The other problem? There's people like me -19 and I have a Joy Division shirt. I don't have the Unknown Pleasures design - mine is of the band themselves. The reason I have it is that I'm a fan. You know, the old fashioned way of doing things. I wear that shirt because I'm a fan. Nothing more, nothing less. That's the way it should be.

I guess the hipster mentality is something I am never going to understand. I've got a compulsive learning urge when I love something. If I love a band I want to read as much as I can about them. It doesn't come from wanting to be a music journalist. I've always had this tendency. I don't see how you could love something and yet not have an interest to read up on it. I mean I'm not saying you have to be encyclopedic about a band to call yourself a fan, but at least show some knowledge of the basics. And, in the case of Joy Division I'd argue it's frankly an insult - Ian Curtis was a deeply troubled young man. The despair and pain he felt was obviously channeled in Joy Divisions music to a degree. Yet even after his death it's being bastardized and I'd bet these people give no second thought that - essentially - what they're doing is using a dead man to make themselves look cool. Now, isn't that pretty sick? Think about that.

Saturday night viewing (a day late)

Afternoon everyone and I hope all my UK readers are enjoying Father's Day. I've already given my Dad his gifts: a Tom Petty live collection as well as Paul Simon's Songbook. I must admit I'll definitely borrow his copy of Songbook so I can rip it to my hardrive.

Anyhow, last night I was feeling lazy and didn't bother my backside to share with you the two things I watched. First, we have the concert. Well concert implies it's of any great lenght, which frankly it's not. It's Simon & Garfunkel's brief set at the Kraft Music Hall, which aired in January 1968. They perform seven songs in a twenty minute set. This is actually the show that contains my favourite version of For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her. I also far prefer the version of Patterns here to the studio version. In general, this has to be Simon & Garfunkel at the peak of their powers. This performance is pretty much faultless, and I seldom use that word. Also, I've even seen some gorgeous colour footage of their performance of The Sounds Of Silence from this show. I've never seen any of the other performances in colour though but I'd love to. I don't think this has seen an official release actually, but I really hope it does in the future!

The documentary I watched was especially fascinating. Finally getting The Smiths Complete has made my interest in The Smiths and Morrissey resurge, and I finally watched my first documentary (shocking) on Morrissy last night. This is called The Importance of Being Morrissey and it aired in 2002 in the UK on Channel 4. It's fascinating not least because it contains interviews with Morrissey himself and even shows you inside his LA home. It also features J.K Rowling, Kathy Burke and Noel Gallagher (amongst others) being interviewed. The highlight for me was the incredible footage of him
 with David Bowie, but really the whole documentary is essential viewing for fans. Watching it, I actually felt he came across a lot better than I expected him too. Not to mention he's incredibly intelligent and just a very interesting man in general. Definitely something I really recommend people to watch!

So that's it for last night's viewing, and all being well I should be able to watch more stuff later. I'll be back later with my sound of the week post though!

Supporting Strummerville: An Update

Another follow on post as such. Regular visitors to my blog will remember a very excited in tone post I made last Thursday as I had finally been able to order my first Joe Strummer T-shirt, which came from the Strummerville charity (along with some postcards). Sadly, there's been a little misunderstanding and for one reason or another I won't be receiving my shirt - the exact reason I won't know until I've heard back from the company that run the Strummerville shop, but its been refunded nevertheless. I have a sneaking suspicion it's to do with stock availability, but we shall see. At first it seemed to suggest my whole order was cancelled but an email I received earlier confirmed the postcards have been dispatched and should be here roughly in no more than three days. It's no problem though, it's just a mix-up that happens in life and I will have no qualms about repurchasing a shirt once I get further clarification (which should be tomorrow or Thursday). It's actually strangely beneficial because (and this is a bizarre coincidence) both my local record store and Amazon have dropped The Smiths Complete boxset down to the bargain price of £25. I've never seen it that low and it's something I've been after for an age: once I heard of it's release I deliberately held off purchasing any Smiths studio albums. I've only got the standard edition of The Sound Of The Smiths at the moment. So at the end of the week I'll definitely be getting that. As for my much mentioned collection photo of The Clash and related groups, that will still happen as originally planned. I probably won't purchase any shirt for another few weeks yet at least because I do need to save money so its pointless delaying it until then. But because I'm purchasing Joe Strummer & The Mescalero's first album and The Clash US at the end of the week I'm still going to need to wait until they're here: there will be no collection photo until they get here which will be next Wednesday or so. Until then, I still have a lot of posts to get through - tomorrow in particular looks to be a busy day for blogging for me!