What is a 'hipster'?

cafreema

Interesting article that I thought might resonate here: Link.

Not sure how much I agree with the argument that at least some 'hipsters' are just shy, but the rest of the article rings pretty true.

Craig

ScissorMan

I thought being a "hipster" meant you owned a Yo La Tengo record? As I recall, at one point you also had to admit to owning one, but I thought they dropped that requirement once MP3 sales surpassed CDs...

Anyway, "hipster" is usually just a pejorative used by people who don't understand or appreciate the vital role that ultra-obscure music, movies, and art play in advancing our culture, not to mention the efficiency of our landfill usage. Same goes for "scenester" and several other labels that are applied to people merely because of their personal Yo La Tengo record-ownership issues.

I didn't know about the Pabst Blue Ribbon thing - I suspect that's mostly BS, possibly because this particular blogger works for the Pabst Brewing Company. (Not that I can prove it or anything.) As for myself, I not only don't drink PBR, I don't drink alcohol period. For a while, I didn't even drink water. If it hadn't been for the 24-hour intravenous saline drip, I would've dehydrated for sure!

cafreema

The PBR thing is real. It's not spectacular, though. Of course I also don't drink any alcohol period. I only drink Fresca.

I also own two Yo La Tengo records.

Craig

Doofy

We bought our house in a semi-dodgy (and thus affordable) neighborhood a couple years ago. Honest to God, a factor in my decision was the presence of a tattoo parlor up the street, which I took as a promising sign of encroaching hipsterism. And indeed a couple of bars have sprung up around the 'hood since that time...Alas, more big-screen sports bar type places than PBR dives. On the hipster side of the ledger, however, the Bloodshot Records offices are just up the street!

amclark2

thomnottom

I don't buy the shy thing at all. There's too much group activity involved in the current "hipster" subculture for that to make sense. I also don't get the implication that nerds, in particular, dislike hipsters. My taste bounces me around both circles and this is the first I've ever heard that.

I believe that the whole "anti-hipster" mentality has come about because there was never a positive connotation for this iteration. Maybe I'm wrong, but terms like goth, punk, emo, etc. were always used to identify a scene and those who followed it and only became negative terms for people who disliked that particular scene. The hipster term was never really adopted by the indie crowd, but instead used as a pejorative to describe it. So now the term is really only used to apply to worst offenders of the subculture - namely those who are only interested in the style, not the substance.

There's also the fact that previous subculture/counterculture movements had a tendency to be centered around a particular style of music, while the only central theme with hipsterdom is irony and obscurity. Those are 2 things pretty much guaranteed to annoy people. The ridiculous fashions (mustache tattoos) and transportation choices (fixed-gear bicycles) make it hard to believe that they aren't in it just for the attention.

Being in the NYC area I have a hard time believing any of it really has to do with cheapness. You're going to spend $35 to see a band, $20 on their LP, and another $20 on a t-shirt for the show, but you can't afford decent beer?

BigD-Bluez

Does this help any?





Simon is actually dearly known to me, and this album is at eMusic, and a couple of others, and I love the guy. A brilliant guitarist. He runs the gamut from hardcore to hillbilly, jazz to punk - this hasn't helped him to be branded and promoted needless to say. New Yawkers with long memories might recall him as Joey Miserable from the Worms.

thomnottom

How did PBR become Hipster Beer gold?

Katrina

Haha at Kramer's painting. Made me laugh!

ScissorMan

You're going to spend $35 to see a band, $20 on their LP, and another $20 on a t-shirt for the show, but you can't afford decent beer?

Well, you're only renting the beer... You usually get the keep the LP and the t-shirt until the next time you have to switch apartments.

Brighternow

I like the 1940 version:

"Hipster, as used in the 1940s, referred to aficionados of jazz, in particular bebop, which became popular in the early 1940s. The hipster adopted the lifestyle of the jazz musician, including some or all of the following: dress, slang, use of cannabis and other drugs, relaxed attitude, sarcastic humor, self-imposed poverty, and relaxed sexual codes."

- Much more @ Wiki

BigD-Bluez

Here's a couple of MB strolls down memory lane involving the "H" word - some of it is pretty hilarious in retrospect ...
Hating Hipsters For 10 Years
Ho Ho Ho It Must Be The Trolliday Season

thomnottom

Here's another diatribe someone linked on Twitter: stuff hipsters stole

Although the funniest part may be the fact that he's pissed off at being mistaken for a hipster just like all the people he assumes are hipsters, too.

cafreema

Wow, that guy has serious issues.

Craig

Doofy

I feel him on the "Critical Mass" thing, though. We had a kid get killed a couple years ago on an (unofficial) group ride. Lines of bikes just blowing through intersections on a Sunday morning. Can't find it right now, but hipster doofus cyclist was quoted in paper at the time as saying he never stopped at lights or stop signs, instead relying on his "Spidey Sense."

As far as skritchy facial hair and American Apparel goes, whatever floats yr boat.

choiceweb0pen0

choiceweb0pen0

Oh and this NYT article suggests that hipsters have been around in some form for ages.

cafreema

Doofy - I agree on the Critical Mass thing, but that goes far beyond just hipsters. That's morons of many stripes.

Craig

Doofy

Yeh, probly best not to get me started on bikes and cyclists. I am actually a cyclist myself, so I happen to know it's an extremely bad thing to do with a chip on your shoulder. And yet that's the customary mode around here. /screed

choiceweb0pen0

How to Seduce a Hipster:

BigD-Bluez

Don't know exactly what they are but the condition looks serious.

Just in case anyone wants to see where this came from - damnable thing, pardon the expression, is that the songs are vintage originals or versions, and were they $0.49 each like the not so old days instead of $0.79 I might actually have wanted some, but the whole album not likely. Besides there's that cover.