So you reckon that you're the "Alternative"
type. You wear the low-slung baggy
pants, tight top and get some Adidas trainers. You
get yourself pierced, and maybe even a tattoo or two
(tastefully placed of course). Then you look in the
mirror and it dawns on you you've turned into the
All Saints. You are a conformist, whether you realise
it or not. The Alternative lifestyle is being bagged,
tagged and hung out in Asda's for £9.99 a pop.
And there is nothing you can do about it.
Just ten or fifteen years ago you could set yourself
apart from the norm easily. Anyone with combats, docs
or stripy tights was automatically relegated to the
fringes of society. Now looking different means you
have to put so much metal through you that it doubles
your body weight, you have to spend an hour a week
making sure your hair looks properly dreaded, and
is just the right shade of pink. Clothes need to be
so exaggerated that every inch of your pristine Calvin
Klein's should be on show, you've got boots ~:o so
high that you suffer from vertigo, and your make up
is so garish you look like an extra from a particularly
bad B-movie. Then, to complete the look, you have
to sprinkle yourself with so much glitter the world
turns into a giant disco-ball. Emulating your Alternative
heroes means self-inflicted pain, ridiculous beards
and not |
washing your hair for months. But all
it boils down to is you are becoming ultra-fashionable.
Flick through style bible Vogue and what do you
see? Recent articles have included one on the skater-chic
label Silas, and another focused on how trendy it
is to have red hair (making half of sloane square
reach for the Directions). The clothes Vogue finds
inspiration from are often the second hand bargains
that designers like Donna Karan and Stella McCartney
love to buy from flea markets. However, its not
just high fashion that steals from Alternative culture.
High street shops like Top Shop and Miss Selfridge
now trade in the one time Riot girl favorites of
leopard skin, hello kitty and manga T-shirts. Previous
fringe culture standards like Doc Martins and Combats
are being sold everywhere from Oasis to Asda's.
Everywhere you turn Alternative fashion is being
peddled as the norm, the style of our disaffected
youth is being repackaged and injected into the
mainstream.
But that's just fashion! Real Alternativism is
all about the music, isn't it? Well, yes it is.
But what would once have been considered utterly
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different from the mainstream is now riding high
in the charts. Catatonia, a band that would previously
have been happy to trawl round the indie pubs of
England, now plays at huge arenas. Bands like James,
Charlatans and Super Furry Animals that we (being
old farts) remember barely breaking into the indie
charts are now almost as much a feature of the mainstream
singles chart as Steps or B*Witched.
WHEN GREEN DAY ARE IN SMASH HITS, ISN'T IT TIME
TO MAKE A REAPPRAISAL OF THEIR ALTERNATIVE STATUS?
When Green Day are in Smash Hits, isn't it time
to make a reappraisal of their alternative status
That's not to say that only indie music has been coerced
into the mainstream. Marilyn Manson is a regular on
the MTV awards, and bands like Korn, Offspring and
Limp Bizkit are often in the charts. When Green Day
are in Smash Hits, isn't it time to make a reappraisal
of their alternative status? There have always been
rock and metal bands in the charts, these bands are
just taking over from where the hairy rock gods of
old left off.
You could argue that just because these bands are
popular, doesn't mean they aren't Alternative. It's
all a state of mind after all. But that is just
missing the point. The phrase "Alternative Music"
was originally coined to describe music that was
not part of the mainstream. So when an alternative
band becomes popular
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enough to get into the charts on a regular
basis, when they are shaking hands and going to parties
with Posh Spice and Ronan Keating, when they are that
integrated into the mainstream, how can they possibly
be an alternative. It seems like the only alternative
lifestyle left is Goth, and who wants to be a Goth
anyway?
So what is the solution? Do we ignore any band that
hits the charts, and delve deep into the recesses
of the music press for bands so obscure that only
a handful of people over the country have heard of
them? Or do we simply accept the fact that the bands
we love are becoming part of popular culture, and
admit to being pop-kids.
The phrase "Alternative Music" has outlived its
sell by date. Its time for us to make a decision,
and time for a change in attitude. We have to lose
our sense of alternative snobbery, lose this feeling
that our lifestyle is so superior to the townies
with their Ben Sherman shirts and "Best of Ibiza"
compilations, and admit that we are yet another
facet of the mainstream. The alternative is to delve
deeper into the underground. It's easy to do. For
every band like Korn there are a million bands like
Melt Banana, The Boredoms, Unsane or Goldblade waiting
for you to discover them. Indie kids are spoilt
for choice with bands like Brassy, Ooberman, Spearmint
and Rosita all kicking around the circuit at the
moment. All you have to do is delve slightly deeper
than the front page of the music press.
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