The over-mainstream-ization of alternative
(Note: I wrote this while I was insomniac)
You know what many people say about mainstream? Mainstream music like Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, N’Sync, Britney Spears? Mainstream TV shows like American Idol? Mainstream movies like Bad Boys? Mainstream Video Games like Final Fantasy VIII? Well, it’s that they are pretty crappy. So what do these people resort to? They go find some alternatives. And the most obvious is when a person prefers to listen to alternative music instead of contemporary ones - No real offense to alternative music, because some of them are good, even though they have devolved over the years.
And it’s pretty funny that these days, the mainstream is actually the alternative. Yet many, especially people of college age-brackets, insist that it’s an expression of their uniqueness and individuality. They jump at every opportunity to see a "rock" concerts, dress in "rock" fashion, jump in moshpits and scream in euphoria (or mere insanity) as in "rock" performances, and use the \m/ sign to express their "rock" identities. Is all of this supposed to be cool? Notice how overused the word "rock" is these days?
There’s another. As an alternative to contemporary sports, a group of people have managed to make extreme sports recognized as professional (where you can win trophies, credibilities and even, if you’re from this country, elections). Extreme sports are fun to watch. Extreme people are grating to the nerves. And when everything else becomes just an attempt to cash in the extreme sports fad, like XBOX 360 or Megaman Xtreme, individuality and uniqueness gets pretty lost - ironic to the fact that most of these things/people are trying to establish an identity of their own.
What societal impact does this have? Well, for one, people - take note that I don’t want to sound like an old man nagging the present society - especially the youths, misbehave, just so they can be different. They get angry for no reason. They sneer or show an agitated and angry face, not to scare people, but to look cool in ROCK assemblies (or similar things) when in fact they do scare people. They do stuffs that "breaks ground" (but really, it just more of break ethics) just so they can get the EXTREME identity. I have no problem with being rebellious becuase of expressing disatisfaction with the norms. But to be rebellious just to look like some sort of extremist is just plain sick. It’s also annoying. And it’s also illogical to the point that it cause people to do something they regret later on.
What’s pretty funny is that I used to belong to these crowd.
Then I realized that all of this is pretty childish and does nothing but further my lack of immaturity.
Well, bad news. The "ROCK" you get to hear on radio is actually not Rock, but sellouts. The bands that mostly consist of pretty boys or artists that consists of "GOTHIC", not-smiling woman, is actually singing music that’s just pretty mainstream-ish if hardcore standards of rock is to be imposed. (Note: HARDCORE is getting pretty overused as well). To have electric guitars, bass guitars and drums certainly don’t automatically lead to a band with musical decency and ingenuity. To pose as "ROCKERS" definitely do not make a person ROCK. And to post a profile in friendster that describes the self as (sorry to those who get offended) "Simple but rock" - what the hell is that supposed to mean? All it does is to furtger complicate the ’simplicity’ of a person, because not only is the phrase vague and meaningless, it also doesn’t have a unique identity.
To continually call oneself "EXTREME" is also to make the word EXTREME pretty tame. To continue to cash on Extreme Sports Popularity by labelling everything with hardcore/360/extreme is to give Extreme Sports a bad name, because last I checked, extreme sports is supposed to be a seclusion from the contemporary. And besides, here are some excerpts from gamespy regarding XBOX 360:
"Ladies and gentlemen, we present you with the next generation of
Xbox… the Xbox 360! Come on, 360’s are cool, right? I mean, nevermind
that the literal interpretation of 360 means "a complete turn leading
to the same place one started" for a second. Actually, for that matter,
let’s also ignore that a 360 these days in any athletic competition is
laughable. Tony Hawk can pull off 900’s, kids, and most any decent
skater, snowboarder, or even bike-jumping guy (the technical term) can
pull at least a 540. So yeah, uhm… Xbox 360, ladies and gentlemen! EXTREEEEME!"
And here’s another that came from the indie comic "Same Differences"
"Look, unlike some people I know, I don’t constantly follow the latest "alternative" fashion trend to express my "individualism". How hypocritical is that?"
So the next time you think that extreme are cool, well, sorry to break the news, but extreme are extremely berated by the public these days. That site, plus this indie comic, only further proves that. And if you’ve been following Reader’s Digest, one short anecdote from the joke corner states that one of the most overused word that should no longer belong to the dictionary, is, you guessed it, extreme. So, who’s still gonna make the \m/ and shout EXTREEEEME?!
Abiding by Jack Black’s "You’re not hardcore unless you live hardcore", you’re not ROCK and EXTREME and whatever unless you live from deep under and manage to get through it. So if you’re from a fairly prominent family, don’t even try to belong by simply shouting "ROCK!" or "HARDCORE!" or "EXTREEME!". Living under sparce condition is the real initiation rite to HARDCORE. Nobody is EXTREME until s/he breaks records (and not breaks stuff). And ROCK certainly doesn’t describe posers/misogynists who has nothing better to do that to shout, bang heads, dressing as clowns, wearing black lipsticks, doing the angry face posture, and most of all, the \m/ sign.
Lastly, if you hate the mainstream, don’t do so just to act cool. Hate it because you know of its lack in quality. Strive for an identity by creating your own, and not followig the lastest "alternative" trend. Or just go crazy imitating the mainstream.
At least you do no one harm.
