Dressing for excess...

Jessica Safavimehr, staff writer

 

I had many ideas to write about, yet, none of them really stuck with me. I then came across an article on the Internet that described how to dress “Emo.” The website also included articles on “How to Look Hardcore Without Looking Fashion-Core,” and “How a true Indie Kid Dresses.”

When I first read these articles, I could do nothing but laugh hysterically, all the while thinking people actually take the time to write such nonsense. Then I realized something. It seems as though clothing might actually be more important than the music itself, or maybe it has  always been that way?

The early scenesters didn’t care much for concert attire. You wore what was clean and you went to enjoy some great music. The shows of years gone by had much more meaning. People went to shows for the sole purpose of supporting music. The music of the time was unique, people were unique, and no one band sounded the same as any other. It was truly a great time in music history. Then...the Indie world “sold out.” Everything became scene. In order to be seen one must be scene. The style of music changed, the people changed, the clothing changed.      

 A new generation of relentless teens emerged and brought with them new ideas of what unique actually means. There were certain guidelines that were set, and music now had many sub-genres to go by. The importance of music started to decrease slowly. The Internet became a source of knowledge for those who wanted to be future name droppers and scensters.     

The Internet is not a useful tool of knowledge, as people should not believe all they read on the Internet. Articles are being writen on the Internet to describe the correct way to dress for certain shows. I didn’t believe that anyone actually read those, until I went to a Coheed and Cambria show.

 As soon as I walked in, I was bombared with girls’ jeans and fumes of black hair dye. This new trend that has flooded Suberbia consists of young males wearing girls jeans’, over-dying their hair with some cheap drugstore black dye, and having their hair extremely long so as to cover their face in some sort of shame. Shame of looking ridiculous, possibly?

Not only did everyone wear the exact same thing that night-black obscure band t-shirt and tight girls’ jeans, everyone stood the same, sounded the same. Utterly ridiculous, I tell you. I thought for a moment that this was just some nightmare that I would wake up from soon. I was wrong. What were some of these people thinking?

What was even worse than the Coheed show was going to see Everytime I Die. Not only were the same kids from the Coheed show there, this time they were wearing eye make-up.Since when is dressing as the opposite sex attractive? Once condoned by society, dressing as the opposite sex is now a trend.

Yes, trends do come and go, but I fear that this one will be long-lasting. The worst part of this trend is the facade that it’s supposed to be “all about the music.” In no way is this trend about the music. All of the bands that follow this trend sound the same, and their followers look the same. Music is no longer unique, which was the first ideas of the trend.

As for now, the music remains the same. Every new up-and- coming band sounds like its predecessors and so on. What happened to the days of Mineral and Fugazi, or even the Sex Pistols and Ramones? I am now rethinking everything I have ever said about music, and I believe it’s all just a trend that will soon fade away into the sunset.

Hopefully, this trend will soon end like so many others. But in the meantime, I vow to lock myself in my room and listen to Morrissey on repeat and see how soon that will pick up with these new scensters and name droppers.