'The Longest Lasting Youth Movement."

       I read a wrong article just now that suggested the "Hipster Movement" (which I believe does not exist) is the longest lasting youth movement ever. After pooping out a small bicycle in shock at the authors inability to see anything not white, I thought, "What about the Hip Hop movement? They've been going strong since the late 70s/early 80s. I would argue they exist and have therefore been a longer lasting movement." The reason, I feel, is that they are in a constant state of flux.
      When something changes before your eyes it is bound to maintain a passionate hold on people or at the very least a fanbase. This is why nobody looks away during the Werewolf transformation scenes in movies. Whether the effects are good or crappy, everybody watches change. Goths have been around just as long, you say? Yeah, but they were never really a movement. Think about it. Bands that are grouped into that genre like The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus and Joy Division were never really goth bands. They were just rock bands who had a look that, at the time, was refreshing to sad kids who owned candles and had religion pushed on them at a young age. This same look seemed dangerous to adults (who hated the sad nature of the songs despite their love of 'Stairway To Heaven', a song angels cut themselves to...I have it on good authority) which made the goth look catch on, although never with a majority of kids so it couldn't be large enough to be a movement (this look was not shared by Joy Division who looked more like The Shins than like Dracula and whose influence can now be heard in such bands as Interpol). By the late 90s, when kids began wearing shirts that stated "I'm a goth" and Marilyn Manson (whose music was closer to Metal than "goth-y" stuff) began driving cars with a license plate that said "Goth Gangsta" it was just a way to sell stickers at Hot Topic. A joke. There was no movement because they lacked the numbers and a strong agenda (their agenda, I believe, was "Don't you hate Christmas Songs and bubbly people?"). This is not the case with hip hop.
      The Hip Hop movement has an agenda. Granted, it changes with the seasons. For a while it was a sense of community seen in block parties with DJs and MCs doing call and response shows in the street. Then came the gangsta era(this is the only era acknowledged by Republicans), followed by the gentler De La Soul/Tribe era which harkened back to the original era and now we are in the phase of an Uber-Capitalist era of strangely large watches. When I was a little kid, a guy in sweatpants and Adidas was cool. Now, that guy would be laughed at and called a homeless beggar in today's bling-bling rap culture. That will change, too, in time and I think we are seeing those changes beginning already.
     None of this matters at all to me. I am only suggesting that when a mindset changes over time, it strengthens. The goths and the hippies held onto a feeling so tightly that they seemed like statues. Immovable and unattractive. This does not mean there are no hippies or goths. Just that they are spread out. Hiding in pockets near smoke shops and waffle houses. Hip Hop culture is everywhere. Their beats can be heard in modern country songs, goth songs, and hamburger ads. The penguin baby in the ad for 'Happy Feet 2' is singing LL Cool J, not Arcade Fire.
     How can one suggest that Hipsters, who again, seem to just be nice kids living near universities with light beards and a plaid shirt are a movement at all, much less one that has out lasted the hip hop movement which started in the 70s?
     And before you think I am biased to one group and cannot give an honest opinion, consider this: I HATE BEING IN A GROUP. I despise the very concept of "Joining" anything. Once you start thinking you belong to a group, the idea of a uniform or a logo on your person doesn't bother you. I will gladly lose a friend, a job, or an oppurtunity before I will relegate my body to someone else's billboard. If I advertise on my body, it will be with something of my choosing.
     'But Tony,' I can almost hear you say despite my ever growing wax build-up, 'You love many "Goth" bands, aren't you a goth? You've competed in Beat-Box competitions, aren't you hip hop? You preach for equality and open-mindedness, aren't you a bit hippie?"
     No, my friends, no.
     I am none of these things.
     I am just an asshole with an agenda. But unlike all of these groups, I admit it.

written by Tony Santiago, all rights reserved, but please post this. Share it. Be a buddy.