The 2010s were way more fascinating than people remember so far. we're not yet far enough removed from it to fully come to grips with its implications, but as I've said many times before, I think many of the positive values it brought into the mainstream via the internet (especially from hipsterism) ended up being twisted and warped through the lens of COVID and we've popped out the other side worse off as a society because of it.
The 2010s felt like the last grasp of the internet building a space where you can be weird. Now everyone is on a supercharged form of trend-hopping to appease algorithms.
This could be my cis white guy opinion, but part of it is this idea of inclusion that suggests that everything needs to be 100% inclusive to all people instead of just embracing that we live in a multicultural society and we can coexist with our differences and even celebrate them. But now that there is no gatekeeping, or just even some standard of excellence, it just seems like everything is degrading and becoming homogenous.
My favorite were all the gourmet grilled cheese sandwich places that popped up and everyone would go nuts for them for a month before they realized that paying $15 for one grilled cheese is dumb when you could buy a good loaf of bread and quality cheese for $20-25 and make 4 grilled cheese sandwiches for yourself, even if/when you're drunk.
Yes! My town still has some of those freaking places. We're about 5 years behind the rest of the country's cool cities, so we still have a shit ton of microbreweries and tattoo parlors also.
“And there were, on average, upwards of 19 people in these bands. Arcade Fire rolled 20 deep like they were the Wu-Tang Clan of the indiesphere.”
This made me laugh out loud!
I was firmly in my ‘raising small children’ phase during this period so have zero recollection of culture at this point outside of children’s television. I do remember a lot of these bands though, and not without affection.
This was such a funny one to read; I also remember seeing TurboTax using a Plantasia track on TikTok and had so much cognitive dissonance in that moment
Edward Sharpe requested the general admission crowd to sit down for the final song. So there we sat: cramped together on the beer-soaked floor, ho-ing and hey-ing our lives away.
The 2010s were way more fascinating than people remember so far. we're not yet far enough removed from it to fully come to grips with its implications, but as I've said many times before, I think many of the positive values it brought into the mainstream via the internet (especially from hipsterism) ended up being twisted and warped through the lens of COVID and we've popped out the other side worse off as a society because of it.
The 2010s felt like the last grasp of the internet building a space where you can be weird. Now everyone is on a supercharged form of trend-hopping to appease algorithms.
This could be my cis white guy opinion, but part of it is this idea of inclusion that suggests that everything needs to be 100% inclusive to all people instead of just embracing that we live in a multicultural society and we can coexist with our differences and even celebrate them. But now that there is no gatekeeping, or just even some standard of excellence, it just seems like everything is degrading and becoming homogenous.
“…smaller Midwest cities, their little revitalized parts of town with coffee shops or whatever.”
God, there were so many.
“We opened a book store/artisanal mustard factory in the old Cenex building” is cool, but maybe not the best biz model.
My favorite were all the gourmet grilled cheese sandwich places that popped up and everyone would go nuts for them for a month before they realized that paying $15 for one grilled cheese is dumb when you could buy a good loaf of bread and quality cheese for $20-25 and make 4 grilled cheese sandwiches for yourself, even if/when you're drunk.
Yes! My town still has some of those freaking places. We're about 5 years behind the rest of the country's cool cities, so we still have a shit ton of microbreweries and tattoo parlors also.
Seattle?
i remember the earlier incarnation in the late 90s with the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Mighty Bosstones or was that different stuff.
Love me some Mighty Bosstones!
“And there were, on average, upwards of 19 people in these bands. Arcade Fire rolled 20 deep like they were the Wu-Tang Clan of the indiesphere.”
This made me laugh out loud!
I was firmly in my ‘raising small children’ phase during this period so have zero recollection of culture at this point outside of children’s television. I do remember a lot of these bands though, and not without affection.
Already having nostalgia for that era of music
I quit a co-working space because they kept playing Mumford & Sons.
This is entirely reasonable
My wife's Edward Sharp t-shirt is still in great condition some 15 years after she got it. Lasted much longer than the band, I guess.
I oddly have a soft spot for their first album
This was such a funny one to read; I also remember seeing TurboTax using a Plantasia track on TikTok and had so much cognitive dissonance in that moment
Blame it on my industry. The hipsters sold out.
So what... if anything... took it's place? What is the state of the pop of non-pop?
Edward Sharpe requested the general admission crowd to sit down for the final song. So there we sat: cramped together on the beer-soaked floor, ho-ing and hey-ing our lives away.