Just to say, this isn't directly attacking anybody particular, though if any of these descriptions sound vaguely familiar to anybody you may know (or possibly even you yourself), don't be surprised.
The one thing that shows these days are lacking is women. I'm not referring to the sheer amount of young females who are showing up just to say they were at a show, the females who are accompanying their boyfriends only to hide whenever he may leave her side, or the females who sit on or off to the side of a stage without paying any real attention to the acts and performers sometimes pouring out their hearts and souls into their music. I'm talking about the WOMEN who go out, mosh, buy merch, sing these lyrics like it truly means something to them, and don't let gender separate them from anyone else (after all, we're all human beings). It's just depressing going out to shows and seeing a general sense of apathy towards the show itself from these girls (which begs the question, why are you really even here then if nothing about this intrigues you in the slightest?). I suppose going to see This is Hell last night was the straw that broke the camel's back. While they definitely got a great reaction, and singing along with everyone else there was exhilarating like always (props to the woman in the front who knew all the lyrics to "Nobody Leaves Without Singing the Blues"), the aforementioned girls I described were definitely noticeable. At one point on, even TIH seemed to take a little shot at them by giving them a spare mic before one song to say ANYTHING, but all they could do was look bewildered at the band. Needless to say, it wasn't surprising that during one song, Travis Reilly, This Is Hell's singer, did a front flip onto said girls, presumably to get ANY sort of rise out of them.
And before anyone chews me out, there are PLENTY of shitty guys in these scenes as well, if not even more than the girls. Guys who feel the need to follow a trend, when following any sort of trends is what these types of music are prohibiting and encouraging people to not do. If your friend likes this band, then by God I have to like them too. Hear that mosh part? Oh yeah, you KNOW you gotta go off for it. If you aren't wearing this band's shirt, I may not be down with you. And that band we saw two months ago? Ehhh well this kid said they got kind of boring, so it be for the best that if we should go to their show, it'd be more interesting to stand around and only move if they play a cover (and the more ironic, the harder we shall mosh). It's rather discouraging to see genres of music that usually promote individualism and telling you that being an outsider is cool, are now turning into the new flavor of the month for the younger generation.
It isn't deterring me from going to shows though, nor should it deter anyone else. You can stick it out, and keep tabs over whom will truly be attached to this scene for years and years to come, and who will just fade away and join the next popular fad.
No comments:
Post a Comment