On the thirtieth anniversary of the first punk record that I heard, the Sex Pistol's Never Mind The Bollocks, I find myself helplessly drifting off into nostalgic reverie, as the aged will sometimes do. When I was a teenager, I was 12 years too late for punk. It was dead and in a coffin in the King's Road. But I had a haircut and some homemade t-shirts and I remember thinking: "It'll be great, man, when everyone's a PUNK and you go to the bank and the teller is a PUNK and the waitress at the restaurant is a PUNK and the COP is a PUNK and PUNKITY PUNK PUNK PUNK, and we will TAKE OVER." And now, at last, my dreams have come true. Everyone from movie stars to graduate students wears black, smeary eyeliner and has tattoos and a really nice guy at work is a 24 year old Cornell alum with a two-tone faux hawk. And it's terrible. Really, really bad. When I spent my free time getting superfluous facial piercings and listening to questionable music, I felt part of a small, surly culture, but because these pursuits only involved a small cash outlay and willingness to risk infection, they eventually filtered down to the general population. The first time I saw an eyebrow ring/baseball hat combination, I knew it was no longer a mark of my people. Tonight I saw a gentleman on the train with a tongue ring and what is typically known as a "hesher" mustache headed out to the part of town that rhymes with "Hesh-ham".
All I'm saying is: bike messengers, death metal kids, transvestites, animal activists, militants of all stripes and outcasts of all denominations: don't be surprised when one day, people you have nothing in common with look just like you. I found it painful, and I hope you'll steel yourself from that same disappointment.
Ah, that's why I took my tongue stud out about five years ago (after slowly removing most everything else before that). It was clear that it had gone white trash at that point already. Heck, even the eyebrow rings are starting to go out of fashion with the Gresham kids.
ReplyDeleteAll rebelliousness gets co-opted and becomes the mainstream. Or as David "hip to be square" Brooks, put it:
"And that's the most delightful thing about the whole tattoo fad. A cadre of fashion-forward types thought they were doing something to separate themselves from the vanilla middle classes but are now discovering that the signs etched into their skins are absolutely mainstream."
At least I can still change my haircut, or make my own clothes if I want to look different. Tattoos are a whole 'nother game..
Anyway, maybe it's time to just go invent something new then get out of it before it gets too cool.
Probably the most thoughtful blog comment ever. I'm experimenting with superfluous surgery, but find that Genesis P. Orridge has beaten me to the punch-
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