What happens when ‘alternative’ becomes mainstream?

What happens when ‘alternative’ becomes mainstream?

By Ron Bassilian

Ah, how things change. And the more things change, the more they
sound the same.

While in the ’50s beatniks would be getting stoned and listening
to Bach, going on aimless road trips only to realize the drudgery
of normal life all the more, now they can be found at your local
coffee shop sporting their goatees and sunglasses and, well, little
else.

While the hippies of the ’60s fled to the hills, forgot about
bathing and preached against materialism, now they’re at your
nearest mega-concert sporting the long hair and trippy musings.

And so go the ’90s. Yes, the punk and alternative subcultures
have been packaged, commoditized and are ready for mass
consumption. The malls, media and clubs have accepted the new
mallternative era, allowing it to flourish in new heights of self-
expression and freedom of the will ­ yes, being a misfit is
now in, says MTV. Everyone’s alienated, and business leaders
understand.

And so the masses shall follow these holy words. You know who
I’m talking about ­ the flannel and Docs, fresh from
Aaardvarks; pierced tongue; $20 show a week; 200 CDs of all the hot
new bands; hanging out in a clique and showing no human decency or
respect; never outgrowing the high school career-oriented type who
brags about drug usage.

I’m sorry, but when JCPenney TV ads announce, "Get the latest
grunge clothing right now for half price," when the Rastafarian
attitude is now conveniently yours at a store on Third Street
Promenade and Connie Chung announces that punk is back in, you know
something has seriously gone awry in these subcultures.

Let’s get some things straight. Being a misfit sucks. It’s like
there’s some chasm separating you from everyone else. While
everyone else seems happy and talkative, you’re sitting there with
a storm cloud over your head. While everyone else is talking about
sports and the social scene, you’re in the garage with your friends
playing with incendiaries.

You couldn’t fit in even if you tried, let alone if you wanted
to. And so you get relegated outside the social ladder as an
interesting exhibit, but never really one of the gang.

What sucked most about the whole thing was that I figured since
I was the only one to think and behave like this there was either
something wrong with me or with the human race. So when I stumbled
on the punk subculture it was quite liberating.

How refreshing to find that there were actually other people out
there who felt the same way I did ­ who felt deadened,
alienated, freakish. And the music was there as a universal bond,
because it spoke to us, as if we could just as well have written
these songs ourselves. For example, a classic punk song is
"Institutionalized" by Suicidal Tendencies, a rap about someone
who’s frustrated and thinking and people can’t understand why he’s
acting that way. Consequently, they think he’s insane.

There are many different subcultures out there catering to
different kinds of people. Yet through all of them, the music was
only a symbol of the idea of a different way of life, an
alternative to the plastic and neon lifestyle and the kiss-ass
workplace of the mainstream. And so long as the mainstream remains
the mainstream it’ll never understand the idea.

And the idea is the key: an attitude which is an escape from the
mainstream uniformity which is making the world look more and more
like the prophets’ image of the Antichrist’s world. It’s an escape
from having to completely quash your desires and impulses so you
won’t be considered a freak.

And most of all, it is an escape from being passively
entertained, let alone being pawns in a game of profits. Out of
their tiredness of conformity and the struggle of the social
ladder, these people have found the power to do something of their
own rather than watch others doing things.

And they do the things they want, whether it be writing, putting
up garage shows or raves, playing an instrument, hoboing, drawing
or simply just talking to each other about how they feel. It
doesn’t matter how indie or alternative style is, if all you’re
doing is listening or watching, you are doing nothing but passively
standing there.

To those who consider the underground their home, be they plain
looking or freakish, drugged or sober, ravers, punks, hippies, riot
girls, SubGenii or otherwise, I have this to say ­ up until
now you’ve all identified yourselves in your clothing and music.
That only makes for that eternally vicious cycle of fashion where
everyone wants to look new and different but not odd.

It’s time for that to stop. It’s not the clothing or the music
anymore but the idea that identifies us. If you feel destructive,
suicidal, hateful, deadened, alienated, alone, the time has come to
express and spread these ideas instead of letting them fester
inside.

And to those who won’t know and won’t respect, what can I say?
We came together as a denial ­ a denial of your malls, your
fashions, your cheesy gossip parties, your money-driven rat races,
your fake plastic lifestyles. And in turn we became social
lepers.

It used to be we couldn’t even walk the streets without getting
a few weird looks or hearing some muffled, derogatory comments, and
now you want to be like us? You’re not even close.

Bassilian is a third-year student double-majoring in political
science and mathematics.