so this is something that keeps bothering me, mostly as a dedicated fan of music and as a dedicated musician as well.
i grew up listening to music all the time, it became something i really cared about from a really young age, so as a teenager, ten years ago, i decided i want to play music on my own. that's how i got into playing the guitar.
my dedication for music just grew on and on and with listening to more and more extreme music i became even more open minded for everything else. but anyways...i ended up being some kind of a hardcore kid, since the music and most of the values and contents of that music and scene were something i felt an affinity for. and, to me, that's still one of the key aspects of the hardcore / punk community: alternative lifestyles such as the straight edge movement, political awareness, or - at least - an interest in what is going on in today's world and, of course, the emotionally charged and powerful music.
back in the days, when i got into the music and its scene, it was some kind of refuge from daily routine to me. a place with like-minded people, a place far away from the assholes you had to deal with everyday...in school or at work, where ever. of course, as in every scene and community, there were people who didn't really welcome the new kids, which pissed me off back then. but i think i have an understanding for that today. the more i grew into the whole thing and the more it meant to me, the more i wanted it to stay as it was, since it was so comfy. i never wanted to be one of the bitter and old hardcore kids, but it's hard, haha...
hardcore and extreme music in general became more open to the masses through the last couple of years. and that's what that scene, that used to be a subculture, has to deal with now. this music and all its ideas and contents have been stormed by shitloads of kids that didn't care for anything else than superficial aspects of that music, may it be br00tal breakdowns or really cool tattos. so if your band fulfills those two things, you might be the next big thing! the quality of the music itself became less and less relevant to the youngsters, as long as a band fits the clichés they are looking for.
this has always been an issue with pop music. the stereotype radio listener doesn't care what a song is about as long as he or she is into the melodies, the style or what ever. or as long as mass media tells them that it's cool. that's alright to a certain degree, but this kind of dealing with music is a problem to me, when it comes to music that actually has something more to say and that i care about as much as i do. i can't expect everyone to feel about this like i do, i'm aware of that. but as a musician with a dedication about the music and lyrical contents it's tough to accept, that some kids don't even care about anything i put into this with dedication. when all they do is waiting for a machine gun breakdown, i realize there is nothing we have in common.
so that's the point, i guess. it's that cycle that begins with my dedication and ends with a bunch of mindless, uninterested kids, which are a part of the scene i found to live up my dedication in. the only hope that's left is, that the masses will move on to the next "scene" and suck all the life out of that, just like a plague of locusts. i hope the kids that really care, the kids with a deeper interest in the music and its contents will stay with the scene and make it what it used to be: a refuge from daily routine. a place with like-minded people, a place far away from the assholes you have to deal with everyday.
footnote: this deals with hardcore and the scene mainly, but i wanna clear up that i think that everyone should be open minded for various styles of music. a lot of people that belong to a scene really have to take off their blinders and stop to be of the opinion, that everything they don't like sucks. grow up, people! it's not all black and white...
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