Well here it is, my first ever entry in a weblog. This is truly a noteworthy event.

5-9-2006

The Nostradamus of Pop Cult: Adam Rue

Whenever I use the term “pop culture,” I’m referring to the national and international music scenes and the various events, revolutions, jargon and phenomenons that impact them as well as the ripple effects that influence local hipsters’ and scenesters’ fashions and ideals. I think that I speak for everyone reading this when I say, “I don’t care if Britney and K-fed’s next child is a boy or a girl, and I really don’t care who Nick Lachey is dating or how his ex-wife is doing. To pop culture afficionados, TomKat is an unexplainably intriguing phenomenon...it interests me about as much as watching my sister throw cards into a hat. One could say that I’m a selective pop cult enthusiast. Can you say Popozao!?

As with history in general, pop culture has reoccurring fashion trends that manifest themselves in cycles. One obvious fashion trend includes jeans and how high they are worn and how tight they are, see Mariah Carey and Mark Walberg. What might seem like an unimportant fad, the khaki pants, were popularized during the second world war when the standard issue pant for a serviceman was a pair of tan slacks. It came and went a couple of times before becoming a staple in the American’s casual ensemble. In the early nineties, khaki Dickies were donned by some of hip-hops most beloved gangster, pioneers such as Dr. Dre and his band of west-side toadies. They were worn just loose enough to fit a pistol snugly between the abdomen and the waistband or the small of the back and the waistband, however you prefer. Now khaki pants are more prevalent than ever thanks in part to a growing population of Realtors...hold the cargo pockets. I’m done talking about pants for now.

I really could go on for a while about different fashion trends such as the skateboarding fashion subculture that turned mainstream, the Nike revolution, the 90's Doc Martens with wool socks and shorts, Los Angeles and the pink polo, the idea of messy hair and the too cool for school persona. A catalyst for the post high school frat boy movement is the overly priced and formerly hard to come by, Abercrombie and Fitch. A&F’s blatant peddling of sex as fashion and this too cool to care look, is extremely ironic. Abercrombie markets itself as this, but it’s main demographic is dudes who are decked out from head to toe with over $200 in Abercrombie gear and look more like they’re wearing an Abercrombie uniform, complete with the ultra-recognizable scent...as opposed to actually, not caring. Another unrelated, interesting concept is the, “not metosexual, just Asian” styles, characterized by a mix of vintage throwbacks and quasi-class. In general, Asian’s have a tendency to care and the gall to act on it. The difference between Asians and the rest of the illiterate fashion world is that Asians can actually pull it off and generally come off as put together and sophisticated. Overdressing is never a concern for the typical Asian, a trait to be envied.

Music provides us with so many trends that they get lost in the muddle. It’s no secret that the young are ultimately, the trendsetters, but they are also surprisingly out of touch with culture and are oblivious as to why certain trends are cool. Case in point, when I was in sixth grade, I was enamored with flannel. At the time, I didn’t know why, I guess I just thought they were cool. Now, of course, I know why. I could point out other examples, but I think you get the drift.


On to a personally sensitive subject: the types of appropriate attire in different regions of the US, more specifically, my penchant for overdressing in the Northwest. Coeur d’Alene is a really great place to live...if you’re married, or if you’re at least 45. It’s pretty sheltered overall as far as outside exposure is concerned. For example, I am a real estate professional, I deal with hundreds of thousands of dollars on a regular basis. I work in an office setting and have real clients. In Coeur d’Alene it’s actually more appropriate at the office for me to wear cool-ripped jeans (not to be confused with ripped jeans) with a Kurt Cobain style thermal and a t-shirt with sneakers, than it is for me to wear a tie. If I wore a tie, I would definitely hear things about how I thought I was sooo cool or other sarcastic remarks bout how I think I’m somebody I'm not. Not only would I hear about it, but in all honesty, I would admitably be out of place. How would this generation get by without flip-flops? In the summer, my feet see more sun than Yuma, Arizona. How about the girl who wore flip-flops to the White House? This made national news and I bet most Idahoans didn’t understand the fuss. Recently, I attended an old high school friends wedding and I wore nice dress slacks,a tie and a blazer. Pretty normal wedding attire..so I thought. I was definitely overdressed, however, I did look really...really good. It was then that I realized the unwritten dress code in Coeur d’Alene. It’s pretty simple; khaki’s and a polo are always acceptable until you go out, then you change into jean pants or shorts. Another rule of thumb; shorts and jeans are always interchangeable.

As it is inappropriate to wear attire that is, in a sense, too nice, it is also inappropriate to wear attire that is too indie...if I can use that term to describe an individual who appears unkempt. The main industry in Cd’A is tourism, therefore service is a primary occupation for many of the locals. How many times have you been to an upscale restaurant in a big city where the fairly pleasant and competent waiter has visible tattoos, piercings, and/or unnatural hair color? This same person couldn’t find work in Coeur d’Alene. It’s actually funny to see a scenester in Coeur d’Alene, with their extremely tight shirts that bare enough midriff to make Christina Aguilerra blush. Also, I’ve noticed dyed black hair covering one eye is popular now, along with the ubercool Chuck Taylors or checked Vans. I guess this is the 80's getting recycled, a la The Cure, Depeche Mode and the B-52's. If you see this in a big city, sitting in a coffee shop or waiting in line to see a show, you might think to yourself, “this person is cool.” If you see the same person in Cd’A, they’re a FREAK!

How do I get off calling myself the Nostradamus of anything? People between the ages of 16 and 30 pump a huge amount of money into the economy via television, movies, internet, music, and ipod. Therefore these are the people who control what’s cool. These are also the people who care. If you want to find out what the next big thing is, go to a college town, or go to an indie show. You’ll notice that everything that you thought was cool, has changed. What is the band wearing? You might say to yourself, “I don’t care about what anyone is wearing, all I care about is the music.” That’s fine and great, but you can get a better idea of what kind of music is on the horizon by what you see people in a particular scene wearing, such as tighter jeans and cowboy boots, but no cowboy hats please. Right now, there are a number of bands that have more of a country persona than sound, alt-country. Don’t be fooled by their against the grain approach though, they are still the trendy wannabes, they still have the different members that have novelty t-shirts, mohecians, and strategically placed scarves, but they do care about the music and they care about being something different. There are a lot of bands out right now that are teetering on the brink of alt-country and there will be more. Maybe the scene I'm predicting won’t be dubbed as “alt-country,” which is not a term that I coined, but there will be something, there will be cowboy boots, there will be rhinestones, there will be at least one steel guitar featured on one song on each album, there will be Fender Telecasters and lyrics about things other than crying in beer and dying dogs, it will be revered. At this point in time I will call it alt-country, and maybe it never gets a real imaginary genre confining name, but it will happen. 80's retro electronica can only last for so long.

At this point I will avoid broaching the topic of dance rock like Franz Ferdinand and The Killers or fashion rock like The Strokes and the aforementioned bands. I'll also leave it up to the OC and Zach Braff to introduce Death Cab for Cutie and The Shins to SoCal girls.