Comments on: A Brief History Of The Counter Culture

By: Derek

Derek — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:58:11 +0000

If you ask me, and that is only if you are asking me.. The current counter culture is the people who live their lives to survive. Scratchin and surviving to keep their kids in clothes and school. Theyre the counter culture because they don’t get caught up in marketing or anything like that. They buy what they need because they need it, not because it’s cool, and not because it is ironic. They’re their own original people… they just don’t get to acknowledge it because they’re busy working… because they need to… because they arent doing it to be cool…

I don’t see how irony can really drive such a big group of douches… I grasped irony when I was young, everybody did, it’s nothing new or special…

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:21:47 +0000

Being a hipster means dressing cool, hating on everything (especially hipsters) and saying you are NOT a hipster. Maybe we can get a counter-culture that is more… positive. :)

By: jenniewhite

jenniewhite — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:45:23 +0000

I’ve been confused with the “hipster culture” from the moment I met my friend from L.A who had it down pat. I’ll admit to trying to fit in, unsuccessfully. Great article, you’ve helped me understand it better. I liked the Urban Outfitters piece the best, I had no idea a right-wing conservative dude owned it. Thanks for clearing some things up for me. Great blog!!

By: VioletLove

VioletLove — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:27:16 +0000

Posted by Nathan:
“I offer a couple potential movements filling the values-void, many based on my own current interests:

- The new rationalism. Reason/science based rejection of religion/superstition as necessarily anti-modern and poisonous to society, and the consequent restructuring of ethics established through secular philosophy
- The digital rights/piracy/net neutrality movement as exemplified by the likes of Reddit and 4chan. As western culture shifts to the web, lines will be drawn and the protection of the web from powers that be and commercial corruption will be increasingly viewed in ethical terms
- Buddhism/eastern philosophies popularized by the likes of Eckhardt Tolle, which emphasises emptying your mind, living in the moment, and true self-esteem based on contentment with the now
- Moving back to more natural systems and rhythms, even in an urban context. Questioning the basis of food production/consumption established by 20th century agribusiness. This probably fits into the wider eco-conscious movement”

All I have to say is right on Nathan!! And please do not forget the huge pro marijuana/end the drug war/civil and gay rights movements going on right now! We are living in some pretty exciting and progressive times ;->

By: private label rights membership

private label rights membership — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:57:34 +0000

well when there are no more ghettos maybe thatll happen.

By: linkz

linkz — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:48:22 +0000

obviously, the hipsterjoke thing offended you

By: Carter Paige

Carter Paige — Thu, 14 May 2009 01:16:30 +0000

Lets be clear: this is a history of post WWII white teenage America. In no way is it inclusive or accurate. entertaining as hell though!

By: ppc keyword tool

ppc keyword tool — Tue, 12 May 2009 08:51:22 +0000

i really wonder why some people care so much about what kind of pants other people are wearing.

By: Mary P.

Mary P. — Sat, 09 May 2009 09:28:58 +0000

I believe that nerd culture was/is the counter culture of the Oughts. And as with the rest of the counter cultures, it is now “cool” to be nerdy/geeky, and therefore a new counter culture must emerge for 2010…

By: Syndrum

Syndrum — Fri, 08 May 2009 23:26:27 +0000

what about today’s weirdo “emo”s with their ass-tight ankle hugging jeans and rooster inspired hairdoes.. kinda like the goth’s meet peewee herman!

By: Nataliedee fan

Nataliedee fan — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:32:39 +0000

Please credit Natalie Dee (nataliedee.com) with a link back to her site, it’s all she asks of people who use her comics, as you did here (Hipster vs Natural Hipster)

By: Dustin

Dustin — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:58:49 +0000

Like any brief history, it’s not complete. The sub-culture is decidedly not the caricature you made of it in your attempt to explain how it becomes caricaturized. There is more than one type of personality rebelling each decade, as the counterculture is usually about free thought and therefore has a lot of variation. Thus it can’t be a target market. Also, about the late 60s “A lot of people taking drugs they can’t handle” freaking out. A few people might have been unable to handle LSD (which is synonymous with acid) but the main thing that caused psychotic episodes and freak outs from psychedelics was the fact that the government made it illegal. This makes for drugs like PCP being sold as the safer acid, as well as people being arrested during what would be a peak joyous experience, and what becomes a nightmare of getting put in a cell while on LSD. Because as Timothy Leary said before they put him in prison for suggesting that they keep LSD regulated in the medical community so that the black market problems that arose wouldn’t arise: It’s about set and setting. If the setting of your acid trip is a bunch of assholes hitting you with battons, you will be re-imprinted to think that reality is as such. THAT’s why people have nightmareish flashbacks, not because LSD is inherently scary.

By: Ned Hepburn

Ned Hepburn — Fri, 08 May 2009 07:15:07 +0000

i know punk started in the 70’s… it didn’t quite hit the suburbs (in america, at least) until the 80’s, IMHO.

By: read a goddam book maybe?

read a goddam book maybe? — Fri, 08 May 2009 07:11:22 +0000

This article had so much promise, until it turned out to have been written by someone who seems to have absolutely no clue about anything counter-culture at all. Your thesis is flawed as fuck. While I do agree that all counter-culture is eventually co-opted and turned out in high-gloss corporate carbon copy, the fact that you totally skip over the origin of punk in the mid-70’s, don’t know that acid is the same fucking thing as LSD, use Janine Garafolo as an example of cutting edge hipterism in the 90’s, and signal the death knell of grunge being in ‘97 (WTF???) pretty much proves you’re a corporate version of someone pretending they know anything about true sub-culture. Do some fucking research next time that involves more than googling shit and looking up the results on wikipedia.

By: fud

fud — Fri, 08 May 2009 04:03:11 +0000

you’re all a bunch of fucking morons

By: Television SPY

Television SPY — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:24:53 +0000

Great article, they’ve definitely packaged and sold rebellion over the years – but none moreso than now. In the 50’s and 60’s it was a bad thing to be seen as a hippie, socially it was looked down upon to be rebellious.

Contrast that nowadays where rebellion is packaged and processed and sold to youth and young adults.

Buy X and and be Unique, Drink Z and stand out.

By: Ariel

Ariel — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:56:50 +0000

Ned, Ned, Ned, this is ex drunk, drug addled whiny art-fag Ariel reporting, you know the one from the Columbia dorms who use to get trashed and play tick tack toe on his chest with razor blades in a petty attempt to get attention. To say the least, having known you, I’m not surprised you’ve revoked your past as hipster numero uno.

I will say this though, the problem with the hipster phenomenon isn’t exactly the movements, it’s the fashion statement associated with those movements and their evolution with in a mall-culture society. If there was any thought or sincerity with hipsters then they would have been dead on the spot, the hipster exists solely as a image, not a concept. Hipsters don’t read books because of the ideas, they read them because it makes them look smart, they don’t listen to bad eighties music because they sincerely like or admire it, they do it because it makes them seem quirky or at best worth a quick laugh. And I don’t need to comment on the fashion, because that would be beating a dead horse. In fact the hipster isn’t much different than the Jones, only there it has more leeway with half assed individualism. If someone has to like something ironically, then I get the impression that they really don’t like it.

And lets not forget popular psychology and it’s influence on the advertising industry, but it would take book to properly explore that, but here’s a good place to start:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8953172273825999151&ei=JY8DSpypNYa6rwLBorGvCA&q=century+of+the+self&hl=en

Oh and just for the record I’ve renounced all of the nasty things I’ve said about the alligator hunter.

By: dee

dee — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:35:00 +0000

im sick and tired of the damn emo kids. i miss grunge. maybe im getting old since i hate these young kids and their lame ass pop culture. My style is not dictated by a band or what I see on tv. I wear what I want and I refuse to pay 30 bucks for a fucking tanktop just cause its got some doodles on it. I cant wait to see what 2010 brings. Im hoping music gets good. Im hoping counter culture doesnt become a merchandising tool for fat cats to exploit… but i know i probably hope in vain. damn these emo kids, why are you pretending to be sad emo kid? what statement are you trying to make? are you fucking soul searching or just copying the million drones who look and act exactly like you?

great article man

By: Stu

Stu — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:14:16 +0000

Bob Dylan didn’t give the Beatles acid. He gave them weed before they began Help!, but they didn’t start doing LSD until the period between Rubber Soul and Revolver when George and John were both dosed by a dentist friend of theirs, the subject of the song Dr. Robert.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:21:37 +0000

Obviously this is not 100% accurate, because it distills all these periods into caricatures, but I think it gets the general drift right. I found it helpful to see it put in a historical context like that, as I’ve been depressed by the idea that we are in a unique period where ‘coolness’ is branded, commodified and sold back to people as something to be purchased on daddy’s credit card. I started identifying myself with the alternative/art scene when I started high school in 98 or so, when it did have a certain diy/conscious-living/questioning authority value system. But living in NYC and seeing every other random college kid now buying thrift-store pants for $90 at Urban Outfitters and spinning the latest electro LP bought at said store, it’s obviously become a parody of itself. It’s become devoid of meaning and purely an aesthetic/commercial phenomenon.

I offer a couple potential movements filling the values-void, many based on my own current interests:

By: sussed

sussed — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:16:08 +0000

Ya forgot to mention the beloved British ‘Mod’ from the early 60’s …who affectively appropriated American black music culture (jazz & blues etc) dressed it up in forward thinking men’s fashion from Italy and the US and then basically repackaged it, sending it back to the us in the form of the ‘British Invasion’.

By: roomtone

roomtone — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:04:51 +0000

Re: Hipster losing it’s context.

I would agree. Hipster as a definition has become a joke. Much like the word hipster did the first time around in the 50’s. But, it’s just a label. No one called the punks hipsters, they were punks. Same goes for Hippies (as opposed to hip-sters), Ravers, and whatever you would call Disco fans of the 70’s.

But, even though the label no longer has it’s uses (for now, anyway), there are other groups with similar ‘undergound’ ties.

Like the “burners” someone else has already mentioned.

Burners are going strong and creating things people can’t even imagine right now. Yet, they have a concrete lineage to all previously mentioned scenes. Burners are poets and artists, tend to have hippy ideals and like jam music, dress like disco queens in a Mad Max movie, use their culture to try and educate while employing a large DIY ethic, like punk did, and dance all night to the banging sounds of Techno and all of it’s children (Dub Step being the biggest one right now). Add this to the large scale art and architecture (yes…architecture) coming from that scene and you have something completely new.

Long live the fiery death of wooden men….

By: Jo

Jo — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:51:21 +0000

You theory is deadon (though somewhat redone and redone, I wrote about the commercialization of grunge in college in ‘96 based on an essay I had read about the commercialization of the hippy movement). However, you details…yah…not so much.

Every punk fan knows it was a 70s thing. LSD is Acid. Beatniks were into chemicals, not just uppers. Should have stuck to higher-level theoretical and less on hard core facts about which you seem somewhat fuzzy. My 2cents anyway.

By: Ned Hepburn

Ned Hepburn — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:46:19 +0000

Roomtone: you’re right. thanks for noticing the errors… i knew i had KLF mixed up and gave it my best shot.

and yes, there is a lot going on. i just think its hilarious that people say “hipster” anymore: its totally lost its context.

By: bodiddly

bodiddly — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:45:55 +0000

if by LSD and acid you mean pure sandoz LSD vs. the acid made by chemists and sold to on the street you should probably clarify that shit. homebuah.