history of modern music

The ninja inspired a lot of conversation about "scene kids" (no, not "seen" kids), so allow me to catch up some people. I'm not going to start at the very beginning with the whole, gospel led to blues and then rock 'n roll ... If you don't know that stuff I can't help you.

We'll start with punk. They're angry; their music is angry. Damn the man. You can go a lot of places from punk.

Door #1 is hippy-punk. These are the dirty, do-it-yourself-ers that look a lot like modern hippies. Key differences: they're still pretty angry, and more socially active ... which I suppose makes them more hippy than most 21st century hippies. Their music is better, and they've held onto some key fashion points that keep them more punk than hippie. They like to host rock shows in basements, and most of them are vegan. These are what I call "real" punks. They're my favorites.

Door #2 is goth. This is usually considered something close to backsliding. Goth kids are angry, but they don't care. They wear black almost exclusively, and a lot of jewelry. These are often people who tried to be punk, but realized it was too much work and they're rather master the art of eyeliner than fight about whether or not it should be tested on animals. Their music is angry and bad. Probably, again, because their musicians were bad punk rock bands.





Door #3 is emo. Yes, that's short for emotional. Emo kids look like they have little sisters who are punk, and they're sad because she's the only one with clean laundry so they have to share. Something like that. They're a little more colorful than goth kids and when you ask what's wrong they usually hang their heads and sigh - whereas goth kids get mad and insist nothing is wrong, this is just the way they are. They started the long hair in the face thing, and they like to take pictures of themselves from above them.



From emo, we got "scene kids." A "scene," first of all is an unofficial collection of local bands and the people who like to see them play every weekend. Very, very easy to mistake for emo, but for goodness' sake don't call them emo, because they really don't like that. It's like tapping on the glass at the aquarium, though, in that people always tell you not to but something about it is so darn tempting. My theory is that scene kids (also sometimes refered to as "scenesters") were emo kids who decided emo was stupid and they didn't want to have to be sad anymore. I think this is why they don't like to be called emo. This is reflected in more colorful tight clothing, hair dye, and eye makeup - thought they haven't gotten over having hair in their faces or taking pictures of the tops of their heads.

Hope that helps!