When I was in secondary school, there used to be loads of small 'scenes' that all had strong sense of culture within each other, to the point that they would write off almost every artist that didn't come from the genre they represented. Even deeper than that, within each scene there were these 'muso' types that aggressively explained exactly what was supposed to be cherished from a particular band or act from their scene. This could be deep metaphoric song writing, the lightning speed technical flow and deliver of the rapper, or just the general vibe and feeling that a band provokes. Now it's fairly obvious that these 'musos' would almost instantly dismiss the judgement and opinion of anyone that spoke even the slightest of praises toward the mainstream generic pop acts that have always filled our charts, deeming them 'uncool,' and there reasoning for this is simple:
"Someone that listens to that mindless manufactured pop jargon couldn't possibly appreciate good credible music!"
Well well well... Fast forward to nowadays and you'll see kids listening to a playlist of music from the very top of the simple sure-shot-hit style pop music like, say JLS for example, right to the likes of someone like Jake Bugg. Even more than that, they actually appreciate the quality of the songwriting, emotion and the genuine talent, despite the track before being completely void of it.
Now this kind of puts a massive old spanner in the old 'musos' theory, because that passion, understanding and love for those credible artists that only cool people choose to get into is not only accessible, but openly consumed by connoisseurs and screaming teenies alike.
It's this sudden change in cultures that gave birth to the often ridiculed 'hipster' mentality, where they dig even deeper into the obscure, desperately trying to find something that they really like, but also fully prepared to throw it out at any given moment if it gets too popular to the masses. To me, it's the most ridiculous concept to ever hit music; love something unless people that aren't as refined as me love it too. But it was this that made me have an eureka moment: Hipsters are just the cool kids fighting against extinction. They've relinquished their pride, realised that there weren't enough of them to maintain their own little genre themed tribes, and have all joined forces under the wonderful and glorious 'hipster' crest.
With the kind of music I make, I never imagined in a million years that I would look out from stage and see guys and girls wearing One Direction t-shirts singing along to what I'm playing, standing next to guys that are almost old enough to be their fathers and who look like they were the Ramones' number one fans. (There actually was someone at one of my shows that forcefully claimed that title). Seeing this makes me really proud to be part of a generation where we don't question what it means if we like a particular song; if we like it we like it. No ones going to judge you or think you can't appreciate something thought provoking just because you also have a 2 Chainz track as a ringtone that screams 'all I want for my birthday is a big booty hoe' when someone calls...