I Can't Go For That

Normally I am all for the basic human emotion which compels us to go against the grain and reject the popular notions of society every once in a while. Often it is small, like wearing Reebok when everyone else is wearing Nike. Sometimes it is bigger, like writing in a Green Party candidate during a Presidential election. No matter the scale, this impulse has served us all well, because if people were always accepting of what we were told was best for us we would have no choices in life and countries would never go through a regime change and, like Thomas Jefferson said, I believe "a little rebellion now and then is a good thing." The problem occurs when people stop trying going along with the crowd because they actually think the crowd is wrong and start going against the crowd just because they want to be seen as a contrarian. That need to feel different and thus superior is where people like hipsters come from. And nowhere does this phenomenon happen more than in the music industry. The second a band becomes too popular for its own good you see the anti-popularity crowd start to come out of the woodwork. And while I can occasionally see their point, sometimes it feels as if they go too far the other way, such as when they talk up horrible bands as being alight. Even worse, sometimes they feel the need to protest to the point it brings back bands which were ignored for a reason.

I bring this up because it seems like for the past couple of months every commercial now features a random musical group from the past, but not the classic, oh-I-can't-believe-how-long-it's-been-since-I've-heard-these-guys band. It's usually more along the Hall & Oates variety, which means bands that no one really needed to be reminded of. I have no problem with misters Hall or Oates, but I think even they would admit the early 80s did not produce that much great music. Just because because it is memorable that doesn't mean it is good. I certainly know I wasn't calling for more Hall & Oates in my day-to-day life. The only good part about a resurgence like this is that eventually it becomes too big for its own good. After a while the people who hated the band the first time around now question if they were too hard on the group all those years ago. Then, seeing the band is in the midst of a rebirth with the kids, decide to act as though they like them now as well just to fit in. Since nothing kills a hipster movement faster than commercialism, eventually the people who only liked the music because no one else did must now disavow any enjoyment in the music, lest they be seen as part of a movement. And that's the problem with only believing in something until too many people do - you end up not believing in nothing much at all.