How many times have you heard the words, “I used to really like [insert newly successful musician/band), before they went all mainstream” or “[insert popular bar/club] was cool until everyone started going there”? It appears there is a trend emerging today to condemn and abandon our favourite bands, bars, or clubs the minute they show any sign of wider popularity or ‘going mainstream’. No longer is Mum’s loving advice to “just be yourself, honey” enough to separate us from the swarming masses of iPhone yielding Facebook fiends that make up today’s youth, and be ‘unique’.
Once upon a time things were simple; if you wanted to fit in, all you had to do was follow the crowd – don the latest fashion trend, throw some Top40 on your playlist and voila! Mainstream. But if the thought of wearing high-waisted skirts or V-neck muscle tees and raving to Ministry of Sound made you physically ill, then you just had to ignore it and wear or listen to what you liked – thus coining the label of an ‘individual’. Lately however, mere avoidance of mainstream trends has been replaced with utter rejection and resistance, and the individual has been replaced by the carefully and deliberately crafted ‘nonconformist’.
The nonconformist is a complex creature. Their aim is to resist anything considered to be mainstream; whatever the rest of the ‘sheep’ are listening to, wearing, reading, or watching - they are not. The fashions, tastes, and trends they adopt are deliberate and, ever so ironically, the same from nonconformist to nonconformist. They have created new sub-groups with their own sets of identifiable traits, in the end defeating themselves by their own efforts and conforming anyway in their newly manufactured sameness. Before you know it, it’s the guy in the V-neck muscle shirt blasting Top40 on his iPod who is the odd one out. Today it seems, the key to ‘fitting in’ is to deliberately not ‘fit in’.
Ah, the tangled webs we weave.
This act of resisting ‘mainstream’ social norms is not new by any means. Think the 1970s ‘hippie’ culture – this era was all about challenging established institutions in the name of rebellion and individuality, adopting practices and ways of life that were considered unorthodox at the time. However this act of nonconformity soon became a global trend, developing into a large societal group with its own norms to conform to. What was initially an act of nonconformity marked by long, unwashed dreadlocks, tie-dye, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, is now seen as an iconic reflection of the time.
From hippies to punks to Goths to emos – each decade since the initial hippie-culture youth movement has seen the emergence of its own breed of nonconformists. While their image, tastes and practices have differed between time periods, they have all held to the same fundamental ideal; challenging the existing status quo of the time in the name of uniqueness and individuality.
The nonconformist-generated sub-group that appears to be set to define the current decade, is the ‘hipster’. If you haven’t bought new glasses since 1986, you never say no to nanna’s hand-me-down cardigans and your hair looks like it may be housing several small birds – then it’s your time to shine. Hipsters can be identified by their penchant for indie/alternative music in small, low-key, out of the way bars looking disconcertingly androgynous, yet seemingly carefree, in dishevelled vintage plaid. But don’t be fooled - there is in fact a complex and meticulous craft involved in creating the illusion that one couldn’t care less. Think Russell Brand in his near sprayed-on skinny leg jeans, oversized cardigan and wanton, almost anarchic hairstyle, add Pete Wentz’s Buddy Holly glasses, fill your playlist with some Yeasayer, Vampire Weekend, and Tame Impala, and hipsterdom is yours. Disclaimer: excessive effort is required to appear effortless.
The mere fact that titles like emo and hipster exist at all exposes the irony of the entire charade – no one can avoid conformity indefinitely. Hipsters, emos – the identifiable traits they require of themselves to be individuals, only demand them to conform to the act of nonconformity - as pointed out by the combined comedic wisdom of Trey Parker and Matt Stone that is South Park: “If you want to become one of the nonconformists all you have to do is dress just like us and listen to the same music we do.” After all - a group of ‘individuals’ is still, essentially, a group.
So what does it mean to conform? If conformity is an inescapable reality, and by merely communicating in society we are submitting to agreeable sets of norms and standards anyway – can the act of conformity or nonconformity ever truly be defined? Maybe the things we choose to conform to can make us more or less of a conformist in the eyes of others.
One person might think a religious Cosmo reader, pumping Ke$ha’s latest album, waiting for the clock to hit midnight to score Big Day Out tickets, to be a slave to mainstream trends. Another person might consider wearing nothing but black clothes, chains, and fishnet stockings, sporting multiple piercings that stretch holes the size of coins in your flesh, to be the most conformist act of all. Conformity can’t be measured – only judged. So is there an even greater irony in the fact that we make these judgements of each other at all – knowing we will never agree?
On the quest for individuality, it seems that the mark of being unique is to see fewer people like ourselves. In a society where trends and mainstreams are endlessly changing, emerging, and recycling, this desire is nothing more than a perpetual chase of the tail. Kisschasy’s ‘Spray on Pants’ says it best: “It was a sight to be Scene/I wonder who they’ll be next week?”
Conforming, nonconforming – every action is a form of one, the other, or both. Individuality is not learned, gained, or bestowed upon you by the approval or disapproval of others – it is even more inescapable than conformity itself.
