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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1994)
America adopts the fringe, leaving us with... NO ALTERNATIVE From James Dean toj Mascis, the weird and sullen ratty-looking kids have always been cool. They’re the loners, the hepcats — the out siders. Sure, they have attitude and they dress great, hut they don’t have many friends and grown-ups hate them. So whji m the lies is going on these dais'- • Supcmtodcl K ilt- Moss in flannel and Ihmio- I Smashing Pumpkins and I he Breeders in' mniMums i up itiv i nms like SAj«*rr in hc.iv\ nut ket rotation coast to-coast* n '■ i ' t, .(iiu uu luiiMuns .uc m A* *.v • ’ »* |.. IJl.lt, V » V II It' - years ago, hail little meaning Yet in a /en like way. this essentialK meaningless phrase has Income the most fashionable marketing term of the dav a media bite full of sound and fury, sign living nothing I ike the ridiculous i icnrratton \ tag, its .1 term that presupposes some snri cit common agenda which simplx doesn't exist I nr .1 1 iiego surfer anil a New lmk thrash ■ punk in the same cafe anil see if the\ get along I Don’t let M 1 \ pla\ you there is no* tl. V • ■ I * V I II.II I % v . 1 .11 M Ml, Still, it alternative culture ha-. am real meaning, it's uut it imi t mainstream. t >r yy.isn t, .it .my rate I hat’s yyh.it alternatives are supposed to Ik- all uImhii hi mum no mm .in \osiciimiii\ ) aiicrnaiivr I unit like Pearl Jam on the cover of hoarv old lime maga/int' g Since distrust ol power and autliorm is tin I ijos|H'l oi alternative, it's ironic that it's U-ing ct> ■ opioi i>\ i mu* arncr mu that s the way it s always Iveen, says Jack \achl»ar, professor of |>opular culture .it Howling t irecn Male l in (>hio i "It an alternative culture is |>crceivcil as a I threat, the threat is neutralized ii\ alisortmig it * into the mainstream, Vuhhar \a\s “la// used to Ik* ‘slumming music* until the young iKrattuks taught on. Nnu it s high art Rap was extreme!) uiulcrgrmnni initially now it's in the l op l en So tor Fell lie \ ctltler to he saying. ‘Oh inv (hid. I'm selling out’ wake up. 1 his is what hapjK*ns. Rob Creighton. .1 junior at I.oyoia l of Chicago inti program director .it \\ I I \\ , says he doesn t Ini> the idea that the mainstream is embracing alter imuu’ umuK rnr v .reigiuon, me cnanging styles in music anil fashion have less to do with alternative cul lure than youth culture It’s a matter of growing up. wun an me meviume compromises. 1 MI*or a while I run around with a shaved I head and a nose ring," he savs. “Now I'm ■ older, and l don t \s |>eoplc, we re growing into the mainstream, anil so is the music ue listen to.’* \utmau\i\ na/n> unincu as nun mam ■ stream, has hccnmc mainstream. It's like I grossmt; up to Ik- sour parents It's teks * mhi it s not itist happening in music, although that s where the ‘alternative’ concept began. Cameron ( rowe, screenwriter anil director of some of the l>ct — Iter youth films of the last decade (Say Inythng. Single*). sa\s this transition is entirely natural in any form of entertainment. top culture just sweeps along and takes everything with it," he *>.i\'> “(irantcil, it will onlv enter the mainstream it it s profitable, but that s the nature ot the mainstream. - >u», iti mm in mm, real issue oriented slut! is more prevalent than in the 'K(k There are more films at "Hit real people I ake Realm Him. I liked it It tokes about I \ and musu and |«i|i culture It's lunm " In \incruan literature as well, mam authors were markedh "counterculture’' in their origins “ Mien ( iinsiK’f g is now a great \mcnc an poet, msteaJ ‘>t the hltln heatmk he was in the N'athhar sa\s llell, even ITkhi-ju u.»s considered i space) am»ia mu wnnc nr wav . alive I I Wall media terms like alternative and (>en cratinn \ stumbling •ilxiut. von have to wonder now iiuu n <>! wiui comes across on l V, radio and film is I at curate, ami hov% much «»! it is pie ihcurtl, nurLi t.ililc catch-phrasing? Is the mcuiu simpi) reflecting popular opinion or is it pacing it' I think there s .1 little of both," sa\s Brail lluhhell, the year-old to owner of the reicntlv opened store (nil \. an “alternative mcilu" simp in Fast I ansing, Muh Huliltell's store sells coma UhiLs, '/ines jinl cult films like Him I flirt .mil Sbe i (tollj Ha. ( It “In the past few tears, pub he opinion has definitely moved towards the idea that one tiew ot something is not mute right ” lie s.i\s "It ilocsit t have to come out of I loll) wood to Ik.* a tfootl film. It doesn't have to he a lime Warner publication to Ik* a good magazine. "On the other hand, ever) time a generation comes up, the generation Indore has a tendency to want in pul .1 tag on il. l ike with (feneration \ u ilefines j certain ace group, tnavbc, a certain expert cruc in griming up, hut that s it.” \ hard-core cynic might point out that, in that case, nauiine sour store (hit \ smacks more than a little ot condescension and opportunism. IMuhhcil s perspective: "ror us, (ten \ is lust the name of the store something to sa\ hcv, there arc some different thmus insult* here. Well, yeah... Ok liuhtieH's a businessman those who dismiss him .ire prohahly pist align the) didn’t _I w MM nil CMflUrorttun In Mt am iton •I I V a think of it first \iuf he has hit mi a raptdlv gr< iw mg market. I ens < if thousands of Vim s are living published in \mcrica small, underground publications often designed on [K-rsonal eomputers ami printed al the local copy ceil ter In addition, innovations in electronic cnnimumca tions allow people from all over the world to exchange information, via computer modem, at cyberspeed, and people are finding they don't need to relv on tradi tional media sources. "Mainstream media are appropriating and pillaging voulh culture and giving nothing in return," says R Seth Friedman, publisher of rsheet \ an index and guide to Vines. “M ore and more, though, alternative literature is... Iiecoming accessible. Places like Power kecords are stocking zincs now I hrough computer technology, zincs are looking slic k and c osting less,” David Moodic, a lWf graduate of Syracuse l and editor of Might magazine, is also attempting to pro mote alternative media Ills publication, recently released through national distributors, is attempting to find a middle ground lietwecn regional Vines and full U>rc mainstream rags M oodie and his fellow editors, David I* ggers and Marny Requa, want to ensure that their magazine and others like it can maintain editorial integrity in the ultra slick world of mainstream pop culture tuaga zincs Details is a phone Ixiok," savs Moodic. “I very damn product you see in that thing has a phone mini Ix r or address w here \ ou c an bin , buy, buy ." Tin- point remains even though lluhliell ami his partner are hanking on it, and even though Details advertisers are targeting it there still seems to Ik- no actual, cohesive, alternative culture “ I he term 'alternative,’ in imisu at least, has lost all sigmiKancc, s.i\s \ustm music crn u .md Rolling Slime writer Don Mel ccsc " \lt ernative is .is much packaging as content. It's become a demographic term. I here's a local artist here in \ustm. Mlahandro I scovedo He's great, and his music is certain!) alternative to the mainstream, Imt he will never he embraced as an alternative artist. He’s 42, he's lispamc vl tentative marketing is getting in the way of alter native music." So what it we Break down the word 'alternative' into its component parts'- What alioul the myriad fringe groups, suh sects and pocket cliques- (.ylier punks Retro hippies B lioys Run girls I veil at this level, there's no real viscosity Jane Student is likch to go to a Dead show Friday, tell her email pals aliout it Saturday, and unwind with the new Beastic Boys ( d ) Sunday. \ml this isn't even considering historically disjios sessetl groups what aliout contcnqiorary Black cul ture? What aUiut gay culture, feminist culture- Do they fly under the alternative tlag: I low aliout fundamentalist (.hnstians, for that mat ter 1 hey 're certainly outsiders with the media and cur rent administration. It you’re really looking lor an alter native culture, why not try Nepalese I antnc Shavisni? I he cruel truth is. alternative and mainstream lost any son of meaning years ago may Ik- when kerouac met Burroughs, maylie when Dylan met the Beatles. It s almost on a personal level now," says lamie Del’olo, a 1'tU! graduate of Michigan State l "Be true to yourself, to what you fielieve in. i remcmlicr when 1 tirst heard I he (dash on the radio. I ran right out to get the album I hat's alternative.” Mternative culture is whatever you want it to lie It’s your m jokes with your roommates, your junior high poetry, your l rule I lank's elephant jokes. Whatever. 0
