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My take on it is the absence of role-models. In the 60's LSD and the Stones, the Doors, the Hippies In the 70's Hash and David Bowie, Disco, Kiss, Alice Coope

My take on it is the absence of role-models. In the 60's LSD and the Stones, the Doors, the Hippies In the 70's Hash and David Bowie, Disco, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Pink FLoyd In the 80's it was Coke and New Wave, Duran Duran, Punk In the 90's it was Alcohol and Metal, Ecstasy and Raves, Madonna's experimental phase encouraging women to test their limits. In the 00's there was Marilyn Manson, Nu Metal? But it's already getting fuzzy. What it is now ? Where are the big stars, i.e. drivers of youth culture. It's the Justin Bieber's and Taylor Swifts 'of this world that have a major impact on youth culture right now.

Apocryphon 9y ago
Nah, the late '00s and '10s was about EDM and the resurgence of raves, as well as Ecstasy and so forth. Mega-DJs like Skrillex, David Guetta, deadmau5, Avicii, etc.
- jsemrau 9y ago
  But are these Mega DJ's cultural icons ? I like Skrillex's and deadmau5's music, but can they compare in cultural impact to a Freddy Mercury or John Lennon? Why am I not seeing the skillex t-shirts ?
  - Apocryphon 9y ago
    They were pretty massive in the late '00s, though perhaps more in the college set than younger kids. EDM is still big but not as culturally shifting as your Biebers, T-Swifts, Kanyes, or Lady Gagas, sure.
  - CalRobert 9y ago
    Maybe we're just less likely to have musical affinities when it's so easy to access a zillion different artists instead of what happens to be on the radio/in the record store. Could it be that the shirts you see around are for groups you don't know, and you don't recognize them? It was quite a while (somewhat embarrassed by this) until I realized that abstract mountainous shirt I see around is for Joy Division. Similarly, if I had City of Caterpillar shirt on I'd be surprised if anyone recognized it. More generally, there's a school of thought that the use of clothing as a signal of membership in a given group is becoming less necessary. One can discover who at their school likes punk through online means whereas before you might need to rely on who's wearing punk stuff.
detaro 9y ago
Hip-Hop is pretty big again right now, driven more and more through streaming services and less on the radio. And a lot of it is more fragmented - you have easy access to a wider variety of music both new and old than you had when the only music sources were radios and music shops, both with limited capacity.
nyolfen 9y ago
the 00s famously saw the flourishing of indie rock, which seems to bear continuity with the early 10s hipster culture, and these days there is a huge mass of hyperspecific subcultures enabled by the internet
contingencies 9y ago
Perhaps that the pervasive and instantaneous availability of many different genres of music, current and historical, has reduced the political and cultural significance of any single one, and therefore its potential to spawn lasting social and musical movements - ie. "analysis paralysis" or "divide and conquer"? Mobile internet is the new heroin, internet peers the new subcultures.
tehwebguy 9y ago
Listen to any pop or hip hop station. Here's Mask Off (Future ft Drake) - peaked at 5 on Billboard Hot 100 this summer. The hook is mostly this: "percocet, molly percocet" Then check out dubstep and EDM subculture. There is probably a massive rave event happening every weekend in the states. Molly is a massive component of these events.
- santaclaus 9y ago
  > There is probably a massive rave event happening every weekend in the states. How much of that is the teens described in this article? The subjects of the article seem to be mostly post-millennial (current high schoolers) who enjoy hanging at home with their parents. The average age of a massive rave goer probably skews a bit more towards the college and early 20s age bracket.
  - slededit 9y ago
    When I was in the scene (mid 2000s) it definitely skewed high school and early college. In fact I thought about getting into it at 23 but didn't because I thought I'd be too old.
  - tehwebguy 9y ago
    Yeah true. I think the long tail filled in the gaps left by iconic artists wrt millenials. Smaller bands & artists, vloggers and streamers. For this unaware, check out how dedicated fans of a 500k subscriber YouTube vlog channel are.
- nasredin 9y ago
  "Molly" is what the kids call MDMA these days. Just a FYI.
maxerickson 9y ago
Manson peaked in the 1990s (I imagine "The Beautiful People" is his best known song). I think he was never more than a fringe artist. Taylor Swift has definitely been more influential than he was. But there are lots of musicians that were well known for using and abusing drugs. It was practically a badge of honor for people coming out of the Disney meat grinder to make some ridiculous spectacle. Which I think is part of the explanation. Commercial music production got really really polished and artists got less important.

Apocryphon 9y ago

Nah, the late '00s and '10s was about EDM and the resurgence of raves, as well as Ecstasy and so forth. Mega-DJs like Skrillex, David Guetta, deadmau5, Avicii, etc.

jsemrau 9y ago
But are these Mega DJ's cultural icons ? I like Skrillex's and deadmau5's music, but can they compare in cultural impact to a Freddy Mercury or John Lennon? Why am I not seeing the skillex t-shirts ?
- Apocryphon 9y ago
  They were pretty massive in the late '00s, though perhaps more in the college set than younger kids. EDM is still big but not as culturally shifting as your Biebers, T-Swifts, Kanyes, or Lady Gagas, sure.
- CalRobert 9y ago
  Maybe we're just less likely to have musical affinities when it's so easy to access a zillion different artists instead of what happens to be on the radio/in the record store. Could it be that the shirts you see around are for groups you don't know, and you don't recognize them? It was quite a while (somewhat embarrassed by this) until I realized that abstract mountainous shirt I see around is for Joy Division. Similarly, if I had City of Caterpillar shirt on I'd be surprised if anyone recognized it. More generally, there's a school of thought that the use of clothing as a signal of membership in a given group is becoming less necessary. One can discover who at their school likes punk through online means whereas before you might need to rely on who's wearing punk stuff.

detaro 9y ago

Hip-Hop is pretty big again right now, driven more and more through streaming services and less on the radio. And a lot of it is more fragmented - you have easy access to a wider variety of music both new and old than you had when the only music sources were radios and music shops, both with limited capacity.

nyolfen 9y ago

the 00s famously saw the flourishing of indie rock, which seems to bear continuity with the early 10s hipster culture, and these days there is a huge mass of hyperspecific subcultures enabled by the internet

contingencies 9y ago

Perhaps that the pervasive and instantaneous availability of many different genres of music, current and historical, has reduced the political and cultural significance of any single one, and therefore its potential to spawn lasting social and musical movements - ie. "analysis paralysis" or "divide and conquer"? Mobile internet is the new heroin, internet peers the new subcultures.

tehwebguy 9y ago

Listen to any pop or hip hop station. Here's Mask Off (Future ft Drake) - peaked at 5 on Billboard Hot 100 this summer. The hook is mostly this: "percocet, molly percocet" Then check out dubstep and EDM subculture. There is probably a massive rave event happening every weekend in the states. Molly is a massive component of these events.

santaclaus 9y ago
> There is probably a massive rave event happening every weekend in the states. How much of that is the teens described in this article? The subjects of the article seem to be mostly post-millennial (current high schoolers) who enjoy hanging at home with their parents. The average age of a massive rave goer probably skews a bit more towards the college and early 20s age bracket.
- slededit 9y ago
  When I was in the scene (mid 2000s) it definitely skewed high school and early college. In fact I thought about getting into it at 23 but didn't because I thought I'd be too old.
- tehwebguy 9y ago
  Yeah true. I think the long tail filled in the gaps left by iconic artists wrt millenials. Smaller bands & artists, vloggers and streamers. For this unaware, check out how dedicated fans of a 500k subscriber YouTube vlog channel are.
nasredin 9y ago
"Molly" is what the kids call MDMA these days. Just a FYI.

maxerickson 9y ago

Manson peaked in the 1990s (I imagine "The Beautiful People" is his best known song). I think he was never more than a fringe artist. Taylor Swift has definitely been more influential than he was. But there are lots of musicians that were well known for using and abusing drugs. It was practically a badge of honor for people coming out of the Disney meat grinder to make some ridiculous spectacle. Which I think is part of the explanation. Commercial music production got really really polished and artists got less important.