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What happens when 'alternative' becomes mainstream?

By Ron Bassilian

Ah, how things change. And the more things change, the more they sound the same.

While in the '50s beatniks would be getting stoned and listening to Bach, going on aimless road trips only to realize the drudgery of normal life all the more, now they can be found at your local coffee shop sporting their goatees and sunglasses and, well, little else.

While the hippies of the '60s fled to the hills, forgot about bathing and preached against materialism, now they're at your nearest mega-concert sporting the long hair and trippy musings.

And so go the '90s. Yes, the punk and alternative subcultures have been packaged, commoditized and are ready for mass consumption. The malls, media and clubs have accepted the new mallternative era, allowing it to flourish in new heights of self- expression and freedom of the will ­ yes, being a misfit is now in, says MTV. Everyone's alienated, and business leaders understand.

And so the masses shall follow these holy words. You know who I'm talking about ­ the flannel and Docs, fresh from Aaardvarks; pierced tongue; $20 show a week; 200 CDs of all the hot new bands; hanging out in a clique and showing no human decency or respect; never outgrowing the high school career-oriented type who brags about drug usage.

I'm sorry, but when JCPenney TV ads announce, "Get the latest grunge clothing right now for half price," when the Rastafarian attitude is now conveniently yours at a store on Third Street Promenade and Connie Chung announces that punk is back in, you know something has seriously gone awry in these subcultures.

Let's get some things straight. Being a misfit sucks. It's like there's some chasm separating you from everyone else. While everyone else seems happy and talkative, you're sitting there with a storm cloud over your head. While everyone else is talking about sports and the social scene, you're in the garage with your friends playing with incendiaries.

You couldn't fit in even if you tried, let alone if you wanted to. And so you get relegated outside the social ladder as an interesting exhibit, but never really one of the gang.

What sucked most about the whole thing was that I figured since I was the only one to think and behave like this there was either something wrong with me or with the human race. So when I stumbled on the punk subculture it was quite liberating.

How refreshing to find that there were actually other people out there who felt the same way I did ­ who felt deadened, alienated, freakish. And the music was there as a universal bond, because it spoke to us, as if we could just as well have written these songs ourselves. For example, a classic punk song is "Institutionalized" by Suicidal Tendencies, a rap about someone who's frustrated and thinking and people can't understand why he's acting that way. Consequently, they think he's insane.

There are many different subcultures out there catering to different kinds of people. Yet through all of them, the music was only a symbol of the idea of a different way of life, an alternative to the plastic and neon lifestyle and the kiss-ass workplace of the mainstream. And so long as the mainstream remains the mainstream it'll never understand the idea.

And the idea is the key: an attitude which is an escape from the mainstream uniformity which is making the world look more and more like the prophets' image of the Antichrist's world. It's an escape from having to completely quash your desires and impulses so you won't be considered a freak.

And most of all, it is an escape from being passively entertained, let alone being pawns in a game of profits. Out of their tiredness of conformity and the struggle of the social ladder, these people have found the power to do something of their own rather than watch others doing things.

And they do the things they want, whether it be writing, putting up garage shows or raves, playing an instrument, hoboing, drawing or simply just talking to each other about how they feel. It doesn't matter how indie or alternative style is, if all you're doing is listening or watching, you are doing nothing but passively standing there.

To those who consider the underground their home, be they plain looking or freakish, drugged or sober, ravers, punks, hippies, riot girls, SubGenii or otherwise, I have this to say ­ up until now you've all identified yourselves in your clothing and music. That only makes for that eternally vicious cycle of fashion where everyone wants to look new and different but not odd.

It's time for that to stop. It's not the clothing or the music anymore but the idea that identifies us. If you feel destructive, suicidal, hateful, deadened, alienated, alone, the time has come to express and spread these ideas instead of letting them fester inside.

And to those who won't know and won't respect, what can I say? We came together as a denial ­ a denial of your malls, your fashions, your cheesy gossip parties, your money-driven rat races, your fake plastic lifestyles. And in turn we became social lepers.

It used to be we couldn't even walk the streets without getting a few weird looks or hearing some muffled, derogatory comments, and now you want to be like us? You're not even close.

Bassilian is a third-year student double-majoring in political science and mathematics.

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