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Last month, while waiting in a long line of indie rockers and punk rockers at a hardcore punk show, I noticed a boy with a green mohawk a few feet ahead of my friend and me, talking on a cell phone. I had to point him out and laugh about it with my friend, not because we were making fun of him, but because of the great irony of it all.

As my friend said, it pretty much defeated the traditional punk concept of DIY (“do-it-yourself,” i.e., don’t rely on commercial products or socially constructed ideals). The second we concluded this conversation, there was a ringing sound next to us.

We turned to see another boy in line, wearing the standard indie-rocker ensemble – Converse, jeans and vintage T-shirt – answer his cell phone.

The more I thought about this situation, I realized that what I thought was inherent irony wasn’t irony at all. This was definitely not the first time I’ve noticed such “normalcy,” such status quo trendiness being embraced by people who are supposed to be different.

So what’s going on here? Have so-called punk kids suddenly shunned all their grass-roots ideals; has “the scene” been corrupted; is there no such thing as independent or punk rock anymore?

Well, not exactly.

When I really started thinking about the differences between “normal” and “abnormal” people, I came to realize that there are very few. Everyone is a conformist in some sense; virtually no one is immune to things like consumerism and commercialism. Virtually everyone cares what others think of them, deep down, and follows trends and socially set rules. And, certainly, people outside of the mainstream are no exception. It’s just that, oftentimes, they like to pretend that these things aren’t true.

Perhaps Mike Watt said it best at the This Ain’t No Picnic festival on July 2 of this year: “Everyone’s trying to be different, but all in the same way.” He was actually referring to the Warped Tour, an alternative and punk rock festival he had played at earlier in the week.

But I think his quote applies to just about everyone. People, be they surfers, frat boys or Riot Grrrls, all want to stand out and be noticed, but this often comes across in an unoriginal manner. Does anyone remember the wave of young women getting their belly buttons pierced in the early ’90s? Ironically, I found This Ain’t No Picnic to be a perfect example of people trying to be different in the same way.

Throughout the day, I counted several of the same band T-shirts, countless pairs of the same kind of shoes, and the same clothing, hairstyle and jewelry trends over and over.

Lest I sound condescending, I was no different. I own many of the band shirts I saw that day, and I was sporting one of the same brand of shoes that I kept noticing over and over. I think the only real difference between myself and many of the people whom I’ve described is that I no longer hold any illusions about being different and unique. Those terms are all relative. Of course, I have my tastes and attributes that I would like to think are rather rare, but I can no longer pride myself on the fact that I’m some big revolutionary punk rock freak about town because I’ve realized that that’s not true.

Basically, groups or communities such as the indie rock and punk scenes are really just microcosms of general society, wherein people adhere to basic standards and expectations. Likewise, people within “underground” or non-mainstream communities adhere to basic standards and expectations, though they don’t always realize it.

For example, there is a general consensus among us so-called counter culture people that we don’t accept homophobia, that we appreciate art, that we support independent music and films, and so on and so on. These things may make us a little different from the status quo ideals, but does that really make us different in the long run? We’re pretty much clones of one another, in dress, style, and beliefs tastes, and the same goes for other easily-identifiable groups.

Think about it – would a preppie be called a preppie if he wore ripped jeans and a flannel? Would a hippie be labeled that if she were a corporate lawyer? These are simplifications, but the point is that most social groups, while they may be subcultures, have very ritualized and specified codes of appearances and behaviors. And, as the boy with a mohawk and cell phone proved to me, subcultures are not free from following some of the same trends found in the mainstream.

The way in which underground communities mirror mainstream society goes farther than just simple uniformity. It’s obvious that people in the mainstream compete to be the coolest, the trendiest, the most well-dressed or best-looking. I recall those junior high school days when I desperately wanted to be trendy, to impress people with my cool threads and appearance – until I realized I couldn’t, and didn’t really want to participate in that game anymore.

In underground society, the game probably has less pressure, but it’s basically the same. Indie and punk rock kids compete to be the weirdest, the most strange. It’s all about getting attention, getting noticed, getting cool points for having the most piercings, for having liked a certain indie rock band before they signed to a major label, etc. And we often compete against the mainstream, not just each other. We want to be the most shocking to our parents or to stand out the most among our “normal” classmates. It’s no less pointless than the popularity contests in the rest of society, and it’s no less juvenile an endeavor.

Unfortunately, a lot of indie and punk kids don’t see through their behavior and this often means they take their presumed superiority out on other people. I can’t tell you how many times people, including myself, have labeled “normal” people as lemmings, followers, sheep, etc., and criticized them for their tastes and opinions. My friends and I have laughed at the competitiveness of teenage mallrat girls; we’ve ridiculed people that enjoy mainstream pop; we’ve put people down by saying that they want to be just like everyone else. And we continue to do so. But how does that make us any better than “everyone else”?

This is just reverse snobbery. Just as some sorority girls in spandex tops, black stretch pants and platforms sometimes sneer at my used clothes and short hair, I think it’s safe to say indie and punk rockers would sneer at such a person and their style if they ever came to, say, a hardcore punk show.

What this stems from is a refusal to understand that all humans have a basic desire to belong. We’re all people, and we’re all searching to identify as part of a group, and to get acceptance within that group. In one particular group, that acceptance might come from wearing a Bebe shirt. In others, it comes from not wearing, and not even considering wearing, a Bebe shirt. To say that, among “alternative” people, this desire to be a part of some kind of homogeneous group and to adhere to their standards doesn’t occur in some form is just wrong, not to mention idealistic and arrogant.

No one is truly original or unique when it comes to dress, style and tastes. Therefore, it’s ridiculous to consider yourself better than someone else, especially on the basis that that type of person is allegedly conformist, while people in subcultures or separate social groups are non-conformist.

Sorry, but that’s just not true.

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