...Sociologically speaking it would make sense. The more the artist gains clout the more people he/she/they would have to appeal to, leaving them with the inevitable ultimatum of conforming to their massive appeal and compromising artistic integrity or maintaining their initial incentives of creating music. More often than not they conform to their collective fan base's tastes and become popular music with a twist, AKA POP/Mainstream, leaving the fan base anxious to retreat to a more obscure and eccentric way of life and eventually the abandoning the band's that helped them construct this temporary identity they were so thrilled about in the first place. At their best, Hipsters can catalyze a new fashion sense countering the mentality of inclining towards high end fashion labels and undermining these stereotypical brand names while also helping drive unrecognized well-deserved musicians to their respectable recognizable positions within the music industry and lifting a genre into greater credibility. At their worst, they can taint an artist and perhaps even a genre itself with a never-ending obsessive quest to construct an identity of non-conformity as Corporations catch on and exploit this insecure tendency and kill off the passion found within the genre along with their questionably sincere principles that drove such hype to begin with.
Hip Hop Purist: ...I don't know, I think Talib Kweli *can* integrate both suburban white kids and oppressed black males with genuine empathy and sincere consideration. But who knows, maybe it is just trendy to be a conscious emcee.
Hip Hop Hipster: ... Whatever. Wolf Gang is the shit. Wolf Gang all day every day ...
Indie Listener: ...I don't think, personally, that Arcade Fire sounds like some 80's pop synthesizer ish. I mean, they do use that synthesizer thing and it's blowing up within the whole Indie movement, if you wanna call it a movement, but they're not hiding behind the synthesizer. They're keeping it real. In my opinion. Plus they are going about disillusioning, if you will, religion and what not. You don't see that too often with Indie. Usually they're just too caught up with sounding different that they'll lose their message and forget why they started singing to begin with. You know?
Indie Hipster: Yeah. I don't know... I mean, Yeah, I know what you're talking about BUT I'd just rather listen to Wolf Parade.... did you hear the new Radiohead?
Hipster (YouKnowWhatImean'sDefinition) 2/2
Hip Hop Hipster: ... Whatever. Wolf Gang is the shit. Wolf Gang all day every day ...
Indie Listener: ...I don't think, personally, that Arcade Fire sounds like some 80's pop synthesizer ish. I mean, they do use that synthesizer thing and it's blowing up within the whole Indie movement, if you wanna call it a movement, but they're not hiding behind the synthesizer. They're keeping it real. In my opinion. Plus they are going about disillusioning, if you will, religion and what not. You don't see that too often with Indie. Usually they're just too caught up with sounding different that they'll lose their message and forget why they started singing to begin with. You know?
Indie Hipster: Yeah. I don't know... I mean, Yeah, I know what you're talking about BUT I'd just rather listen to Wolf Parade.... did you hear the new Radiohead?
Hipster (YouKnowWhatImean'sDefinition) 2/2
by Y.K.W.I.M June 24, 2011