sunday styles discovers blipster in seattle
In an above-the-fold front pager in today’s “Sunday Styles”, the New York Times alerts us to the hot new trend of African-American hipsters. Oops, I mean “blipsters” [urbandictionary]. Don’t worry. As their lead case study shows, Seattle’s well ahead the curve on this front thanks to the hard work of Kurt Cobain:
When Douglas Martin first saw the video for Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as a teenager in High Point, N.C., “it blew my mind,” he said. Like many young people who soothe their angst with the balm of alternative rock, Mr. Martin was happy to discover music he enjoyed and a subculture where he belonged.
Except, as it turned out, he didn’t really belong, because he is black.
“For a long time I was laughed at by both black and white people about being the only black person in my school that liked Nirvana and bands like that,” said Mr. Martin, now 23, who lives in Seattle, where he is recording a folk-rock album. [nyt]
The story is kind of silly, but it provides a little publicity for Douglas Martin [myspace], a Chuck Klosterman lover with a 142 IQ, and Fresh Cherries from Yakima, his band. There are just way too many Douglas Martins in the Google to be certain, but this guy seems to be a more likely candidate than the NYT obituary writer with the same name.
And do read the rest of the article. It’s fantastically enlightening. Did you know that some rock bands currently include black members. And they’re kind of successful. One of them is called TV on the Radio. Another is called Bloc Party. Perhaps you’ve heard of them?
related:
- Brooklyn Vegan wonders whether it’s offensive to divide the hipster community by race [bv]
This is an old, old debate… and one pretty much always conducted by those too old and/or unhip to actually be a part of the subcultures in question. Or does everyone forget the definitive example set by the Seattle Weekly, who managed to complete overlook grunge while it was happening and then — when they finally clued in and published a cover story — decided to ask “Is Grunge Too White?”
I agree that it’s a potentially interesting topic, but the handling of it was laughable at best.
Hold on now. Let’s do the math. If he is 23 in 2007 that means he was six years old in 1989 when Bleach came one. Most kids his age were into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and 8bit Nintendo back then.
yeah. he said that saw the video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” when he was a teenager (~1997 to 2003). Probably on an MTV retrospective or a VH1 I love the 90s episode.
Or he came by a copy of “Singles” on DVD.
Heh. I saw Singles the weekend it opened.