The Stills drank all my alcohol in our shit hotel room in Seattle when we drove down to see them open for Interpol. I think 2003? We drove down from Vancouver in an 8-seater van, and two couples split up on that trip, one reformed with opposite partners. Someone asked on the way back 'Can you unfriend someone on friendster?'
I lived in London from 2004, can confirm it was a very similar vibe. We lived over the road from a very hipster pub in Spitalfields and I remember getting a lecture from a Wieden + Kennedy intern with an asymmetrical haircut, who promptly realized someone stole his work laptop from under the table. 2005. Good times.
In 2001, I waited outside a music venue from 10am until 7pm to see Dashboard Confessional. It was general admission so we wanted to make sure to get in the front row, (which we did) but we also got to meet him going into the venue, and Ben Kweller!
My best hipster concert memory was seeing LCD Soundsystem during his "retirement tour" in NYC in 2010. I've seen him in concert like 3 times since then.
Now that Vice has conclusively excluded the 90s in their entirety from the Hipster Era, I can definitively say I was rolling my eyes at Hipsters before it was cool. 🤣
My former band mate and friend Jason and I used to get wasted at Earls on the Ave and sing/yell along to Tom Waits tunes in my truck. One evening after close we needed time to sober up a bit so we walked together down Greek row. We'd been making fun of pop music of the era and I got the amazing idea to yell out “Dave Matthews Band fucking rules” ironically. To our delight some frat boy wooooed back to us at 2 30 am.
One of the vignettes I left out of this essay was driving back to Ohio immediately after moving to Philadelphia just to see Tom Waits play on his Orphans tour. So unrelated to the whole indie sleaze era, but man, I have been obsessed with him since the 90s myself. I used to put him on at every jukebox in every dive bar and watch people groan lol
One of my biggest regrets continues to be not catching him on that tour. I was broke and couldn't justify the cost to myself. I should have sold a kidney or just starved for a few months. 🤡
I'm just an extra in a John Hughes movie who was amused and also mildly scandalized by American Apparel ads and thought the kids in the Cobrasnake photos were trying just a little too hard. Jesus & Mary Chain and Sonic Youth changed my life. Early 90s indie bands that struggled in the tidepools left behind in the wake of Nevermind were rad and, for the most part, pretty great live. By the mid 2000s, I'd turned my attention to jazz. But that first Arcade Fire record was good, wasn't it?
Really enjoyed your piece today. I'm always interested in how everything seems to come back around eventually with inevitable twists that amuse and rankle the OGs. I'm here for it.
How does anyone get to hear old music years later? I was fortunate to have access to all of the other college students' digital music libraries via the campus intranet. We spent hours crawling through incomplete and poorly names albums like this. At random parties and hangouts like the one you just read about, somebody cooler than me would always have some record on. I learned about so much music back then. More old music than contemporary, but this was a targeted essay. It was a renaissance. It was a cultural gold mine.
This period of music completely passed me by and anything from it that I now love, I came to much later. Even with the earlier music from the 90s that I consider to be ‘my era’ I never had my finger on the pulse. It feels like a missed opportunity. Only now, in middle age do I really get how much enjoyment there is to be immersed in music and I’m approaching it with the enthusiasm of a teenager. Midlife crisis? Possibly, but way too much fun to apologise for.
I loved Wolf Parade. Took a 10 hour road trip to Baton Rouge to see them in a dive bar under a freeway with 200 people. I still consider it one of the best shows I’ve been to. I met Dan Boeckner after the show while waiting for my taxi and he was delightful too.
I was a lil hipster in Seattle during this era and still felt on the outskirts. Perhaps that’s the true essence of hipsterdom? Never being quite cool enough, always looking covetously at some other girl’s headband. Anyway, I still listen to Night Ripper back to back three times at least once every few months.
The Stills drank all my alcohol in our shit hotel room in Seattle when we drove down to see them open for Interpol. I think 2003? We drove down from Vancouver in an 8-seater van, and two couples split up on that trip, one reformed with opposite partners. Someone asked on the way back 'Can you unfriend someone on friendster?'
I lived in London from 2004, can confirm it was a very similar vibe. We lived over the road from a very hipster pub in Spitalfields and I remember getting a lecture from a Wieden + Kennedy intern with an asymmetrical haircut, who promptly realized someone stole his work laptop from under the table. 2005. Good times.
The fucking Stills!!!!!
In 2001, I waited outside a music venue from 10am until 7pm to see Dashboard Confessional. It was general admission so we wanted to make sure to get in the front row, (which we did) but we also got to meet him going into the venue, and Ben Kweller!
My best hipster concert memory was seeing LCD Soundsystem during his "retirement tour" in NYC in 2010. I've seen him in concert like 3 times since then.
ALL THE BENS. There were so many Bens. What a time to be alive
There’s a Radiohead joke in there somewhere
Now that Vice has conclusively excluded the 90s in their entirety from the Hipster Era, I can definitively say I was rolling my eyes at Hipsters before it was cool. 🤣
My former band mate and friend Jason and I used to get wasted at Earls on the Ave and sing/yell along to Tom Waits tunes in my truck. One evening after close we needed time to sober up a bit so we walked together down Greek row. We'd been making fun of pop music of the era and I got the amazing idea to yell out “Dave Matthews Band fucking rules” ironically. To our delight some frat boy wooooed back to us at 2 30 am.
I was such an asshole.
One of the vignettes I left out of this essay was driving back to Ohio immediately after moving to Philadelphia just to see Tom Waits play on his Orphans tour. So unrelated to the whole indie sleaze era, but man, I have been obsessed with him since the 90s myself. I used to put him on at every jukebox in every dive bar and watch people groan lol
One of my biggest regrets continues to be not catching him on that tour. I was broke and couldn't justify the cost to myself. I should have sold a kidney or just starved for a few months. 🤡
The extra ticket I managed to sell paid my rent for a month
Proving once again that you are smarter than I am.
More enterprising, perhaps
Kinder too.
I'm just an extra in a John Hughes movie who was amused and also mildly scandalized by American Apparel ads and thought the kids in the Cobrasnake photos were trying just a little too hard. Jesus & Mary Chain and Sonic Youth changed my life. Early 90s indie bands that struggled in the tidepools left behind in the wake of Nevermind were rad and, for the most part, pretty great live. By the mid 2000s, I'd turned my attention to jazz. But that first Arcade Fire record was good, wasn't it?
God that record was life changing
Really enjoyed your piece today. I'm always interested in how everything seems to come back around eventually with inevitable twists that amuse and rankle the OGs. I'm here for it.
This is such a great piece.
I was already well established in my record store superiority complex at the time, so hipster superiority felt cute and quaint to me...
It was a fun and engaging time to be an indie fan. Nice trip down memory lane.
I would have been so scared to talk to you
What a great story. Thank you for sharing, Gabbie!
Thank you for actually reading it! 😅
Always love your personal stuff but this is extraordinary.
I had Warm Leatherette b/w TVOD back when I was a genuine hipster. How did it get to you, all these years later?
How does anyone get to hear old music years later? I was fortunate to have access to all of the other college students' digital music libraries via the campus intranet. We spent hours crawling through incomplete and poorly names albums like this. At random parties and hangouts like the one you just read about, somebody cooler than me would always have some record on. I learned about so much music back then. More old music than contemporary, but this was a targeted essay. It was a renaissance. It was a cultural gold mine.
This period of music completely passed me by and anything from it that I now love, I came to much later. Even with the earlier music from the 90s that I consider to be ‘my era’ I never had my finger on the pulse. It feels like a missed opportunity. Only now, in middle age do I really get how much enjoyment there is to be immersed in music and I’m approaching it with the enthusiasm of a teenager. Midlife crisis? Possibly, but way too much fun to apologise for.
Friend Opportunity was the truth
Was introduced to deerhoof at the first roots picnic
Feel like we’re still owed a saulnier/questlove collab album
I loved Wolf Parade. Took a 10 hour road trip to Baton Rouge to see them in a dive bar under a freeway with 200 people. I still consider it one of the best shows I’ve been to. I met Dan Boeckner after the show while waiting for my taxi and he was delightful too.
I was a lil hipster in Seattle during this era and still felt on the outskirts. Perhaps that’s the true essence of hipsterdom? Never being quite cool enough, always looking covetously at some other girl’s headband. Anyway, I still listen to Night Ripper back to back three times at least once every few months.