Is it even possible not to follow the trend?
 

I recently read this in the one music magazine that I find worth getting a subscription to. I thought I would share:

"All of us do something that's part of a trend, some of us more so than others. Most of us do nothing unless it's been pre-approved by a gazillion other cookie-cutter scenesters. This continues to be the case as ideas are born and worn into the ground by drones too boring to have the ideas in the first place, thus setting individuality at an all-time-low. There are no true outsiders. What you are doing, creatively, is part of a big dumb movement, so don't get all high and mighty about what you incorrectly perceive to be original. There exists no more fertile ground for lemmings than the music industry."

^there's a whole article full of examples in the music industry that supports this statement. But i'm not up to typing the whole thing out.

Do you agree with what this guy asserts? Or is it a bunch of crap?

I think he has a good point to an certain extent, but there is room still of individuality.

But I know what I think, what do you think?

We all follow trends whether we like it or not. Not giving a shít about trends and forging ahead in the first place is what counts. Just by existing we are following a trend, so that statement is an oxymoron.

ok, taking out the point that by existence we are following a trend. But by saying we're not going to follow a trend is that following a trend of people who say they don't follow trends?

I'm more curious though if you can create music that is not trend following in some form.

I don't know. I just try and be myself. Maybe it's an age thing. I'm sure in some quarters I may be seen as following a trend, but to people around me I don't follow trends at all. I think you can only call it a trend when people follow it WITHOUT knowing exactly what it is.

you actually don't strike me as a trend-follower in any sort of the way. Maybe I was just frustrated at all the n00b posts about how different they think their music taste are when in reality they are standard musical tastes. Cause last time I checked indie was the trend, making a good portion of this website trendy.

Agreed, indie is so ridiculously trendy right now.

Billboard Top 20 Singles, 09.21-09.27
1. Kanye West "Stronger"
2. Soulja Boy "Crank That (Soulja Boy)"
3. Timbaland "The Way I Are"
4. Fergie "Big Girls Don't Cry"
5. 50 Cent "Ayo Technology (Feat. Justin Timberlake)"
6. J. Holiday "Bed"
7. Keyshia Cole "Let It Go (Feat. Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim)"
8. Nickelback "Rockstar"
9. Pink "Who Knew"
10. Plies "Shawty"
11. T-Pain "Bartender"
12. Matchbox Twenty "How Far We've Come"
13. Plain White T's "Hey There Delilah"
14. Kanye West "Good Life"
15. Alicia Keys "No One"
16. Colbie Caillat "Bubbly"
17. Rihanna "Umbrella"
18. Justin Timberlake "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows Interlude"
19. Fabolous "Make Me Better"
20. 50 Cent "I Get Money"

When you are into bands like SAXON, I can safely say that I'm not trendy! I think I am into some really good bands and I have an extremely eclectic taste in music. However I acknowledge that I do like some utter crap (according to general music ettiquette) like old school Metal and Ambient music. So do I follow a trend? I hope not. My advice has never changed in any situation in life. Do you like the music you listen to? Yes? Well fúck everyone else. I have to try and be true to myself. A thousand people can praise a certain band, but if I don't like them-I don't like them!

I believe that there's still room for individuality, regardless of whether one is following a trend or not. It resides in each person's reasoning on why s/he is following a trend. But that's where (I guess) lots (?) of people fall short, as they don't know why they follow, they simply do (but then again, why wouldn't they?)

that's a trend.



realistically, there is nothing that you can do that hasn't been done or thought of before. individuality consists mainly of doing/not doing what you want/don't want, regardless of the consequences or any outside influences.

So the whole thread is pointless, because if we reply we follow a trend? The answer is yes BTW.

ssshhh don't answer trendy!

we are such good philosophers & critics of contemporary thought <3

You are so trendy replying, talk about following the crowd. <3

<3's are a trend.


kill yourself in protest.









but wait
suicide is a trend
thx emo kids
for ruining our salvation.

Last Fm playlists are a trend-we are all guilty as fúck. I need a temptress to cure me of my wicked ways!





No not you Johnny. You have to give someone else a turn!

He's right to an extent, yeah. Shitty article though. The guy gets a good idea rolling, then ruins it with things like, "There are no true outsiders." Sure, I guess all of us do things that may be trendy, but there are many who don't do these things because they are (or were ever) popular, so does that really make them trendy? Guess it depends how you look at it. But not everything is part of some "big dumb movement".

Everyone does everything if that's why you stop then you'll never do anything
-Matty Pop Chart
:) <3


People like to fit in. Who wouda thunk it.

So... what exactly is the trend? His arguments are very vague and seem more like a bitter rant than anything really worth reading.

It's trendy not to follow trends.

So, we're all trendy.

What I think is that it's trendy to write your opinions about music and the music scene in a music magazine and to complain about lack of originality while still buying the same louduptempoamplifiedguitar/bass/drums/vocalssunginEnglish music or softdowntempooneguysingingwhilestrumminganacoustic music despite the huge variety of music available with all sort of combinations of instruments, languages, speeds, dynamics and all other types of musical expression.

To make an analogy, it's easy to complain about the lack of variety of books which have been written if you only ever look at the same shelf in the same bookshop. Anybody who complains about a lack of original music is stupid, even if you insist on looking for originality within the straightjacket of any one narrow genre of guitar music there is still a lot to be had. And even if it isn't readily available in recorded form or at gigs (for polishing music for recording or performance can lose a lot of originality) then somebody who really cares could always rock up at practise and listen as a band is writing a new song and hear music in it's nascent, messiest form.

Generally, if you want something really original but also want it to come in your own preffered format (at a gig, on a stage, with guitars, drums and vocals, on at 10, off at 11) then there's a good chance you'll be let down.

It depends on how you approach it.

If I was to listen to a particularly good UK Grime album , which happens to be a trend at the moment. I'm not listening to it because i'm following the UK Grime scene. I'd be listening to it because it's something new that happens to be available that people are saying good things about. When I say 'people' I don't mean media & record company hype , I mean people who's opinion I respect and who are open minded enough to give any album in genre a chance.

I remember in 2000/2001 when the whole Garage Rock trend happened.
Now I happen to be a fan of garage rock , was before this trend started ,and I still am now that it's long since gone.
Did I follow that trend? Well i'll say no because most of the bands in that movement were total sh*t and I hardly listened to any of them.
So I would say that even though I listened to that music when it was a trend I don't consider myself to have followed it.

there is almost 7 billion people on the earth... we are all following some kind of trend whether we know it or not. the idea of originality being at an all time low seems like queer logic however. for starters there is A LOT MORE people now that there was 30, 60, or 100 years ago, so that alone makes it harder to be 'original'. as time passes people like to look back and say 'look at those people, they were original', but in reality they were probably following a trend and just happened to be remembered. besides nobody recognizes someone for being original until is is trendy enough to be noticed.

If anything, there being a lot more people around now should lead to the total amount of original creations around being at all time high (to quote the song). Maybe the proportion of people doing original things decreases, but in terms of total number there should be more originality around.

Do you mean that people don't tend to credit something as being important in it's originality until it become accepted by a certain amount of people? Like if you record yourself making hyena noises into a microphone while somebody else reads erotic fiction aloud in a strong, angry Glaswegian accent and a third person plays chromatic scales on the cello then it would probably just be labelled as 'ridiculous' until a critical mass of people have heard and mentioned it to other people, at which point it becomes 'original'. If that's the kind of thing you mean then I agree.

That album needs to be made... you are a genius my friend.

I disagree, there are plenty of people who don't want to fit in, but somehow by doing that they fall into the group of people who don't want to fit in. I'm sure you have that at your school, in some form.

The trends he mentions are the
1) Tastemaker trend
2) The Classic-Album-Performance Trend
3)The Reunion Trend
4) The Bjork trend (probably the strongest argument)
5) The Sneaker Trend
6) The Exercise Trend
7) The Comedians and Music Trend

If you want I can explain the trends, but I don't want to insult your intelligence and explain them.

That's one of the most clever arguments i've heard for anything in a while.

I agree with what you say, but i'm wondering if it is necessary to be recognized? Why is there a human desire that they get a cookie for everything they do cleverly or uniquely?

Trends are interesting things. Young people often go out of their way to avoid them but then find that they're doing exactly the same things as other youths that are trying to avoid them...

I worried about that sort of thing when I was young but I don't think it matters now. I loved the 'nu rave' clothing that was very fashionable this year and lots of people would have considered me a trend-follower but I was perfectly happy because I was wearing exactly what I wanted to wear.

I've always had the same clothing trend,
Long Pants, Band Shirt. and for the forseeable future, it'll stay the same.
I'm that cool.:baseball:

i hate everything and everyone.


GQ lied to me,
being trendy isn't hard at all.

well, i don't really care what is cool or not, its just whatever i feel like. so if its a trend, SO BE IT!

^stick around.

although your sn predicts you won't.

The trend for British kids immitating American "gangsta" rappers is getting way out of hand, if it hasn't already.
Which it probably has btw.

I've never followed a trend in my life that's effected the way I live, but these days it seems to be a way of life for some.

I fear for my kids future on the strength of it.
For me this is the most disturbing trend of all.

I agree, it seems to be the same for Aussie kids.

How contradictory, "Gangsters" from "The Lucky Country" hahaha, idiots.