Are Krazie Old Men the Future of Indie Music?

by Hipster Run Off on Thu, 2009/10/08 - 8:24pm Post to Twitter

I was looking at photos of ACL, one of the world’s most indie music festivals with headliners like Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, and Yea Ya Yeahs. I couldn’t help but notice the new trend of ‘old krazie looking dudes’ having indie bands. It seems like the indie music playing field has leveled, and it no longer matters ‘what u look like.’ I remember when I was a teenager, I had an expectation of ‘what a buzzband should look like.’ Usually a group of 4 peppy looking/deep looking/tragic looking alts who were passionate about the music they were playing live.

Now it seems like any1 can be in a buzzband. It’s like modern indie fans have matured enough to accept every1, just as long as they have a good product.

I remember when Dan Deacon ‘first invaded the scene.’ It seems like he might have represented accepting the ‘middle aged’ man aesthetic into the indiesphere. A man who is ‘old’ but still represents youth + a care-free attitude.

It seems like old men with the aesthetic of ‘ur krazy Uncle who was homeless for a while’ are ‘making it’ as indie bands.

I feel like acceptance of the ‘krazy old man’ aesthetic might be some sort of ‘equal opportunity agenda’ that indie bros have in their heads. Maybe some sort of subconscious insecurity about ‘getting older.’ Like we need 2 make sure that we look like the people who are entertaining us. When men watch sports, they always feel comfortable watching 18-30 year olds playing as professionals, but I don’t think that’s how music work. It seems like you select the bands you will follow for the rest of your life between the ages of 18-28.5. Not sure if you would ‘get into’ the All American Rejects if u were a 50 year old dad. Just hard 2 take young ppl srsly when they have that look of ‘having their whole lives ahead of them.’

Going to be sad when a music festival is meant to appeal to both me and my future tween son+daughter. There will be an ‘old indie bro’ stage and a ‘tween stage.’ We will drive to the festival together, but spend the day apart, perhaps uniting once during the day for ’sausage on a stick’ or some sort of festival treat like that.

Seems like Coachella 2k10 might be that festival [via Pavement Reunion].
R u scared of turning into an OldAlt?

XX BONUS RELEVANT MUSING XX

Can u tell how mainstream a music festival is by looking at a photograph of attendees from the waist down?

[via Painters Jeans]