Avril Lavigne on the cover of MAXIM?? WTF?

[The Copy Ninja Kakashi]

I'd Hit It!

[exene]

i don't like avril....she makes punk a fashion,its not

[Alice [OLSP]]

i don't like avril....she makes punk a fashion,its not

Avril is Avril. I like some of her music, she's pretty, and she seems to be doing well for herself. How you percieve this entirely up to you. I personally applaud her success.

It isn't like she went down the rundway in striped armstockings to the beat of "I'm too sexy", showing off Punk's new "Fall line"...

Punk.

Goth.

Skater.

Preppie.

Social hierarchy and classification. I love to hear the "rebels" go on and on about "free expression" and "induviduality." It's quite amusing that in "being themselves" collectively, they mold their own class to be filed into.

I may sound elitist with all this, but just know that by declaring yourself "punk" or what have you, you don't stand out, and you don't achieve a status that sets you apart from anyone else. You just fit in whith someone else's crowd.

I'll end this little rant by quoting the bumper sticker on the tailgate of my truck:

"You non-conformists are all alike."

[Otohiko]

You just fit in whith someone else's crowd.
[/i]

But what if you really don't?

I don't see how you can make such an over-arching statement about a group which is not a group in the first place. I think you should differentiate niche-group elitism and actual individualism.

I sort of find that slightly offensive, since honestly - I sometimes wish I was part of a larger group. But I'm not. My own music preference and what have you developed on music alone, and I am yet to meet another person in real life with whom I'd be able to identify on this 'music-based identity' level.

***

Anyway, I don't have anything against her, either. Let her do what she will, I could care less.

My concern is the culture of fetishizing the inherent and delineated meanings of music. And I'm presently of the opinion that Avril is a willing and active part of that, for better or worse...

[Alice [OLSP]]

This all is very true, Oto-san. Forgive me, I tend to initialize a semi-intellegent and almost even rellevant topic, but then my own personal views get mixed up in there, and often times, my reply degrades to spam and senseless jaw-flapping.

My apologies, again. ^^;

[Kajino Rei]

Ahem.
Truly belive that this comment:

I'd Hit It!

Is entirely smarter that all of this:

i don't like avril....she makes punk a fashion,its not

How anal and full of banality, in my opinion.
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Avril never said she was "punk" or punk or PUNK.
Avril never said she was a skater.
The public, just people said that not her.
In fact she hates being tagged as those things.
In the end this can be summed in the immortal word of a good friend:
"Who the fuck are you to know who I am?"
Thank you Yadi.
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Oh and great post Oto.

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Smack my bitch up...

[O-Kagachi]

Please do us all a favor kajino rei and PLEASE STOP POSTING THE STUPID ROLL EMOTICON IN EVERY POST THAT YOU MAKE!!


I would love you very much if you kept it to a minimum, i DOES get annoying after youve posted it 50,000,000 times.

[Otohiko]

Nah, don't worry about it! As I said, it's still a valid point - just that keep in mind that people treat the whole musical non-conformism thing differently.

There are people who go for non-conformism as a means for itself. I'm not sure of their reasoning, but generally, I don't share this idea of 'wanting to be different just to be different', which, to me (unless someone happens to have a different explaination...) just seems like a cry for attention. It's a weird way of getting it, but I think most people who go for that assume (at least inwardly) that it works.

On the other hand, then there's just people like me who've had the (mis)fortune of getting a free hand at exploring music from a lot of different angles, and finding their niche based on what they heard, not because of the culture associated with it. Hell - I didn't even know the names of members of my favorite band for well over a year - forget never realizing what sort of fangroup I would end up belonging in, or not belonging in! I just knew it sounded 'right' to me, so I aligned myself to its' cause...

This happened with a lot of things. Music and anime are two of them. I just learned disregarding these 'inherent and delineated meanings' (do I ever love that phrase...), and stay with what looks/sounds good to me, that's all.
I think conformists and non-conformists alike may actually have the same problem - getting too tied up in culture, image and social groups, and making their stance based on things that are secondary to the actual art form.
On the other hand, just as there's some people like me who are out of the mainstream because of actual taste, I'm sure there's people who like fairly everyday mainstream stuff because they do actually like the music. I have no problem with them, just as long as they can separate music and the culture around it.

/end another rant

[Kajino Rei]

Please do us all a favor kajino rei and PLEASE STOP POSTING THE STUPID ROLL EMOTICON IN EVERY POST THAT YOU MAKE!!


I would love you very much if you kept it to a minimum, i DOES get annoying after youve posted it 50,000,000 times.

Truly do not appreciate you singling me out like that since other people roll their eyes too.
Especially when your post has nothing to do with this thread.
And no; I shall roll my eyes as I see fit.
My posts are nowhere near 50,000,000.

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Hot naked people...

[Kaji01]

I think I was more offended when I saw her on Rolling Stone's "Women of Rock" cover...As my girlfriend pointed out, it's a shame that you don't have to work hard to make the cover anymore...