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Underground > Art, Fashion & Design >

Hot Topic shopper?

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11:24 / 08.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Flyboy:
[YNH]: it's a long story, involving porn.

Oh Lord, my favorite.

<SDWP*>

*Sits Down With Popcorn

12:09 / 08.02.02

quote:Originally posted by bitchiekittie:
so who gives a fuck where it comes from

Underpaid factory workers, perhaps? The big difference between buying from Hot Topic and smaller, independent designers is that in the later case, your money is going to people who are involved in creating the style and supporting the "scene", where in the first case you're giving your cash to a corporation that's ripping off ideas in order to make a profit. It's important to a lot of goths to support their fellow goths (kinda like punk in that respect), so kids who adopt the look but not the philosophy are often regarded poorly.

quote:I understand the point "cant really br original if your shit is at every major mall across america". but hell, the truth is its all been done to death - nothing you come up with is truly unique.

Oh, I dunno about that. That said, Hot Topic is the exclusive distributor of Invader Zim merchandise, so I have broken down and spent money there...

Regrettable Juvenilia

12:14 / 08.02.02

What is the "Goth philosophy"?

<ducks spikes>

12:15 / 08.02.02

Goth/ravers actually do exist.
Gravers.
Yes, you heard me. Gravers. – MissLenore

Just wanted to give MissLenore a big Barbelith welcome...and thanks for making my Friday with the above post. I have visions of pale, wan, dark-haired, mascara-streaked youths with beatific smiles and loud-lime colored ruffled shirts, waving around glow-in-the-dark bones...

Matthew Fluxington

13:26 / 08.02.02

The problem I have with Hot Topic is the co-opting of the subcultures they sell.

Sorta. They are co-opting the bits that are either obsolete/outdated, and the bands who have decided on their own to license out their name in merchandise geared to stores like Hot Topic.

Punk isn't really about clothing, it doesn't have anything to do with a uniform - a lot of punks know this, and don't dress in any special way to say 'look at me, i'm a punk'. Maybe if *some* subcultures just gave up on the notion of having a uniform/look, they wouldn't have this problem, eh? It was a useful tool in the past, but nowadays it just feeds the machine.

[ 08-02-2002: Message edited by: Flux = That Dastardly Dilettante ]

13:35 / 08.02.02

Fuck them. Who the fuck gives a fuck about Hot Topic? What is this shit? The Conversation is really turning to shit, man.

13:59 / 08.02.02

Thank you, and my pleasure

14:10 / 08.02.02

Flux - i think you are missing the point - you're right when you say punk wasn't just about clothes but here we are talking about a DIY asthetic that was common to 1977 punk and, for many years, goth as opposed to the off the peg nature of Hot topic...

Matthew Fluxington

14:23 / 08.02.02

quote:Originally posted by sleazenation:
we are talking about a DIY asthetic that was common to 1977 punk and, for many years, goth as opposed to the off the peg nature of Hot topic...

Yeah, but the DIY aesthetic has evolved and changed, and isn't what is being sold in stores. The old DIY aesthetics have all died and gone to mall heaven, and I don't see what's wrong with that. What's wrong with evolving? Why cling to an old uniform that has outlived its usefulness and has been co-opted? It seems very conservative and non-DIY to be so attached to an old look and uniform as a way of carving out an identity. DIY is about creating new things for yourself which speaks to your ideas, your tastes, your experiences. It's supposed to be a viral meme, and it's supposed to be somewhat emphemeral.

I think that anything being sold in a store like Hot Topic is more or less just novelty and retro, because the subculture is always a few steps ahead of the corporate appropriation.

[ 08-02-2002: Message edited by: Flux = That Dastardly Dilettante ]

14:33 / 08.02.02

betty woo - I get what you are saying, and Im not arguing the nature of Big Daddy Business, or that its better to support local shops, artists, and groups. instead Im arguing for the superior mentality going on in regards to clothing, music, and every other damn thing - it sucks ("Im a far worthier person because my shoes ware cobbled together in a graveyard by imps whos blood dribbled into the stitching - esoteric is my middle name")

and that outfit is cool and all, but I bet I can find the same or very similar on at least half a dozen different sites. I dont believe theres much original anything out there anymore, as far as fashion goes. theres only so much you can do with body coverings, no matter how much you mix it up

19:09 / 08.02.02

I love Hot Topic, for that most noble of reasons: it pisses off all the right people.

Yay! You have no idea how long I've been trying to break in to the all the right people clique. Cheers!

19:18 / 08.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Flux =
Yeah, but the DIY aesthetic has evolved and changed, and isn't what is being sold in stores...anything being sold in a store like Hot Topic is more or less just novelty and retro, because the subculture is always a few steps ahead of the corporate appropriation.

I agree with everything you said here. Maybe I just have a problem with having my youth resold as a product. I don't have any interest in playing my Intellivision (which was 1000X better than your shitty old Atari to begin with) anymore and it bothers me that they would put it on a shirt for some sort of Alanistype ironic statement. Not that I lose sleep over it or anything, I just think it sucks.

20:13 / 08.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Bio K9:

I agree with everything you said here. Maybe I just have a problem with having my youth resold as a product.... Not that I lose sleep over it or anything, I just think it sucks.

But it was a product sold to you even then. Is it the fact that it's being REsold that's uncomfortable?

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

22:09 / 08.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Know that Rage knows that you know:
Fuck them. Who the fuck gives a fuck about Hot Topic? What is this shit? The Conversation is really turning to shit, man.

Just some people who want to know why it's an insult....

(gives Rage a homemade lemon Coke)

The Conversation has always been shit. That's why we love it.

05:26 / 09.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Dekapot Mass:
But it was a product sold to you even then. Is it the fact that it's being REsold that's uncomfortable?
I don't think I understood that Starblazers was only on TV to sell advertising when I was six years old. Videogames were a way to pass the time with your friends during a friday night sleepover not a way for a corporation to make a buck. Your childhood isn't sold to you, its a gift. A magic. The crap you play with is sold to your parents, sure, but the childhood itself is something else. And a part of mine is being pimped out on $20 shirts that disolve in the wash.

10:58 / 09.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Flyboy:

it's a long story, involving porn.

This may be the best all-purpose response to ANYTHING I have ever heard.

15:39 / 09.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Bio K9:

I don't think I understood that Starblazers was only on TV to sell advertising when I was six years old. Videogames were a way to pass the time with your friends during a friday night sleepover not a way for a corporation to make a buck. Your childhood isn't sold to you, its a gift. A magic. The crap you play with is sold to your parents, sure, but the childhood itself is something else. And a part of mine is being pimped out on $20 shirts that disolve in the wash.

Y'know, no one else really seems to mind all too much, and, for the majority people on this board, Atari and Strawberry Shortcake and the such were part of their childhoods as well. They don't seem to mind so much, I played Atari as a kid and I probably could care less, but it would be hard to do so.

16:45 / 09.02.02

quote:Originally posted by bitchiekittie:
I dont believe theres much original anything out there anymore,

but what if this very belief was the product of our current culture, of entities like "Hot Topic" which seem to proove there is nothing new by giving you something old and pretending it's new.

what if there are entire universes of novelty waiting to be created / discovered, but everyone is too busy deciding between a 5 dollar "real" Poison shit and a 20 dollar retro version?

seems to me youth culture is at a point of high diffusion and something is going to have to break. a store like Hot Topic is not a question of "should i get my goth gear here or someplace more authentic" but rather (yet another) sign that an entire new subculture needs to arise --

16:53 / 09.02.02

anyway, looking at the website, it's all crap that's been around for ever... they carry labels like lip service which have been milking suck punk-and-goth fashanistas for decades, and there's always been silly mall stores like this in cities... is the big deal here that its now in ohio?

17:16 / 09.02.02

don't trust anything from ohio. trust me.

Matthew Fluxington

17:23 / 09.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Mystery Gypt:

what if there are entire universes of novelty waiting to be created / discovered, but everyone is too busy deciding between a 5 dollar "real" Poison shit and a 20 dollar retro version?

Right on, man. I think sometimes it is easy for people to lose perspective and remember that many things in our culture today were completely unthinkable as recent as 30 years ago. People don't give enough credit to the human imagination. Contrary to popular opinion, history has not yet come to an end...

01:26 / 10.02.02

i've been given a black t-shirt from there, like 3 years ago, reads in smaller and smaller sentances ' can't sleep, clowns will eat me'
i loved it.
wore it in atlanta a lot... now i've seen it on others, still sometimes wear it, but not as much. i dislike advertising for stuff on my person, unless i 'belive' in the product... so i don't buy JUST DO IT shirts or the like. this shirt was not available here, so i wore it more. now that it is, i don't feel like advertising that store with it, tho it dosen't say 'hot topic' on it.

however... the t i also got that says in red letters in logo similar to the D.A.R.E to keep kids off drugs logo and it says
' P.U.N.K- Keeping Kids on the Streets'
funny story #1 with that short... in Atlanta international Airport, picking someone up, got asked whilst on tram to gate ' what does p. u. n.k stand for?' i take a moment and go 'it's punk, you know, punk rock music?' and the guy just looks at me, completly clueless while his g/f nudges him in the ribs and rushes out of the tram at next stop. (mind you, i am a far cry from scary looking, as i am 5'1 and busty, and this was before my current color of purple hair)

#2 story, this week... while having this shirt on, stopped by PC-LASS... who felt she needed to ask what the shirt meant. when i explained, she got all huffy... and wen't 'DO YOU HAVE CHILDREN?' all shrill-like... when i said i di not she said ' well if you would you'd not wear that shirt, this world is a scary place out there you know!'

at this point, i hope the shirt holds up long enough to last til i get around to having kids, if for no other reason, then to spite her, in some small way.

peace out
~~G

02:15 / 10.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Cop Killer:
Y'know, no one else really seems to mind all too much, and, for the majority people on this board, Atari and Strawberry Shortcake and the such were part of their childhoods as well. They don't seem to mind so much, I played Atari as a kid and I probably could care less, but it would be hard to do so.
...and...?

Like I said earlier, its not something I think about all day. Hell, its not even something I think about when I pass the goddamn place in the mall. To me its like McDonalds (which nearly everyone here seems to fucking hate) except that it hasn't make it to third world countries yet. One sells shit food to the masses, the other shit clothes and music at inflated shit prices. One helps destroy native cultures (or so I'm told) and the other helps destroy subcultures (which everyone tells me would have changed anyway). Will everyone still think Hot Topic is cool because it pisses off all the right people when they open a store in Tibet?

I probably sound angrier about this whole thing than I really am but thats just they was I write, ya know. Plus, I love cheeseburgers.

02:25 / 10.02.02

I think Hot Topic is pretty cool - I know a lot of my audience is down with it, I know a lot of merchandise of my old band was shifted there. I think the subculture should go overground, so malls are cool with me. So is McDonalds. I love their $1 cheeseburgers, and their french fries. I do prefer Wendy's, though. I don't like Burger King very much. Arby's has rocking curly fries! Still, nobody can touch Taco Bell, especially when it's one of those bitchin' Taco Bells which is half KFC. Those fucking rule!

04:01 / 10.02.02

I have a button which features a picture of ronald mcdonald happily displaying a happy meal. it reads "eat shit"

my daughter delights in it

09:46 / 11.02.02

quote:Originally posted by alas:
don't trust anything from ohio. trust me.

Hey! I resemble that remark!

And I happen to think I'm very trustworthy.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

09:46 / 11.02.02

I guess the only problem I really have with the whole concept of a mainstream retail store for the kuh-rayy-zee kids is that... well... I like to make my own clobber, goddammit. I like dyeing, bleaching, boiling with onion-skins, painting, glueing, stitching, saftey-pinning, putting-in-the-washing-machine-on-inappropriately-high-heat-ing, tearing, embriodering, applique-ing, and generally vandalizing my clothes (at least partly because for many years I just couldn't afford the things I wanted, so I had to approximate). I found that my homemade gear got (and gets) me a lot of negative input, not because it isn't wild enough but because it's, well, homemade.

Once a look is on the high street, suddenly there's a "right" and a "wrong" way of doing it, and the DIY ethos always seems to end up being "wrong". It seems funny to me that no matter what age group you're dealing with, the people who make the most noise about being individual are (in their own ways) the most conformist.

[ 11-02-2002: Message edited by: Mordant C@rnival ]

Regrettable Juvenilia

09:46 / 11.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Mordant C@rnival:
Once a look is on the high street, suddenly there's a "right" and a "wrong" way of doing it, and the DIY ethos always seems to end up being "wrong".

I think this depends on context - certainly a couple of the responses in this thread suggest that there are people who see the DIY method as the only "right" way. And this can be expressed in a very "punker-than-thou" (or more goth than thou, or whatever) way, that comes off as rather snobbish - which is what I meant by "pissing off all the right people".

But clearly, not everyone who favours doing it themselves, shopping in smaller, independant stores, seeking out more unique styles etc, is going to subscribe to the above attitude, and I don't mean to imply that. In fact I feel pretty much the same way in terms of which I think is preferable. But I live in central London these days - I have that luxury. As do people in New York, Toronto, and other big, metropolitan cities. I don't know how widespread the Hot Topic chain is, but I'd wager that it does extent to smaller, more provincial towns/areas, where there are far fewer options for buying clothes that express what you want to express. And that's why I think that the (Hot Topic) kids are alright.

09:46 / 11.02.02

Or are you just saying that cos you find hot topic wearing kids cute?

odd jest on horn

14:12 / 18.02.02

bumped because i found ]this and thought it was relevant.

[THREADROT]
is it okay to bump in the conversation?
[/THREADROT

22:23 / 18.02.02

I'm not for or Aginst Hot topics some of thier stuff is cool they have sexy unperpants that make me feel like riot girl WOO! (Ducks chairs)

I Me Mine Damnit

18:00 / 01.05.04

Okay, who the hell cares what people wear. I mean, really it just doesn't matter. Who cares who made it who did whatever, as long as someone really likes it, and isn't just trying to be like everyone else.
These are the people that piss me off. Behind me on the escalater in the mall were these stupid "PUNK IS DEAD" kids, one of them said "if there was this really hot girl, the hottest girl you have ever seen and she wanted you but she was wearing all Abercrombie, would you go out with her?"
The other one is like "Hell, no"

Okay, if I'm not mistaken that is what the stupid ass "PUNK IS DEAD" kids say is messed up about the preppy kids or whatever.
I have a friend who dresses in expensive clothes all the time, because he can afford it, and he likes how it looks. He doesn't care what other people wear, he just likes the expensive stuff made of nice fabric. But I bet some stupid punk kid or whatever would come up to him and be like "YOU ARE A PREP".

What bugs me is how people act like they like certain bands because they are underground or something. Now I don't know anything about underground punk bands, because, frankly, punk is not good, with the exception of the Descendents.
Every punk song sounds almost the same, the distortion is turned up so high that it hides their mistakes and sounds like crap. I think that's why they do it, because it hides their mistakes. I am sick of people being like "Avril acts punk but she so isn't".
You hypocrite, that's about as original as hot topic. The truth is Avril has more musical talent than half the punk bands people listen to combined. But she still sucks. Here is a list of crappy bands

AFI
Thrice
Minor Threat

I'll save some time. ANY PUNK, EMO, INDIE, GOTH, METAL OR STUPID ANGSTY TEENAGER BAND FROM THE EIGHTIES, LIKE RADIOHEAD AND THE CURE. They suck. But not as much as punk.
Oh, and grunge sucks, too. Kurt Cobain just proved that you don't need to be talented to be famous.
I believe it was all started by a bunch of people who decided they were too 'hardcore' to take lessons. Which is retarded because hardcore means, basically, true to your roots. So if they were truly hardcore they'd learn how to play THE FRIGGIN INSTRUMENT THEY 'PLAY'!

A

05:12 / 02.05.04

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

15:12 / 02.05.04

I don't mind Hot Topic, what I do mind is people who are Hot Topic zombies and for whatever they wear you could say, "Hot Topic called, they want their clothes back." When I see people in an obviously hot topic t-shirt, pants, spiky wrist things, etc. it's quite clear that they show the same individuality that any Gap or Abercrombie zombie does. What Hot Topic seems to be selling is the consumer verison of individuality, fuck conformity, look different (in the same exact way that all your friends do). It's safe, yet gives you the illusion of having this really individualistic look.

Now, fasion wise, I'm by no means a paragon of individuality, I've got three pairs of the exact same pants, and I only have six pants, but I don't think you can replicate my style with a catalogue, and Hot Topic is all about looking the same as their staff. Is there something wrong with it? In theory no, but I think for a lot of people it serves as a kind of packaged individuality, you can be that freaky goth chick for only $20 a shirt, and by conforming to the Hot Topic role, you're only standing up even more what you're supposed to be dismissing.

Regrettable Juvenilia

16:14 / 02.05.04

I like Hot Topic girls more than I like you.

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