I used to be cool. Ok, let me rephrase that. I’ve never been cool. There hasn’t been a single moment in my entire life where anyone has looked at me and went, “You know what, that guy is cool.” When I was eight years old I looked like an accountant. By the time I was eleven years old I was legally certified as an accountant. I have t-shirts with pictures of Speed Racer, Voltron and the Knights that say Ni emblazoned on them in a totally unironic manner. For all effective purposes, I am a complete geek.
In more accurate terms I used to be someone who knew who and what was cool. I was completely on top of pop culture trends and could explain to everyone within earshot exactly why everyone was talking about Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or why the first season of Heroes was going to be incredibly popular and then become incredibly sucky after that. For a short period of time I was actually paid for this knowledge as I was apparently the only person in Kansas who understood both pop culture and math. I’ve pretty much assumed that I will always understand what is going on in pop culture. Except apparently I no longer do because…
Could somebody please explain to me who Justin Bieber is?
Seriously this kid is everywhere and apparently the biggest pop star on the planet and I have no idea where he came from. I just turned on the television one day and he was being mobbed by random teenagers at the mall like he was one of the Damn Beatles (a great name for a band by the way.) Is he a Disney refuge? Did he appear on American Idol without my knowledge? Is he the reincarnation of Kurt Cobain (the math would be pretty close on that one when you think about it)? Is there any reason why I should have heard of this kid prior to two weeks ago?
It’s fascinating how someone could just break huge overnight in our culture without anyone knowing why. Miley Cyrus became a big star but at least there were reasons behind it. She was on a Disney show and her dad is Billy Ray Cyrus. That explains an awful lot in terms of popularity and we could compare her career to Ricky Nelson’s if we were so inclined. Hanson was popular because they had the single Mmmbop and they were freaking Hanson, man. Taylor Swift was a well known country act for a few years before breaking big last year. Those all make sense. This one just baffles me.
I guess this is what happens when you cross that magical 35 year old marketing barrier. I’m out of the target market and out of the loop. No one gives a damn what I think or care about any more. I’m just a bitter old man over in my corner, lifting my cane and yelling at the damn kids to get off my lawn. And you know what, those bastards run their bikes through my yard one more time I can guarantee you that they are going to pay.
Wednesday Night Music Club: I need to get some real music posted tonight. Something to get my mind off of all of this pointless pop pabulum. Some Built to Spill should do the trick quite nicely.
Showing posts with label Coolness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coolness. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Thursday, June 14, 2007
The Coolness Bell Curve
I have a very interesting job in that it is partly my responsibility to determine what is cool. That’s pretty amazing given that most people upon first meeting would never think, “This is the guy who exemplifies cool.” Typically it’s “I bet this guy could do my taxes” or “I think he spends twenty hours a day staring at a computer screen.” Still, I have somehow found myself in a position to present to people what is cool in the online world, even though I wear t-shirts that not only are older than MySpace but are older than most of the people on MySpace.
I mention all this because I read an article today that had the best phrase I have seen in ages: The Law of Diminishing Coolness. The idea is pretty simple, there is a point at which an item’s popularity has grown so much that it becomes less cool for each additional person who jumps on the bandwagon. Here is a simple example. I first knew of the Dave Matthews Band in 1994. This was within weeks of Under the Table and Dreaming being released. I had the fire dancer t-shirt and was wearing it around U of I with people going, “Who in the world is that?” That was being on the leading edge of cool. Now fast forward a few years and DMB is the biggest band in the world and I stop being a fan. Because I don’t want to be a fan of a band that everyone else is a fan of. You don’t want to be in the same row at a concert with all of the people who made fun of you in high school.
Now I’ve talked about this concept before but when you place it in the context of the modern internet (and especially social networking) it becomes a very interesting concept. Basically, it ties into the fact that if I’m doing something it probably isn’t cool anymore. I mean, how cool and cutting edge is MySpace if even I have a page? Doesn’t that mean everyone has a page? Would you want to be on MySpace if you knew that your mom also had a page? Social networking needs scale to be successful and at too large of a scale you get collapses like Friendster but even if you survive the technological limitations you still have to deal with the fact that at some point all of the people that you don’t want to talk to are using the service. And at that point it is time to leave.
That’s what I’m wondering about when I think about MySpace. I remember a few months ago seeing Chili’s advertise their MySpace page. If you started using the site when it was just you and your friends talking about music how does it feel to see it being overrun by people trying to sell you overpriced potato skins? Isn’t there an inevitable collapse? I know people say that there is a critical mass but doesn’t that just mean at some point new users would simply go somewhere else?
The other point this article made is that everyone points to sites like MySpace and Second Life as the future when in reality it is not as if we are gaining more time in our lives. I have a hell of a time taking care of my job and my vague semblance of a social life and still have time to write, even though I am more passionate about writing than anything else I do. I’m going to be stealing hours come November to get my novel done and that is going to be a top priority of mine. Now how in the world am I supposed to fit in a virtual social life in Second Life? Something has to give and I’m not sure that people are going to choose digital interactions over the analog kind. At some point you have to wonder if even though technology is cool it might not necessarily be better.
Have a great weekend everyone. If you are in KC, go see the movie “Once”. I might just not leave the theater. Glen Hansard is already getting talk about Oscar nominations for his songs in the movie and that is just incredible.
I mention all this because I read an article today that had the best phrase I have seen in ages: The Law of Diminishing Coolness. The idea is pretty simple, there is a point at which an item’s popularity has grown so much that it becomes less cool for each additional person who jumps on the bandwagon. Here is a simple example. I first knew of the Dave Matthews Band in 1994. This was within weeks of Under the Table and Dreaming being released. I had the fire dancer t-shirt and was wearing it around U of I with people going, “Who in the world is that?” That was being on the leading edge of cool. Now fast forward a few years and DMB is the biggest band in the world and I stop being a fan. Because I don’t want to be a fan of a band that everyone else is a fan of. You don’t want to be in the same row at a concert with all of the people who made fun of you in high school.
Now I’ve talked about this concept before but when you place it in the context of the modern internet (and especially social networking) it becomes a very interesting concept. Basically, it ties into the fact that if I’m doing something it probably isn’t cool anymore. I mean, how cool and cutting edge is MySpace if even I have a page? Doesn’t that mean everyone has a page? Would you want to be on MySpace if you knew that your mom also had a page? Social networking needs scale to be successful and at too large of a scale you get collapses like Friendster but even if you survive the technological limitations you still have to deal with the fact that at some point all of the people that you don’t want to talk to are using the service. And at that point it is time to leave.
That’s what I’m wondering about when I think about MySpace. I remember a few months ago seeing Chili’s advertise their MySpace page. If you started using the site when it was just you and your friends talking about music how does it feel to see it being overrun by people trying to sell you overpriced potato skins? Isn’t there an inevitable collapse? I know people say that there is a critical mass but doesn’t that just mean at some point new users would simply go somewhere else?
The other point this article made is that everyone points to sites like MySpace and Second Life as the future when in reality it is not as if we are gaining more time in our lives. I have a hell of a time taking care of my job and my vague semblance of a social life and still have time to write, even though I am more passionate about writing than anything else I do. I’m going to be stealing hours come November to get my novel done and that is going to be a top priority of mine. Now how in the world am I supposed to fit in a virtual social life in Second Life? Something has to give and I’m not sure that people are going to choose digital interactions over the analog kind. At some point you have to wonder if even though technology is cool it might not necessarily be better.
Have a great weekend everyone. If you are in KC, go see the movie “Once”. I might just not leave the theater. Glen Hansard is already getting talk about Oscar nominations for his songs in the movie and that is just incredible.
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