Hipster

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For other uses, see Hipster (disambiguation).

A hipster is a person who is strongly associated with a subculture that considers itself hip. The term was used originally in the early 1940s to describe aficionados of jazz, and it eventually described many members of the Beat Generation, but its usage declined in the 1960s, with the term hippies coming into wide usage. Since the 2000's, the word hipster has been redefined to refer to members of a different subculture. Modern hipsters are those devoted to ironic retro fashions, independent music and film, alternative comics, and other forms of expression outside the mainstream. They are often associated with indie culture.

More generally, trendsetters in fashion are sometimes called hipsters, though this use is distinct from the hipster subculture, whose fashion sensibilities are specific and not usually destined for the mainstream.

In the purest sense, the original hipsters were the hip, mostly black performers of jazz and swing music in the 1940s, or strong followers of such music, at a time when "hip" music was equated with African-American-originated forms of musical expression.

Although hipsters could be black or white, the term later and more predominantly came to be used to refer to whites who were aficionados of the music, groupies and members of the so-called Bohemian set, or Beat Generation. Because the jazz scene had long been integrated, hipster culture, too, became integrated before much of the rest of society. The use of the term hipster for whites who had an affinity for the avant-garde and for African-American culture was popularized in Norman Mailer's 1956 essay The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster. Hipsters were sometimes referred to as beatniks, a term coined by San Francisco columnist Herb Caen after the Sputnik satellite from Russia.

Hipsters were cool. That is, they exhibited a mellow, laid-back attitude that is still called hip. Many also were users and popularizers of recreational drugs, particularly marijuana, amphetamines, and to some extent heroin, which was epidemic for a time among bebop musicians such as Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, and Miles Davis.

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[edit] Hipster lingo

Many terms in the hipster argot, such as moe, kicks, square and dig continue to be used in their hipster meanings, though often with a certain level of self-conscious irony attached. Cool has entered the everyday speech of many English speakers, and become so common, it is rarely thought of as a word associated with a particular hipster aesthetic.

An even earlier term for hipster was gate, used because gates swing. Gate, Jim, and Jackson were used in place of regular names in expressions like "Hold on, Jim" and "Solid, Jackson." Hipsters were also known as hepcats, hep being an earlier form of the word hip. Cat/Kat was used to mean "person"; so a hip kat, or hepcat, is a person who is current and up-to-date. However, Hippie was a "Beatnik term"; meaning "Not Hip Enough to be Hip" or "Not hip enough to be a real Beatnik"; basically a wannabe or poseur. [citation needed]

When Beatnik language was the fad, the stereotypical New York hipster, or bohemian, wore a beret, dressed frequently in black, smoked mentholated Kool cigarettes, wore sunglasses even after sundown, and frequented jazz clubs and beat poetry coffeehouses and cafés in the Village. Many hipster terms generally fell out of use in mainstream, white society with the changing of styles and the coming of hippies in the 1960s, but have remained in use in the African-American community, where they were neither in nor out of fashion, but simply part of the traditional lexicon.

While attempts have been made to link the etymologies of hip, tina and dig with Wolof, a West African language,[1] this remains a subject of debate among linguists, and is not widely accepted [2] [3].

[edit] Origin of the term

The term was originally used around 1940. Jazz musicians had long used the words hep and hepcat to describe themselves and others who were "in the know," but with the popularity of jazz among squares (those not in the know) and the fact that many of these squares were using the terms, musicians started using the word hip, to distinguish themselves from the squares. After the vowel switch, Harry Gibson, popular pianist on Swing Street in NYC, started addressing his audience as hipsters, which other musicians picked up on and kidded him about, and affectionately gave him the nickname, "The Hipster," around 1940. In 1944 he recorded "Handsome Harry, The Hipster," as well as, "Hipster's Blues."

[edit] Modern day hipsters

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Since the late 1990s, the word hipster has resurfaced as an often derisive label for individuals or stereotypes of individuals devoted to retro fashions, independent music and film, alternative comics, and other youthful forms of expression outside the mainstream. The term is sometimes used as a blanket derogatory descriptor for fans of indie rock music.

Since the 2000's, the term hipster has ironically been used to describe mainstream culture, most notably by their expensive array of "cheap" looking clothes and their excessive spending of parental allowance on, among other things, designer drugs and miscellaneous electronics such as cellphones and MP3 players (Apple's iPod being the most popular player available).

Hipsters can be found in any urban community, and their presence is prominent in under-developed neighborhoods such as Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They can be also spotted around thrift shops, trendy museums, the Angelika Theatre, or any other movie theatres that play depressing independent film noir they pretend to understand and/or relate to.

Some stereotypical accessories of the modern hipster include Vespa scooters, Buddy Holly-style glasses, beards, indie-rock band membership, Fixed gear Bicycles, Converse style shoes, Vice Magazine, and vintage clothing. Neighborhoods such as Uptown, Minneapolis; Wicker Park, Chicago; Allston, Massachusetts; Southside, Pittsburgh; Williamsburg, Brooklyn; South Philadelphia, Philadelphia; The Temescal, Oakland; The Mission District, San Francisco; Capitol Hill, Seattle; Clifton, Cincinnati; Hollywood, Los Angeles; the Hawthorne district in Portland; The Plateau, Montréal; Tribeca; Queen West and College St. in Toronto, Woodbridge & Corktown, Detroit; and other, smaller concentrations across the country have become popular living and recreational destinations for hipsters. Cheap, alcoholic beverages such as Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer are sometimes associated with hipster culture.

Robert Lanham's The Hipster Handbook affectionately lampoons the hipster cliché in its current incarnation. David Brooks of the New York Times aptly described the recent generation of hipsters as "laid low by the ironies of consumerism". Numerous web sites also exist that less-affectionately express their authors' exasperation at hipster clichés ([4]). Many would argue that the term "hipster" itself has become derisive, and it is seldom used as a label for self-identification, except in an ironic or self-deprecating way.

The character Cosmo Kramer from the 1990s sitcom Seinfeld, had the derogatory nickname "hipster doofus", assigned to him by a woman in a wheelchair he dated in the episode "The Handicap Spot." It was also occasionally directed at him by Elaine, as in "The Glasses." The nickname was first used in a newspaper review of Seinfeld.

[edit] Famous hipsters

[edit] 1940s and 1950s

For a comprehensive look at the Beat Generation of hipsters, see Beat Generation

Actors, comedians, musicians

Painters

Writers

[edit] 1990 and beyond

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This is a non-exhaustive list of a few well-known hipster artists and celebrities of the 1990s and 2000s. Where works or biographical information are cited, this should be read as the key points establishing the figures in hipster culture, and not as an exhaustive bio.

Writers and visual artists

Filmmakers and actors

Musicians

  • Beck, musician famous for reprocessing and reinterpreting music and styles of the past.
  • Cat Power (also known as Chan Marshall), musician whose sincere-but-cryptic lyrics and famously unstable stage persona have influenced a generation of introverted female hipsters.
  • Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Brooklyn-based band that plays music in the style of Talking Heads and Television.
  • DFA Records, home of LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, Hot Chip, The Juan Maclean, Shit Robot and other artists.
  • Death From Above 1979, guitarless duo known for their energetic live shows and sex-charged lyrics.
  • Pablo Guzman, bassist famous for his gigantic belt buckles.
  • Ira Kaplan, musician (Yo La Tengo) whose musical and personal style was especially influential with 1990s indie rock hipsters
  • Les Savy Fav, art-rock band infamous in hipster circles for their live shows which feature obese frontman Tim Harrington prancing around onstage, making out with audience members, and removing all of his clothing.
  • Bloc Party, English indie-rock band from London, England, commonly use have a tranquil yet upbeat sound.
  • MisShapes, a DJ trio, who hold weekly hipster parties in NYC.
  • Pavement, Godfathers of indie-rock and hipster heroes. Frontman Stephen Malkmus continues to reign over his hipster kingdom while continuing to produce critically acclaimed independent rock with his band The Jicks.
  • Peaches, sleaze queen known for her pornographic lyrics and raunchy outfits. Frequently seen at hipster parties thrown in New York City and Berlin.

Internet Phenomena

[edit] Quotations

  • "Carrying his language and his new philosophy like concealed weapons, the hipster set out to conquer the world." -- Partisan Review, 1948
  • "The hipster is a man who's in the know, grasps everything, is alert." -- Mezz Mezzrow, Really The Blues

[edit] External links

[edit] Film

  • The Unidentified A film about today’s youth culture, a generation that wants to make a difference in the world but doesn’t know how or why or what they would do if they had the chance.
  • The Burg Internet TV show that depicts hipster life in Williamsburg Brooklyn.
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