In my earlier posting about seeing the Rocky Horror Picture Show DVD in a bargain bin at Safeway, I mentioned that it was a huge part of my development as an individual, but at the same time I’d outgrown it.
Then I noticed that my favoritest blog in the whole world, Coilhouse.net, did a piece on the rebranding of Hot Topic, where I commented that this is a Place to Have Outgrown; it’s a good place to get started on a path to finding an individual style but you certainly wouldn’t want to stop there.
So I’ve decided to compile a list. (Coilhouse should really do it, and they still should because between the editors and readership their list would be really interesting, but I’m going to do this one anyway).
In no particular order:
- Rocky Horror Picture Show
- All of the shenanigans that happened in those theaters so late at night, and the inevitable Denny’s trip afterward, were very influential in developing my individual personality. I feel as though I should bring my 16-year-old daughter, but I don’t think I could stand it now. And there are people that I went there with who are still heavily into it, which scares me.
- Renaissance Faire
- Ah, the shenanigans there, the memories… the fun of learning how to live in a historical period, talk and dress funny, all that… The concept of Freaking the Mundanes (or “turkeys”) was so important to plant me firmly on the side of being a weirdo. I don’t think I would even know how to flirt if it weren’t for RenFaire. I lost my virginity to a woman I had met that day at Faire, and had dozens of other little flings as well. I haven’t completely outgrown it I guess but it’s no longer a pilgrimage for me, and I kind of worry about the folks who are still as into it as they ever were.
- Hot Topic
- Say what you will about the inherent contradiction of a mall store selling manufactured individuality, I still consider it a gateway drug. One hopes that the shoppers will eventually get out of the mall and into the thrift stores or alt-couture outfits to refine their personal sense of style. (I got all of my Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Squee and Lenore comics there until I discovered that the Slave Labor Graphics headquarters were local to me…)
- Comics and graphic novels for adults
- I feel as though it should be on this list, but I confess I haven’t outgrown them. I just don’t buy them as religiously as I once did. And I probably never will.
- Progressive Rock
- A virtuoso is generally a pleasure to listen to, and I had my fun listening to the intricacies of so many prog bands, and gazing into those nifty Roger Dean album covers. I blush to confess it: I even remember charting (on graph paper, of course) a timeline illustrating the succession of King Crimson band members. And oh, the parties! At any party, we would gather round the inevitable prog keyboardist (clearly identifiable by his mullet and strangely craned neck), and spend the whole damn thing dropping names like Bill Bruford and Tony Levin. Gawd.
- Today, I can’t stand the stuff, I like my music with some teeth. I can’t even listen to the Decemberists, a band that by all accounts I’m supposed to like. (One notable exception, though. is the trilogy of early Marillion albums. The content was so emotional, and remains so connected with my emotional adolescence, that I’m never left cold by it. But please don’t make me watch the concert DVD’s.)
OK, this is a good start, and I’ll continue adding to it as we go. I’d like to see some more suggestions in the comments. Will anyone dare suggest anime?
3 Users Responded In This Post
A couple of things…
A) In some cases I suspect that by “outgrown” you might mean “no longer obsessed with.” Not true of Rocky Horror, mind you (THAT should be outgrown), but Graphic Novels and Prog may still be okay in smaller, measured doses. (“I’m not a drunk! I just drink socially!”)
B) We’ve discussed this, but you need to add The Doors to this list. The music, the lyrics…it speaks to the angsty teen the way Hot Topic might, and perhaps at a deeper level. But man, revisit those lyrics as an adult? And one who might write? Ouch. (Plus, it has always bugged me Morrison refused to pronounce the “r” in the lyric “break on th(r)ough.” That, of course, is just me.)
C) The Decemberists are twee indie pop. They bear as much resemblance to prog as Avril Lavigne does to punk. I don’t hold them in the contempt I do Lavigne, to be fair, but simply because they have borrowed a trapping or two of a form I cannot say they are of that form. (See: The Rolling Stones and Country Music circa Beggars Banquet or Led Zeppelin and Folk Music.) To be sure, the odd timing shifts and non-pop structure of the earlier work of The Throwing Muses bears a closer resemblance to the works of Bruford, Levin, et. al.
I am, by the way, not defending the vast majority of current prog. Bands like Dream Theater and the like are, if anything, more lacking in soul than their progenitors (thanks, I suppose, to the slickness of Pro Tools and such). The most vital elements in what might be considered prog now, bands like Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Mute Socialite, XBXRX and the like (and I will admit to obsessive behavior in at least one band’s case) draw from the less-known Rock-In-Opposition subsect of prog, as well as non-prog artists like Z’EV, Neubauten, The Swans and Thinking Fellers Local 282.
D) I never did loosen up enough to really milk Ren Faire properly. That would have been a fun one to outgrow.
There are soo many truths in what you say. For instance: I,myself,was influenced by many of the same things that you speak of. They have definitely shaped the person I am today. Ren faire, being an important part of it. However, I wasn’t into it to shock or entice; I thoroughly enjoyed the acting, of which I will never outgrow, but I do not attend as often as I used to and it holds more of a nostalgic thing for me. As to Rocky Horror, I outgrew it so much I get ill whenever I attend a show too late in the evening. The music that I listened to 20 years ago is a small drop compared to what I enjoy now. Marillion will always be my favorite. Too many fond memories. I guess you can say that we’ve all mellowed out some, found our nitch. That wild self-exploring age has long since passed, leaving both terrible as well as beautiful scars. Welcome to adulthood. Enjoy it.
I’d say the one thing I cannot get myself to get back into, but remember with a great fondness: Cons. The wild sexual escapades of youth that are pathetic now. I’m not sure I can still pull off the Penny Pretty outfit with the same bravado.
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