Hipster DCI

[Cappybara]

1 hour ago, higher faster stronger said:

Just one take on the topic. I have enjoyed DCP and I hope this would add to the conversation.

In an effort to understand what a hipster is while trying to answer the question of which corps is the most "hipster" I first began with the Miriam Webster dictionary definition. Hello Miriam my old friend.

 

hipster - noun 

a person who follows the latest trends and fashions, especially those regarded as being outside the cultural mainstream.

 

Based on this definition I would not say Bluecoats or Blue Devils at all. Looks like the most popular answers so far. Seems like the obvious answer. There is a bend in the tone of this topic currently,so forgive me for using it to look at this topic in a different way.

 

trendsetter - noun

a person who leads the way in fashion or ideas.

 

This gives a much better description of the influence that BC and BD have had on the current climate of DCI and I would put the Cavies in there for good measure because I would argue that they were the earliest of "suspects" in current trend. The other two were more direct in their evolution due to the plowing of the Green Machine. A quick sploooie. Moving on.

 

So if you look at it this way all of the corps are hipsters except BC,BD and the Cavies because they are following the trendsetters by following a trend that is outside of "cultural mainstream". The corps being called out as hipsters actually set a trend that other corps chose to follow. A shift in the culture usually starts with only one or two voices. This in no way is to place more responsibility on any corps but only to define roles and understand what took place. This is not an indictment of the change itself. I am a fan and I am enjoying this season very much.

 

"The true irony here is that many of the detractors of hipster culture are in fact unknowingly following a path that hipsters have carved out years before them. This phenomena also applies to music as well, as many bands have become successful and known to mainstream audiences only because hipsters first found and listened to them as early-adopters of new culture."

 

This was a quote from the OP's description of a hipster. It explains itself so I won't elaborate too much. DCI has always been the trendsetting/hipster set in the world of field show,always out of the cultural mainstream. Phantom and Les Mis on the field, Velvet Knights (hand over heart) first saw them in '92 shark on the field,that's all I am saying.Then jazz and drill at the same time,on a field,synth in the pit. Say it ain't so. 

 

"Once certain concepts of fashion and music have reached mainstream audiences, hipsters move on to something new and improved. "

 

One more quote from the hipster description in the initial post. 

 

The style of DCI has become intrinsic in HS and College bands influencing the style choices,arrangements of music as well as field design and general effect. When this type of experience is at arms length and you can have the same experience at a HS or college event what happens then ? No one does it like corps but some do not understand the difference. 

 

DCI has always been the hipster set and this era of corps is no different.One take away from this shift is a reminder change always come with some apprehension and resistance. Some may even walk away. When we ask how far is too far the current participants will tell you it's normal. This is all they know. 

 

Is there a new set of hipsters that are finding the activity and becoming the early adopters of a new culture ? I think so. Some of them are on the field right now land they will remain long after they leave. Only to find that the trends they once set have become  mainstream and history always seems to repeat itself. 

 

Just some thoughts I had. My answer is none of the above ;)

 

 

 

 

This is an interesting definition because atleast in my age group (college aged) we usually refer to hipsters as people who purposely go against the grain to be cool. It's not necessarily because something is better or for worse, they just hate the idea of being a part of anything that is mainstream 

[higher faster stronger]

19 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

This is an interesting definition because atleast in my age group (college aged) we usually refer to hipsters as people who purposely go against the grain to be cool. It's not necessarily because something is better or for worse, they just hate the idea of being a part of anything that is mainstream 

I definitely agree that the pursuit of cool points  is a factor in this too.  

It could be that they just wanted to be different. 

[CorpwithanS]

4 hours ago, skevinp said:

I thought it was a type of underwear.

Brilliance. Well played!

[CorpwithanS]

Hipsters Emo-lites?

[Brian Tuma]

Yeah, I like thought up this thread three years ago. 

 

 

 

;-)

 

[corps8294]

Pioneer are the drum corps activity's trendsetters. 

[Musicman1084]

7 hours ago, Model Mellow said:

Coats can't be hipster cause they are winning. Hipsters are the people who aren't setting trends from above but are from bellow.

 

 

BK all the way. More dance than any corps, slower tempos, highly intellectual content, introspective, existential. No one gets the shows. Lol. 

This.  BK is so hipster they're one step away from buying a beet farm and creating their own line of artisanal soaps.

And I'd be first in line to buy that soap.

[drumcorpsfever]

Remember when Jordan Koenig asked during The Cadets 2014 show, "An American Portrait",  "does the man make the times, or does the times make the man?   The Bluecoats may be DCI's "hipsters", but it was the Bluecoats who figured out how create and perform a show that DCI has helped push the activity to.   Bloo is playing by the same rules as everyone else.  They've just done better than most recently.   And, quite frankly, if this poll were taken only a few years ago, it would have been Carolina Crown - by a landslide - as being named "hipsters" in this poll.   And, last I looked, Crown has been consistently in medal class year after year.   

It's easy to confuse being hip with being great - and having swagger. But there's a difference.  I think from year to year, a small number of corps may be in the hipster category - performing shows more for the performers than the green shirts - think Madison and Surf within the past 10 years.    But, for the most part, hipsters is not a term I would think of when it comes to a drum corps -and that's okay by me.

Edited June 29, 2017 by drumcorpsfever

[Cappybara]

5 minutes ago, drumcorpsfever said:

Remember when Jordan Koenig asked during The Cadets 2014 show, "An American Portrait",  "does the man make the times, or does the times make the man?   The Bluecoats may be DCI's "hipsters", but it was the Bluecoats who figured out how create and perform a show that DCI has helped push the activity to.   Bloo is playing by the same rules as everyone else.  They've just done better than most recently.   And, quite frankly, if this poll were taken only a few years ago, it would have been Carolina Crown - by a landslide - as being named "hipsters" in this poll.   And, last I looked, Crown has been consistently in medal class year after year.   

It's easy to confuse being hip with being great - and having swagger. But there's a difference.  I think from year to year, a small number of corps may be in the hipster category - performing shows more for the performers than the green shirts - think Madison and Surf within the past 10 years.    But, for the most part, hipsters is not a term I would think of when it comes to a drum corps -and that's okay by me.

In what way is Crown hipster? They seem pretty mainstream to me

[drumcorpsfever]

7 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

In what way is Crown hipster? They seem pretty mainstream to me

I agree.  But think back to 2013...  that's what I'm referring to.   But in today's terms, certainly more mainstream.