THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 119

One of the things that I’ve really noticed is that subcultures, at least in America, have been in sharp decline for the last… I’d say decade. This goes with the subcultural attitude towards music, clothes, culture in general. I know that there are still lots of new subcultures around but they are different, the way culture spreads is so different now. So, I guess I mean the classic subcultures. But those subcults like Punk & Goth are old, they were already old when I got into them. These things weren’t made to last, even though they have. I’m almost fifty & there are Punks that are well older than me, on stage, constantly touring. It’s probably a good thing, these old ass, tired cultural platforms being semi-retired, but, the sense of discovery & exclusivity & curation are the things that are the most important to me. I’m not trying to say anything as boring & tedious as “Punk’s Dead”, because it just isn’t, probably never will be. But, if you look at it 2024 is further from the fabled 1977 than the Rockabilly Revival of the 80s was to the 1950s. I know that culture exists forever now, everyone can access anything & I know that subcultures got boiled down into their aesthetic basics, long ago. So, what is reality for me, what matters is curation & context. I try hard not to bring my tribalist bullshit into things, looking down my nose at people’s tastes, but I was trained in the subcultural wars, so it’s just a part of me at this point. I was very attracted to the idea of “Destroy All Posers” which could be translated into the Black Metal obsession with “True”. Hip Hop has a better way of communicating this idea, I’m an Old School Head. I feel that things are better without that level of cultural tribalism even if it has moved on to other things like politics & religion. These are more real things to fight over even if I view divisiveness as wrong-headed in general. Core values make more sense as things to battle over than record collections & bootlace colors.