January 29, 2007
Blipster? Really?
Right on the tail of the groundbreaking "bloggers drink in the LES" article in The Observer, The New York Times will not be outdone! Their article, Truly Indie Fans, is about black people listening to rock music, and it has caused quite a stir, with good reason. The article uses the term "blipsters" to describe black indie rock fans, as if another form of the already overused word "hipster" needs to exist - nevermind one based on race. The blog Colonel K Speaks has written an emotional response to the piece.
He states, "This week's NY Times Magazine published an article called "Truly Indie Fans,” in which author Jessica Pressler investigates the lives and experiences of black rock fans, or as she dubs them, “blipsters.” While she is optimistic about bands with Black members, such as Bloc Party and TV On The Radio, Pressler fails to touch upon the double standards that have been placed upon black rock fans."
We think perhaps The Times felt like hyping up a new phrase, and didn't think too much about the rest.
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Jeez, and I've been listening to r&b, jazz and soul all these years.
www.forgotten-ny.com
the times didn't coin the phrase. if you read the article, you would've seen it was attributed to a different source. urban dictionary, i think, though i don't remember.
So... black people who listen to rock can't just be black people who listen to rock?? We have to have a separate f-cking name? WTF?
Don't even pay attention to it. NOBODY with half a brain is actually going to go around using this word, unless it's as a complete joke.
who's the chick in the pic? She's kinda cute.
les paulie walnuts
"who's the chick in the pic? She's kinda cute."
are you referring to the dude who is the guitarist for tv on the radio? hah.
personally, i think the word 'blipster' is pretty deck.
What new oppressed segment of the African American community will the NYT focus on next?
Black Proctologysts: Are They Sent the Sh**iest Patients?
Black Abstract Expressionists: Looks Like a Zulu Mask to Us. Yup, Definitely a Zulu Mask. Oh, He Hasn't Started Painting Yet? Interesting.
Black Roofers: Shingles Are Racist.
holy krap, that's a guy? guess I'm not a hipster.
it's quite an optical illusion because the guy behind him melds into a nice booty.
More pathetic than the Observer piece by a whisker.
As a black person listening to mostly rock music, I find blipster to be a very strange word that doesn't really encompass the experience of being black and being immersed in a rock music subculture. It doesn't really do anything except create another label that people will be confused by and will use incorrectly. The last crazy term like this was blerd, a slang term for a black nerd (of which I am also).
What would you call an Asian hipster? I'm Filipino. Does that make me a Flipster?
The very first concert that I attended was Joan Jett, REM and The Police at Shea Stadium. No one called me a blipster, but a random concertgoer told me that I looked like Tootie from The Facts of Life.
Later, one of my friends said that he said Tootie because that was only the other black person he has seen in his life.
Unfortunately, I was so traumatized by this comparison that I never attended another rock concert again. I couldn't handle the possibility of being seen by someone who didn't look like me while listening to music being performed by people who, alas, didn't look like me. The pressure to conform to their sitcom expectations was entirely too much for me.
I've passed on so many concerts due to this crippling fear: The Scissor Sisters, Faith No More, Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, OK Go, Psychedelic Furs, Antony and the Johnsons, The Bangles, James Taylor, Dave Edmunds Band, Gavin DeGraw, Squeeze (to name a few.
I'm working on getting over my phobia in therapy.
People act as though “Blipsters” are something new.
I remember growing up in Flatbush during the mid 80s and everyone Black I knew either skateboarded or listened to rock - hell I remember digging Springsteen and Phil Collins as much as we did RUN-DMC and Slick Rick,
Frankly, I’m sick of the labels.
Its funny that considering that the word "hipster" has african origins and was originally associated with black culture (1940's jazz scene etc.) That a separate term is now being created as the term Hipster can no longer be used to define anything black.