Collage: Dilemma / On the disappearance of tribes / Rebel without a cause / Blank generation

RTomens, 2020

What type are you? Which tribe do you belong to? Remember those kinds of questions? I suppose they're still asked, but are more from an era of clearly defined tribes...such as the 'street' variety. I miss tribes. No. I'll rephrase that. I would like to see street tribes parading through cities, declaring the allegiance to something...anything. Stand for nothing, fall for anything? Oh youth...what went wrong?

The disappearance of street tribes is usually celebrated as a sign of...what? I'm not sure, exactly. We can't say it's a refusal to act in a predetermined manner according to tribal rules because youth (and adults) still do that quite naturally. Our desire to find the right 'tribe' for us is still strong and perfectly natural. No one wants to feel alone, on the outside. 

The state of today's club/music culture is a key factor. Ignoring the fact that youths can't even gather in a joyous celebration of music under various Covid regimes, clubbing stopped being a crucial, innovative driving force years ago. Likewise, music, although I don't pretend to know all the micro 'scenes' which may exist. Those that do, I suspect, are shaped as much by post-modernism as style and content. As I type, Richard Hell's Blank Generation plays, reminding me that the idea of a generation for which blankness is the modus operandi is nothing new. Except we know that Punk was anything but 'blank' when it came to attitude, style and statement. 

I lived through many tribal eras. What marked each tribe was defiance in the face of what used to be called the 'square world'. We knew each other across a crowded bar or in the streets. We revelled in being recognised as 'other' by adults and non-tribal youths. We had something...knew something 'they' didn't. The trouble with today's non-tribal environment is that everyone dresses the same. Or rather, a 'radical' haircut could be worn by anyone from a 15 to 55-year-old. The old generation gap, appearance-wise at least, has long since been closed.

Whilst I grew out of tribes in the street sense, looking back, I can see that my desire to join them was based on the sense of being an outsider and a desire to join others who felt the same way. Which is not to say that a tribe was always marginal or socially rebellious. Whilst Soul Boys/Girls were a tribe, like Ravers later, they were very much of the mainstream and (until Raves were banned), apolitical. As I know all too well, though, it's quite possible to be an outsider whilst looking, to all intents and purposes, fairly 'normal'. Some small part of me is still a Punk, I'm sure. Even more of me is still a rebel, although I may no longer have a cause.