WTF chic

This fall has produced more than its share of WTFs: Weezer with Kenny G, Grizzly Bear with Michael MacDonald, Animal Collective sampling Zamfir, the Weezer Snuggie (let's face it Weezer has been one big WTF since Matt Sharp left.)

So what the fuck? Why are artists so geeked on being uncool? One possibility is a visceral reaction to the hipster culture that has spread to every corner of society. One could easily imagine the shaggy-haired hipster reaching for his iPhone at the first toots of Zamfir's pan-flute (mission accomplished!) In much the same way that Twee was punking the punks, WTF could be kicking cool kids in their girl-jean crotches. Of course, the irony of this explanation is it would mean that this is a calculated move rather than an organic outgrowth.

And, if there was anything sinister about the last decades obsession with hipsterdom-- it was the subculture's cold calculation. The explosion of media and meta-media fed into a vicious cycle of microtrends and hyperawareness. Keeping up with everything was only a click away and hipster clones quickly began rolling off factory lines. From the denizens in the deepest enclaves in Brooklyn to flood victims in the Midwest as seen on the evening news, faux-hawks and Strokes look-a-likes dotted the American landscape from coat to coast and campus to campus.

So as underground culture searches for a post-hipster identity and forces itself to un-ironically (gasp!) embrace its inner Pee Wee Herman, we may have to withstand periodic jolts of uber-uncool. Just open wide and try to relax-- like the micro-fads before, it'll be over before you know it.