There’s nothing quite like the relationship between a hipster and his music source. It’s a remarkably one-sided relationship: Pitchfork hypes up the best new alternative, indie, and unsigned bands, and then the hipster claims them as his own with a familiar refrain, such as “Yeah, I was into them before Pitchfork reviewed their album,” or “Whatever, man, the EP they made before they had a label was so much better than whatever crap Pitchfork gave Best New Music.” They basically bite the hand that feeds.
Wait, that’s the relationship hipsters have with everything.
Pitchfork and hipsters have been associated for years now. So if you happen to like a new band, and they get mentioned in Pitchfork, people will start throwing that word at you: “hipster.” Then you remember that the person talking to you doesn’t read Pitchfork. So how do they know what’s in Best New Music?
Then you can smile and nod, because you just caught them in the act. “It takes one to know one,” you think smugly.
If you should so happen to have the misfortune of liking three albums on Best New Music, like me, your only choice is to go into hiding for a while. That way you can avoid the dreaded question.
Katie Kdubs Wareen
03/23/2011
My friend works for Pitchfork and he is a hipster from Seattle and has hipster fab taste in music. Embrace it, love it, listen to it, drink to it. Cheers.
Ana
03/24/2011
A conversation that happened a few years ago while diving:
“Pitchfork is stupid”
“Yeah”
“They overhype a few mediocre things and then either ignore or rip on everything else”
“YEAH”
“It’s stupid and pretentious. I don’t need it to tell me what to listen to.”
“YEAH ROBERT RIGHT ON!”
*Silence for a few seconds*
“Damn, I’d like to write for them.”
“Yeah.”