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A hipster is a person who is strongly associated with a subculture that has been deemed hip. The term was used originally in the early 1940s to describe aficionados of jazz, and it eventually described many members of the Beat Generation, but its usage declined in the 1960s, with the term hippies coming into wide usage. Since the mid 1990s, the word hipster has been redefined to refer to members of a different subculture. Modern hipsters are those devoted to ironic retro fashions, independent music and film, alternative comics, and other forms of expression outside the mainstream. They are often associated with indie culture.

More generally, trendsetters in fashion are sometimes called hipsters, though this use is distinct from the hipster subculture, whose fashion sensibilities are specific and not usually destined for the mainstream.

Origin of the term

The term was originally used in the early 1940s on Swing Street, New York City. Jazz musicians had long used the words hep and hepcat to describe themselves and others who were "in the know," but with the popularity of jazz among squares, those not in the know, and the fact that many of these squares were using the terms, musicians started using the word "hip," to distinguish themselves from the fans and squares. After the vowel switch, Harry Gibson, popular pianist on Swing Street, coined the term and started addressing his audience as "all you hipsters," which other musicians picked up on and kidded him about, and affectionately gave him the nickname, "The Hipster." He started being billed as "Harry The Hipster" in the early 40's, and in 1944 recorded "Handsome Harry, The Hipster," and the term spread from there.

Original hipsters

In the purest sense, the original hipsters were the hip, mostly black performers of jazz and swing music in the 1940s, or strong followers of such music, at a time when "hip" music was equated with African-American-originated forms of musical expression.

Although hipsters could be black or white, the term later and more predominantly came to be used to refer to whites who were aficionados of the music, groupies and members of the so-called Bohemian set, or Beat Generation. Because the jazz scene had long been integrated, hipster culture, too, became integrated before much of the rest of society. The use of the term hipster for whites who had an affinity for the avant-garde and for African-American culture was popularized in Norman Mailer's 1956 book The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster. Hipsters sometimes were referred to as beatniks, a term coined by San Francisco columnist Herb Caen after the Sputnik satellite from Russia.

Hipsters were cool. That is, they exhibited a mellow, laid-back attitude that is still called hip. Many also were users and popularizers of recreational drugs, particularly marijuana, amphetamines, and to some extent heroin, which was epidemic for a time among bebop musicians such as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.

Hipster lingo

Many terms in the hipster argot, such as moe, kicks, square and dig continue to be used in their hipster meanings, though often with a certain level of self-conscious irony attached. Cool has entered the everyday speech of many English speakers, and become so common, it is rarely thought of as a word associated with a particular hipster aesthetic.

An even earlier term for hipster was gate, used because gates swing. Gate, Jim, and Jackson were used in place of regular names in expressions like "Hold on, Jim" and "Solid, Jackson." Hipsters were also known as hepcats, hep being an earlier form of the word hip. Cat/Kat was used to mean "person"; so a hip kat, or hepcat, is a person who is current and up-to-date. However, Hippie was a "Beatnik term"; meaning "Not Hip Enough to be Hip" or "Not hip enough to be a real Beatnik"; basically a wannabe or poseur.

When Beatnik language was the fad, the stereotypical New York hipster, or bohemian, wore a beret, dressed frequently in black, smoked mentholated Kool cigarettes, wore sunglasses even after sundown, and frequented jazz clubs and beat poetry coffeehouses and cafés in the Village. Many hipster terms generally fell out of use in mainstream, white society with the changing of styles and the coming of hippies in the 1960s, but have remained in use in the African-American community, where they were neither in nor out of fashion, but simply part of the traditional lexicon.

While attempts have been made to link the etymologies of hip, tina and dig with Wolof, a West African language, this remains a subject of debate among linguists, and is not widely accepted [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhip.html.

Modern day hipsters

Since the late 1990s, the word hipster has resurfaced as a term to describe performers and devotees of indie rock and downtempo electronica, and related styles of music, and those who follow the associated fashions and tastes. The stereotypical accessories of the modern hipster include Vespa scooters, Buddy Holly-style glasses, membership in a local band (often one that romanticizes an aimless, alcohol-filled lifestyle), Converse style shoes, vintage clothing, and in the case of men, patchy facial hair. Hipsters dining preferences are often of the vegetarian variety, such as grilled cheese with tomatoes. Favorite beverage is PBR or another cheap working class beer. The modern day hipster has no real need for a job (and is often supported by his or her parents) -- this variety of hipster is known as a T.F.B, or "Trust Fund Baby". Regardless of financial stability, when most hispters are employed they are usually involved in something allowing interaction with other hipsters, such as an alternative music shop, coffee shop, or bar.

Modern hipsters often follow or are involved with the local art and DJ scenes, and are often associated with independent film and alternative comics. Unlike previous generations of hipsters, they are rarely now associated with the jazz scene, though the term likely re-entered use as a result of the swing revival and lounge revival of the mid-1990s, which many current hipsters were associated with at the time.

As with any distinctive subculture, the hipster -- or at least the supposed hipster stereotype -- is sometimes a target of derision or satire, though, as the subculture is a fairly amorphous group that generally appreciates irony and self-deprecation, the audience is often as not the hipsters themselves. Robert Lanham's The Hipster Handbook affectionately lampoons the hipster cliche in its current incarnation. Numerous web sites also exist that less-affectionately express their authors' exasperation at hipster cliches. Many would argue that the term "hipster" itself has become mildly derisive, and it is seldom used as a label for self-identification, except in an ironic or self-deprecating way. Hipsters are often criticized by those outside the scene as materialistic, politically apathetic, narcissistic, elitist and shallow.

Famous hipsters

1940s and 1950s

For a comprehensive look at the Beat Generation of hipsters, see Beat Generation

Actors, comedians, musicians

Painters

Writers

1990 and beyond

This is a non-exhaustive list of a few well-known hipster artists and celebrities of the 1990s and 2000s. Where works or biographical information are cited, this should be read as the key points establishing the figures in hipster culture, and not as an exhaustive bio.

Writers and visual artists

  • Mike Allred, pop art-influenced comic book writer and artist (Madman).
  • Daniel Clowes, comic book and film author of (""Ghost World"") and Eightball, his style is a modernization of the comix form
  • David Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and editor of McSweeney's.
  • Robert Lanham, Williamsburg-based author of The Hipster Handbook and Food Court Druids, Cherohonkees and other Creatures unique to the Republic
  • Seth, influential comic book creator, known for pushing the boundaries of the medium and for his extreme retro artistic and personal style
  • Adrian Tomine, comic book author whose serious, introspective indie comics have proved highly influential and quite popular with hipsters
  • Emily Scherer, post-hipster expressionist whose ironic and self-referencial free verse gathered a passionate youth discipleship.
Filmmakers and actors

Musicians

  • Beck, musician famous for repurposing music and styles of the past.
  • Cat Power (also known as Chan Marshall), musician whose sincere-but-cryptic lyrics and famously unstable stage persona have influenced a generation of introverted female hipsters
  • Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Brooklyn-based band that plays music in the style of Talking Heads and Television.
  • DFA Records, home of LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, Hot Chip and many other artists.
  • Death From Above 1979, guitarless duo known for their energetic live shows and sex-charged lyrics.
  • Ira Kaplan, musician (Yo La Tengo) whose musical and personal style was especially influential with 1990s indie rock hipsters
  • Les Savy Fav, art-rock band infamous in hipster circles for their live shows which feature obese frontman Tim Harrington prancing around onstage, making out with audience members, and removing all of his clothing.
  • Milemarker, dance-punk band much in the vein of Death From Above 1979.
  • Pavement, Godfathers of indie-rock and hipster heroes. Frontman Stephen Malkmus continues to reign over his hipster kingdom while continuing to produce critically acclaimed independent rock with his band The Jicks.

Politicians

Internet Phenomena

Quotations

  • "Carrying his language and his new philosophy like concealed weapons, the hipster set out to conquer the world." -- Partisan Review, 1948
  • "The hipster is man who's in the know, grasps everything, is alert." -- Mezz Mezzrow, Really the Blues

External links

Film

  • The Unidentified A film about today’s youth culture, a generation that wants to make a difference in the world but doesn’t know how or why or what they would do if they had the chance.

Social groups | Stereotypes | Subcultures

Hipster

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Hipster".

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