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THE HIPSTER REPORT
🕑 Added 2024-03-18 19:15:48 +0000 UTCGraphic design by Anson Nguyen
Video outro by Jak Ritger
Song: Sky Ferreira - Everything's Embarrassing (u_tra remix)
Research chemicals:
1. What Was The Hipster? a collection of essays by N+1
2. You Know It When You See it by Dayna Tortorici
3. What Was The Hipster? by Mark Greif
4. Youth Mode by K-Hole
5. The Still-Wild, Semi-Habitable McKibbin Lofts by Matthew Sedacca
6. How To Live With Bed Bugs by John Wilson
7. Was The Hipster Really All That Bad? by Ben Davis
8. Aziz Ansari's Other Music Sketch (2006)
9. Worker = Hipster by Rob Horning
10. Hooverville Williamsburg by Rob Horning
11. Resenting Hipsters by Peter Frase
12. Williamsburg history timeline by Steven Kurutz
13. Meet Your New Boss by Claudine Ko
14. The Last Relevant Blogger by Brian Merchant
15. Americans are losing faith in the value of college. Whose fault is that? by Paul Tough
16. What's the difference between art, design, and memes? by CRLS / The Hipster Runoff
17. Rock as real estate by Ian Svenonious
18. How NPR Killed College Rock by Ian Svenonious
19. The College Payoff: More Education Doesn’t Always Mean More Earnings by Anthony P. Carnevale, Ban Cheah, Emma Wenzinger
20. What Is Sea Punk Music? by MTV
21. Why The Hipster Must Die by Christian Lorentzen
22. Hipsters and the death of cool by Sarah Barmak
23. Young Artists Find a Private Space, Only Without the Privacy by Cara Buckley
24. The Hipster Handbook by Robert Lanham
25. Subculture: the meaning of style by Dick Hebdige
27. The Indie Sleaze instagram account
28. Old Vice articles instagram account
29. Pitchfork review of A.R.E. Weapons
30. PROOF (2008) - by moi
31. my interview with CRLS from the Hipster Runoff
Comments
Eric K Han
Deleting my entire internet foot print now. Thanks, Brad.
Yo Mama
15:23 that little cartoon character is really cute, who drew it?
Erika Braukis
So fun 10/10
Ewe
This was so good, thank you. Genuinely a PHD level sociological report lol
Zouheir Alameddine
https://x.com/drew_365/status/1820073955866132733?t=KjSA7Sqnq7sJTsICGN7WFA&s=19 there's a whole discourse on twitter about these photos and about "trying to recreate something authentic" interestingly enough no one is questioning if it has ever been authentic, even at the time.
Christopher Benton
Triggered
Adam Lehrer
Worked at American apparel in Tucson. Got fired. Boss was a five foot four beardo who loved lightning bolt and melt banana
Alex Omiotek
Wait where's the Millennial Report?!
irkib
now everything is embarrassing
Nathan
I appreciate the self reflection at the end, let the hipster healing begin for us all.
Splat Gorek
Its one big fuckn circle
Coilin O'Connell
hmm longwinded, reductive and largely stating the obvious in the points that got it right. Brad comes across as guilty of 'the misplaced sense of supeiority' he identifies as the major flaw in hipster sentiment, not much insight in this video, time to unsubsribe.
Vinny Sarcophagus
i can't believe i feel nostalgic for a time period i fucking hated
User
Appreciate the insights as always.
Jennzee
This is great, but can you please stop talking about me?
Ross Phillips
yes! I felt the same.
dogtorlog
absolutely. i think almost all individual and group human phenomena fall into a both/and categorization
Adrian Sanchez
You’re absolutely right. Your comment just made me finally admit that tho they annoy me, I’d rather live around them than in a cookie cutter suburban neighborhood, much like where I’m from.
Adrian Sanchez
Fantastic report!
Will
Thanks Brad that was amazing. Gives me a weird sense of closure.
Greg D
Jesus, I didn't realize how much I was a hipster and how much I fit into all these trends over the years (and still now actually). I don't understand how you're able to zoom out and analyze this stuff, it's mind bending how you're able to take such a long view of things and connect them in such an interesting and insightful way. God damn. I feel called out and understood at the same time hahaha, amazing stuff
John Culkin
The more interesting things about being a young adult during that time was that everyone both hated hipsters, but still wanted the aesthetic, pop culture, and features of hipster neighborhoods. It’s also interesting still living in the city and knowing people who are in their late 30’s and still living in Brooklyn and doing the same things they were doing 10/15 years ago.
Alex kuznetsov
Great piece, fascinating to watch this as someone half a generation younger who is seeing the remnants of hipsterdom and its consequences. Would have been interesting to mention or comment on the current "post-activist" phase of the hipster as seen in the political dimension of the "dirtbag left," but maybe that's more niche than my algorithm would have me believe and is not yet substantive enough to fully analyze. The four years post-2024 election will be an interesting one for the "modern" BedStuy-dwelling hipster. Assuming a Trump victory, will we see a veer back into liberalism as their contrarianism rubs shoulders with open displays of the worst of conservatism, or the shedding of the "hipster" visual aesthetic altogether? Which way, modern man?
Andy Cowell
that sky ferreira joint GOES
Trip2TheTop
I saw a couple clips from this video on Instagram, closed Instagram right away, opened patreon & subbed. I went to school for art. I'm realistic in that I've gotten into construction and art is more of a hobby & side hustle and form of passive income. I was in college during 2008 "in the scene & all that". This video is spot on in.
JS
My wife HATES these videos but idc what she thinks. Maybe I’m kind of a hipster in that way ahahahahahahaha
Isolde
This is great
marianne
really good. only 2008 image missing is Foodswings.
Human Part
of course you are a fan of brad. ive been a fan of yours since tsfeedback.
Zach Mueller
That photo with the blue tank 🤩🤩
Michael Kelly
Outro video was astounding
Yes
Yeah, if you could just go ahead and post one report a week and charge us 20$ from now on, that would be greaaat, m’kay? Thanks 👍🏼 ☕️
Lord Snake
'Stuff White People Like' had a similar analytical lens, but was sharpened for satire & humour. It bit & poked at the unaware hipster in denial. This piece was critical, but not without empathy or affection.
Lord Snake
On point, personal & insightful as always
Jen Sillen
I'm too young to understand this ❤
Sean Preston
This video is superb. One of your best. I wish I could easily explain the thesis to my friends, but that’s the thing with well-thought-out cultural criticism: It’s complicated and needs a wholistic zoom-out such as this. (I will suggest in the group-texts that they watch it though)
theonlyever
+1 for the Telling Me What To Do Report but first I want The Explainer Report. Could cover journalism’s crisis with 24h cable news to Vox explainers and Genius annotations, then K-Hole and Brad himself. Then, like the Hipster Runoff sign-off signalled the end of the hipster era, Brad’s report series could end, signifying the end of the explainer era. Then Carles and Brad can be reborn in the What Now Era. Oh god, I’m realizing my comment reeks of parasocial fandom… so Funko Report coded.
theonlyever
This is so good. I was a bit iffy on the transition to activism but you stuck the landing by using it to reflect on habits of superiority and collectivism. That was particularly impactful coming after your point about self-hating gentrifiers realizing that they are themselves the underclass. It’s an unexpectedly hopeful message… maybe elder millennial kooks like yourself can help Gen-Z indie sleaze revivalists speedrun hipsterdom to multiply the force of that awakening.
Cal
Wasn't expecting this one to slap as hard as it did. Another excellent addition to the canon
Sean Schuster-craig
How to pronounce Ian Svenonius (American English/US) - PronounceNames.com
Lutke
This cuts so deep
gavi long
literally representation matters
gavi long
Me as fuuuck
Will Luckman
Honestly this was so good I am disgusted for having been perceived so clearly. Only thing I would add that was missing here was that it wasn’t just indie rock (although that was the totemic music genre) associated with hipsters. The effect of Napster/internet/streaming was also access to all genres at once. Whereas in previous generations of subcultures you only had finite resources to spend and if you wanted to maintain your e.g. punk credentials, so you had to spend your precious resources on punk 7”s or like zipper pants and manic panic or w/e. Once cultural consumption (at least music) became more or less free, and along with ironic detachment, it allowed hipsters to dip into lots of different genres of music (and thus lifestyles) and blend them together. For me a big part of hipsterdom was always this cultural and temporal hybridization.
Fred
you wouldn't know though its pretty obscure scaruffi-core
Fred
can't believe you included the pop group - y (great album)
HN
please Do Not watch this at a faster playback speed than 1x. great video tho ! thx brad
Robin Palmer
Fantastic as always.
Johneeyah goodboy
So good! As an aging millennial hipster (with a unfinished art degree) I felt so much of this. NGL it definitely made me choke up a bit at the end talking about seeking validation and just reminiscing on the times we had when we were young and free. There's an austerity to our current epoch that is so self effacing, it's nice to think about just having fun again.
Christopher Coté
can’t it be both
Alex
Incredible piece. Chefs kiss. As an early 30something, I was tangentially involved in all eras, some more than others, but all felt like “it” at the time. Like the framework for my understanding of the world was laid before me, and this understanding was immutable. Not only was hipsterdom an aesthetic mode, it was an epistemic mode. My mental construction of the world was strangely part and parcel with the stupid purple v necks I wore
Alex
The immortal science will find you if you don’t find it first…
Super Coconut
amazing work!
John
brad's most personal video yet. it felt so real
bnlar
points for the aspect ratio
J.M.
👏
Bongwater Jones
I wonder what’s the next wave? As I am months from my 40th bday, I see myself stepping away from the activist wave and dropping out. My financial issues having less impact on my life (because I spent 18 till now broke as hell) I have been going to nature. Camping, hiking, going to the most remote places I can within my means. Is this my age? Is this the next wave? Is this gentrifying nature? Looking at my phone sucks now, I’d rather walk naked in the woods, or collect rocks on the shoreline.
Conor
he ate
Jordan
brad you snapped with this one
Joshua Schwarz
great report, as always! learned a lot. I really need a "telling me what to do" report cause I'm pretty lost. That, or I'll turn to the irrefutable science of Maoism (but I really don't want to start reading). Please don't let it come to that, I've come dangerously close to buying soviet coats since the only way I know how to express myself is though buying stuff and putting on costumes.
Adam Garcia
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
LCK
another insightful and thoughtful piece. my only contention being the broad brush with which you paint the "activist era" and the assertion that the hipster anxiety and desire for self-making and individuation was sublimated into performative activism. certainly this is true for some in the so-called activist cohort, especially, as you point out, those whose primary mode of "activism" is consuming and sharing infographics from their phone alone in their apartment. However, there are legions of young and old people alike with an earnest desire to burn this shit hole society to the ground to make way for something better, a society that prioritizes the equitable treatment of all humanity and the joyful connection over shared interests and values you mention at the end of the video. And I assure you that the majority of the aforementioned do not post infographics or spend the majority of their time staring at a phone
Al
There goes my hero
Anthony Gorczyca
Landed on the perfect outro song well done
Anh Pham
Thank you Brad for all your reports. You’re a true cultural anthropologist who helps me understand where we came from and the forces that have affected my life (40 year old, disillusioned graphic designer). In understanding where we’ve been, hopefully we can make better informed paths for this crazy thing called culture. “Culture is not your friend” -Terrance McKenna
nancy lee
Nostalgic
Peter Jensen
everythings embarrassing is such a perfect choice for this.
Trevor Eld
Cathartic
sebastiaan
was that vivek?
LIL INTERNET
Did not expect such a generous take this is great feel seen and redeemed
Patrick Everman
damn why did you do phillip s. hoff like that
Bryn
💯❤️🔥
Cam
young brad could get it
Brandon Ross
I love you
Max Brazier
Your best yet
J
gorilla vs bear blog and the hype machine hit
Luke Brown
Had a couple friends in the photo montage lol
roan collom
AWESOME!!!
Rand Rosenberg
Brad did this one 4 the culture. Honestly every report is brilliant. Someone send this man a lifetime supply of PBR
KT
hit me on my beeper beeper beeper beeper beeper beeper beeper
Ronan Delisle
god tier report
Patrick Everman
shoutout baker
Nicholas Ellis-Brown
This patreon video player makes the video completely unwatchable... just keeps buffering constantly... please go back to youtube videos
Alexander Bush
Burn piano island, burn
Theodore Barrow
Searing indictment. Spot on 💯
Mario Torres
Are we in the ‘psychedelic era’ of hipster?
Frede
why did I know K hole would make it in here
DP
Oh, I've been watching the new Brad Troemel that just came out... you've probably never heard of him
Elizaveta Federmesser
If only joyless activist knew
Adam Forkner
good job!
A White 1993 Camry
Commenting on this before it was cool
ja ak rtgr
So random xD
Mike Knish
first
