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Style vs. Substance

There’s no denying the Obama phenomenon right now. America is drunk on the idea of “Change”; it’s only March and it’s all you hear about these days. The idea echoes across the American landscape from even the most unlikely of corners. It’s pretty hard to not get sucked up in the hype—no matter what side of the political fence you sit on. The overall looming sense of alienation from the established authority (I’m looking in your direction, I’m-the-Decider guy) has made Obama’s intoxicating message all the more palpable. I hear the older generation compare his momentum to the Kennedy era, and see the younger set gravitating towards his basic idea of transformation. He’s kinda running on the “hipster” ethos of the ’40s when having a liberal ideology, being environmentally friendly, socially conscious, with an anti-capitalist political agenda was on the cusp of the mainstream. The other day Hilary said if Obama’s candidacy is going to be about words, they should be his own. Dismissing his rhetoric as “political plagiarism”—nothing more than a Xerox copy of someone else’s idea. Amalgamation vs. originality isn’t the debate, though. Is he simply a pretty face or will his presidency, and his words, resonate enough to mobilize people and get them to actually alter the status quo? That is the poignant question.

Questioning what’s real and what’s perceived, at least in the fact and fiction sense of BPM’s world, is the idea behind this issue. Art, music, film and fashion are converging more than ever. With so much information moving so quickly—trends popping and fading in accelerating cycles, and our inherent hyper-focus on staying ahead of the curve—it seems like this culture will not even have a chance to establish any kind of permanent relevance before it goes belly up. As the first global scene inextricably tied to the Internet (blogs, photoblogs, downloadable mixes, etc.), and the pros and cons associated with such rapid-fire information decimation, are we doomed to be a blip on the culture radar? Will this scene be a footnote, or a chapter, in the social history of the 21st century? Are we going to see the next Andy Warhol emerge from our generation? Is there another “Factory” in the making? There has been some talk on this subject, but I don’t think anyone, as of yet, has dedicated an issue to the topic. And who better to tackle this grand scene than BPM—the anointed Hipster Bible (for the record, Sparky, we’re aware this title is used with both positive and negative connotations).

Change is inevitable, and necessary, but taking strong-armed footnotes from the past is equally important. Like the presidency, knowing to apply what works best—and trying to make it better—is what our generation hopes to do with this culture we celebrate in every issue of BPM. It’s about style vs. substance. Not where you draw influences and whether or not you’re able to put an original spin on reinterpreted ideas. Will we look back in 20–50 years and say we made an impact…that through all the static and noise that we made a difference?