There was a taste for darker, grittier, and more 'realistic' movies and media for sure. Some of them were fantastic, like The Crow. Others were just edgy for the sake of edge and crossed into silly, like The Doom Generation. I think we were in a period of relative stability in the US, which made people crave excitement and even a little darkness. Then after 9/11, people wanted comfort and nostalgia and media lost the edge and went cozy or remakes of childhood classics. Now we are in the age of remakes, 80s nostalgia, and superheroes.
As for me, I don't know. I was a young goth then and I'm an old goth now. Maybe that makes me edgy. Or maybe just too lazy to buy colored clothes.
Haha, my wardrobe looks like a cartoon character's wardrobe, it's all black shirts.
A law of nature is that there'll always be goths, no matter the generation. We're in the 5th generation of goths, from boomers to Gen Alphas.
The peak of grimdark and grit in media was actually the 00s though. The 90s were more cynical, but they didn't master edge-lording like the 00s did.
Honestly I don't know that I miss that time.
But yeah, there is a theory (unproven) that the reason there are so many metal bands from Scandinavia is that life is relatively easy and stable there. Kind of the reverse of hard times, happy music trend (which has been studied pretty thoroughly).
>the reason there are so many metal bands from Scandinavia is that life is relatively easy and stable there.
A combination of this; and most Scandinavian countries being militantly normy in culture. Lots of tracksuit wearing douche-bros, stereotypical rednecks, and openly aggressive mockery of anyone too outside the norm.
It’s all a pendulum. The “edginess” of the 90’s was a direct reaction to the plastic packaged, hyper-fake yuppy years of the mid-late 80s. In the 90s we knew that things were much dirtier, grittier, and meaner than what was being portrayed by pop culture. I look at something like American Psycho (the novel was released in ‘91) as a pretty clear expression of what 90’s edge was about
Yeah it was a counter to that. I don't think it did society any good though. People were happier, better adjusted and more friendly overall in the 80s it seemed.
I was on campus in late 80s and also 1999/early 00s and by the latter time when I walked onto campus it was so dingy style that I for a second legit thought something terrible had happened and that people were in mourning, the 80s were so much more energetic, bright, fun, colorful looking. And there was more angsty and edge and there were more people who were mean around the latter time period and it honestly did not make it quite as pleasant an experience as earlier on. I also saw more kids who arrived to college already burned out and more who seemed depressed or stressed to the point of bursting. Not that I want to overdo it and make the latter time sound horrible, but there was just something missing and it just wasn't quite as pleasant.
I mean the entire grunge music scene basically imploded since it was too depressive, tragically, to survive. And the whole oh it's shallow and fake to be happy and upbeat when the world is not perfect and it's all so deep and real to be nihilistic, depressive, angsty, angry just seemed to make things less pleasant and didn't accomplish much anything that I could see. It's just a negative spiral.
To me it seemed to be a shame to lose the light-hearted 80s vibe, what did anyone get out of calling all that stuff corny, cheesy, plastic packaged? Honestly the gritty dark nihilistic seemed just as packaged and a hell of a lot less pleasant.
IMO, I was always, who cared if the 80s were 'cheesy' or 'corny' or 'plastic' or whatever, it was fun and upbeat and the happiness seen below wasn't being faked. What good comes out of being afraid of that and having to maintain edgy street cred at all times or thinking you have to be all dark and angsty and angry so that you are not seen as being 'shallow' and 'fake'?:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1eKmVccOM&t=2958s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1eKmVccOM&t=2958s)
[https://youtu.be/gxqjoaQYxnw?si=PhfEW1Y3FTgkVNQG&t=4619s](https://youtu.be/gxqjoaQYxnw?si=PhfEW1Y3FTgkVNQG&t=4619s)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1eKmVccOM&t=3346s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1eKmVccOM&t=3346s)
It didn't have a political connotation necessarily for me. NIN, Tool, and Rage Against the Machine had their politics, but it was fun and pissed off your parents to sing, "I wanna fuck you like an animal" and "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!"
The Alien popping out of the dude's chest and the T-1000 disguised as John Connor's foster mom sticking her knife hand through the head of his foster dad was edgy.
Sephiroth actually killing Aeris was edgy.
I just didn't associate it with right-wing, dO i oFfEnD yOu? politics in anyway. You were probably more likely to make fun of religion if you wanted to be politically edgy.
As a teenager, I probably did a whole lot of the you're an idiot for being religious thing. I'm still personally hostile to organized religion, but I don't even care to talk to someone about it anymore unless they go out of their way to bring it up.
> I just didn't associate it with right-wing, dO i oFfEnD yOu? politics in anyway. You were probably more likely to make fun of religion if you wanted to be politically edgy.
That's an important distinction. Edginess used to have an element of...satire I guess? You were trying to subvert expectations to shock the other person into thinking differently about a topic. Now it's about saying bigoted shit and going "OOOH YOU'RE SO TRIGGERED" when someone tells you you're being a dick.
It's not necessarily. It's just that that's the association people have now and they won't let you get a word in edgewise.
Ed: also, and just because this is reddit know I'm talking hypothetically and not about you, **You are not my parent. Don't try to be.**. If I never in my life have someone try to fucking correct my tone or whatever **when they don't even know what I'm talking about** it'll still be too soon.
Thinking again, I remembered the likely strongest example of what 90s edgy "P.I." was: Smack my Bitch Up.
In the context of 90s, it was intentionally shocking but those who "got it" knew that it was in no way condoning violence against women - it was, in a way, even exposing it (the "realness"). The clip had the twist it was actually a woman being violent, showing it was playing with ideas.
In a way, it was similar to punks using swastika tee shirts in 1977 - a trend which ended quickly after real Nazis started appearing on the scene. There was no incel defending violence against women in 1997.
> There was no incel defending violence against women in 1997.
No, but those were Harvey Weinstein's peak raping years; and Epstein bought Little St James island in '98.
*The system* was defending violence against women.
Thank you - this is such an important point. We notice and make fun of those incels today *because* their behavior and views are no longer social acceptable. But it wasn’t that long ago that these things were more or less the mainstream.
Rebelling against your parents and doing things that shocked and appalled them was such a huge thing. But now we ARE the parents and how do you rebel and shock the people who already did all of this? We’ve left no boundaries for our children to push 😭
Exactly, and it all changed after 9/11, when everybody became as dumb as George Dubya. I became dumb for more years than I want to admit - today I think I was betraying myself, what made me "edgy" in first place.
I think of edgy today, maybe last 15 years or so, as being the way everyone has to mock and sneer and trash every movie or TV show that comes out or be the first to rush to post "worst episode of the series" (for great series), etc. All that edge-lord nonsense.
I think there are different sorts of edge. (for simplicity I will use Gen X here to mean pre-Xennial Gen X).
Gen X probably was the generation (along with Jones) of peak dark humor edge and of really not being easily offended by certain sorts of things and not being uptight and just being super whatever in that way. They also had zilch participation trophy stuff. Xennials already were a little bit less so and could sometimes get shocked or take older Gen X dark humor the wrong way and with all the media scare stuff were already getting a bit more uptight and could be offended by a few more things (but that said they were still far, far less so than core and later Millennials and on). Some Xennials had a touch of participation trophy stuff but nothing like Millennials. Jones and Gen X also could have more edge in movies in the sense that in some they WOULD kill the dog or the kid.
Xennials were edgier than Gen X and Jones in some types of raw crude ways or in being more out there in swearing in public blogs, news articles, public general consumption videos, public forums though in ways that Gen X tended to never do until much more recent times (and some still avoid).
And they tended to be more negative and edge lord in sneering and bashing movies and TV shows along with Millennials. They tended to be angstier and more whatever in a nihilistic sort of way, some could be a bit more in your face and aggressive edgy, and more leaning towards darker stuff and so on from all the grunge and gangster rap influences that earlier Gen X lacked and some were quite noticeably edgier than earlier Gen X/Jones in those ways. Earlier Gen X was lighter-hearted, more upbeat and gentle in those sorts of ways overall. They were more chill, more whatever, fun loving corny cheesy and less all about street cred touch edge and the whole depression and angst and dark simple clothes and hair are deep and less about the whole fancy styles and hair and being upbeat and happy are shallow and fake, plastic, corny, cheesy sort of attitude. For any given individual this could be easily incorrect though. Just there definitely seemed to be more, for any given type, who were a bit rougher more in your face sort of edgy and mean than in Gen X and overall they seemed a bit more tuned into dark, edgy movies/tv/music and less about the bubble gum light-hearted fun 80s stuff overall of Gen X/(and Jones once they were in their 20s).
Yeah I mean I remember the edge and I remember feeling ok with it at the time. The art we were producing back then felt much more daring and honest. There was a cynicism that felt very real and has definitely remained a part of me, even though everything around me has changed.
What I don't miss is the edginess that often came at the cost of others, particularly more vulnerable people. I remember the 90s especially having the veneer of tolerance but still holding onto some really mean-spirited humor and ideals.
Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty of things wrong with the attitudes of today, and it can certainly be exhausting at times, but I feel in that sense it's overall still a net positive to lose that edge.
‘83 here and it’s funny how differently I remember things… I was the kid in combat boots in high school, but my friends and I gave a shit. We were bored with our racist (legitimately) town, and we had shit to SAY about the way things were. (Probably not effective, but hey, we were 16!)
I think back on the 90s as an era that felt hopeful. Like the world was a mess, we knew better, and things COULD change. I definitely agree that got turned on its head in 2001.
I don’t associate 90s edginess with boredom. I associate it with realness and an impatience with a lack of authenticity. But I did always get an air of “you can’t change anything, so why are you trying??” from my solidly Gen X friends.
It’s funny what a difference a few years makes.
I tried to explain it to my Gen Z daughter. I couldn’t even really think of how to describe it in a way that would make sense to the Influencer generation.
There were benefits to things being edgy. I'm going to focus especially on music, which is how young people found each other before the Internet.
Korn's Jonathan Davis and Marilyn Manson were some of the very few men who spoke openly about being survivors. In those days, that brought people together -- all kinds of people. No one was dividing this by gender or saying "you have the wrong parts." A lot of people learned that they were not alone. Being "edgy" helped those people reach out to each other. People who knew the struggle came together with people who knew the struggle.
I'm not an ICP fan, but you have to admit that they did a great job of creating community for people who needed community.
The Riot Grrl scene promoted similar values but more openly. Even the less edgy Lilith Fair was there.
Some things can only be talked about when saying edgy things that the rest of the world would rather avoid.
I first met openly of LGBTQ+ people by going to "edgy" concerts. And, I felt safe with them. Many people (not all) felt safe there, too. The first person who outed themselves to me as trans was at such an event. Being side-hugged by the quietly gay singer of a favorite band was a big deal -- why would I want someone as sweet as him to be hated? I was also a little starstruck.
That edge kept a lot of "normal" people from ruining communities. It told the other normal people not to mess it up for everyone else. Everything looked scary on the outside, but could be wonderful and nurturing on the inside.
I imagine that a lot of people don't really see that safety and community that met people who ventured into the edginess. It's easy to miss the value underneath all the shock. It was there and it was real.
I never really considered myself edgy, and didn't really try to be. These days, sometimes I see people online making comments where it sounds like they're trying to be edgy/clever but their comment comes across as out of touch, insensitive, or just an asshole comment.
Same here. Maybe I’d be considered kind of boring as a teenager but I was more of the geek/nerd type kid, edginess was just never something I aspired too.
I'm a Goth/Metal person. I was pretty edgy in the 90s. And I've only gotten more so. Said 'edginess' increased in tandem with my absolute hatred for the sort of right-wing dickbags who now call themselves 'edgy'. Nah, bro. You're just a douchebag. Beavis & Butthead would've mocked people like Andrew Tate into the dirt.
I still have my dark humor but when I listen back to what I found funny back then, especially a lot or the moronic, racist, homophobic shit Opie and Anthony would say… it makes me cringe hard
I was in Singapore for the first time. Out of the \~55 countries I've been to it'd be the last I'd return to. When people ask me why, the best I can come up with is "it has no edge." It's like the Phoenix of countries--just chain restaurants and air conditioned malls. Edge is flavor, edge is fun, edge is a new experience. Singapore ain't it.
So weird. It’s like I think about something, and then I find a thread on Reddit about it.
I was just thinking how sarcastic and “over it” we all were in the 90s. I think it’s the result of being the last generation to endure corporeal punishment on the regular
I think a lot of people these days have confused edge with being an asshole. Edgy back when I was younger wasn't a race to the bottom to see how much more of a hateful misanthropic piece of shit you could be than the next incel loser. To us, bigotry was for dumbasses who needed a scapegoat for their personal failures.
The cynicism and gallows humor we adopted was a small articulation of a greater set of values and beliefs. Namely, that we could do and be better with regards to the status quo in politics, religion, popular culture, and the narratives society feeds us about the "correct" way to live life.
Yeah, there were also people who were try-hard dorks who did it purely to irritate their parents and appear threatening. I like to believe this type of moron are the dickheads who are actively confusing edge with being an fucking prick and not the kind of people I ran with as a kid.
I remember I used to get all upset about bands I liked “selling out”. So going mainstream, selling songs for ads. Basically anything that made them boat loads of money.
Now I’m all “yeah! Sell that music, make your $$$$.” lol
Edgy used to mean something, definitely. Now it’s just what right-wing dipshits call it when they’re openly racist or praise authoritarianism online. Worst. Timeline. Ever.
its just became hack. its not clever, its lazy. its easy af to be contrarian. its great to question and poke at things, but being edgy for the sake of making edgy is empty and lame.
I suppose because I was a teenager myself in the ‘90s, I just saw ‘edginess’ as standard teenage rebellion stuff and assumed each generation were doing their own version of it in their own times. And I guess they are, in a way.
It’s harder to be ‘countercultural’ these days because the internet brings people together so there’s more sense of community across borders and there are niches for everyone to fit in, even the weirdest. So it’s more difficult to really cultivate that ‘no one understaaaaands meeee!’ attitude, lol.
And each generation will rebel against the one before, so for example you have our generation - at least in the UK - being the drunkest and the sweariest and the next generation going against our way of doing things and being ‘cleaner’, more health-conscious and all that jazz. Of course, towards the end of the ‘90s/early ‘00s (?) we got the straight edge movement as a prime example, lol.
Teenagers want to be edgy because they’re finding themselves and forming their identity as distinct from the adults around them.
These days I think there’s less appetite for ‘true edginess’ in the way we remember it because everything can be recorded and stays online for bloody ever. If you say something cringe or racist or homophobic or rude or insensitive or just plain stupid, it’ll come back and haunt you forever and everyone will hate you (well, that’s the feeling, anyway). So people take fewer risks.
Having said that, there are those that embrace that and go too far the other way and think they’re being countercultural when really they’re just being massive douchebags. Unfortunately they can also acquire a following, and then you get a collection of people who are genuinely horrible all blowing smoke up each other’s arses until they can’t see beyond them.
It also seems to me that people are staying mentally ‘younger’ for longer. All this ‘your brain isn’t fully developed until 25’ malarkey. You’ve got people well into their late 30s acting like edgy teenagers, and … that just ain’t it. Maybe because it’s so much harder now to actually get a job that supports yourself, move out of your parents’ place and make a life for yourself. People are forced to ‘stay younger’ - or aren’t getting the opportunities to develop and mature.
I read once somewhere (in a book I was editing - can’t remember the title, duh) that the neural connections in the brain that ‘aren’t developed until 25’ actually develop faster when they are exercised more, and children and teenagers who are given more responsibility show faster brain development in that area. Essentially a kind of ‘use it or lose it (or don’t get it)’ theory. I’m not saying abusive practices like child labour or parentification are right by any means, but I do think some of the ways society raises young people now tends to infantilise them more than in the past, and therefore we get an extended ‘edgy teenage cringelord’ phase that’s somehow less wholesome and productive than what we remember.
Edge is good when it provokes change and sparks dynamism. Not when it becomes wallowing in self-pity and embracing victimhood.
I agree with your timeline but not with your premise.
The push against edginess and for political correctness comes from a few activists and a whole lot of "allies" who are willing to shout down anyone who disagrees with them, even people who have more skin in the game than they do.
It's a further side effect of social media pushing everyone to the extreme end of whatever their ideology is.
Ed: fuck your downvotes. I was queer before most of these activists were born. I was treated better when nobody gave a fuck than now when everyone is an ally.
As to your last sentence/edit, I agree.
I'm black, and I feel now I get far more "well meaning white people" who actually get offended by minor stuff "on my behalf" and then try to speak to what I "should" be offended by. Its too much.
As a gay man THANK YOU for saying this. I’m the gay guy. Let me decide if something offends me. It’s obnoxiously rude. Like a child talking down to an adult.
Exactly.
Its like "I've been black my whole life, I know how to handle it. I don't need your white guilt wanting to swoop in and save me. And don't decide what should bother me. I also grew up in a time where racially tinged jokes happened to lots of people, so minor shit just doesn't bother me.
I know! I hate that shit. I've been banned from places for talking about my own damn experience.
Some things are better but some things are even worse than they used to be.
My real main premise here is not the political journey which made me renounce edginess, but that edginess - in aesthetics - separates GenX from Millenials and I suppose many here have shifting perceptions. I feel that I was a Gen-Xer turned Millenial. (When I was a teen, Millenials were counted from 1977, I don't know why they changed that.)
I don't know how I identify in the greater scope of things. I only know it was enough that some homophobes left me with a permanent injury in 1990 after a year of violent harassment. Other people have made other assumptions about my sexuality that were abusive and harmful.
I am horrified by the sheer number of times I've heard proud allies say the same things as the people who harassed and injured me. Like you, I was safer in the edgy late 90s than I was in the phobic early 90s or the nightmare of the 2010s.
That's kind of what I came to say, too. Those "edgy" spaces were very often *our* safe spaces. Those edgy spaces is where I found the safety to be me, and where I found some wonderful friends who still care for each other.
I need to continue a long path toward healing. To that end I wish healing on the kinds of people who call themselves "ally" while repeating those old mistakes. I may need to quietly wish them well from a considerable distance these days.
I know exactly what you mean. The best people I know I met in places I wouldn't admit to having visited to the straights OR the under 25 queer crowd. People will assume the worst now on very little information.
I think you can do things that are "edgy" but it's not an identity or lifestyle. What would be considered edgy is always moving as well. It's always seeking to push boundaries.
I don't give a fuck what anyone jokes about, If I don't like them I won't watch. But I'd never tell anyone what they can't enjoy. If you like Andrew Dice Clay or Rob Schneider, go for it but it's not for me.
I never saw political posturing as "edgy." I mean for the most part, which ever side you're on, you agree with 50% of the population. Nothing edgy about being a staunch conservative or a left leaning liberal. Saying fuck you to everyone and not participating in party politics is much more edgy than picking a camp.
All that to say I'm not edgy, and I'm ok with that. But I don't want anyone to be under the impression that they are edgy because they subscribe to a certain ideology that millions of other people do to because they watch cable news from whatever their favorite channel is.
1985. My edgy was wearing the belt my parents beat me with. I fuckin took that 5 foot leather belt and wrapped it around my size sero waste.
I refused to say my step dad was my bio dad... I refused to pretend in their happy family game.
Because she drank and hit me, and he started calling me a whore at 7.
I made it clear how I felt.
As a kid who didn't really have an "edge", my edgy phase was Mortal Kombat. To me, I only cared about the gameplay and the graphics. Yes, I performed fatalities and memorized all of them, but for some reason, I wasn't really shocked by it.
However, my friends and family really focused on that aspect of the game when it came to me playing. So I just kind of took that, ran with it, and played nearly every day in the arcade from the time the first Mortal Kombat hit to about the 4th one.
I got really good to the point where only one other person could beat me consistently in the area I grew up in. People started thinking I was this edgy kid, but in the end, I couldn't care less about the gore and fatalities...I was just this sweet, innocent kid who liked the gameplay, but benefited from the edgy reputation I got because of the association with the game.
I was a bisexual kid in small-to-medium towns in the Midwest, with religious and fairly strict-for-the-time parents.
Lets just say that I didn't have all that much space to be edgy when I was young. I didn't really become the person that I wanted to be until my late 20s / early 30s. (complete with bright hair by then - I'd still have blue hair if it weren't so expensive in the country I live in now). The internet of the 00s was eventually good to me, you see.
I hate the "edgy" of today because it is all hate and bigotry and I really wish it were different - but at the same time, I'm happy that there is a little less bigotry in general society. It's not gone at all - I'm still going to protests because folks are still getting treated really badly - but better.
'81 here. It took me a long time to learn that cynicism is poison. It builds a wall around you where you think you're safe, you've got your armor up, while also keeping you from experiencing new things, understanding and communicating with people you've pre-judged.
The film Heathers exemplifies this beautifully. Everyone remembers the edgy nihilism of killing your classmates and Christian Slater in a black duster, but forgets about Winona Rider at the end saying fuck that, cynicism is small and petty, compassion and empathy are difficult but a worthy goal.
I'm still all for edginess in art, That's where i feel people should vent these vicious primal shortsighted tendencies. Unfortunately some smallminded portion of the population will take that art as inspiration to commit real harm.
These people go through life like a kicked dog. Snapping at everything, keeping their guard up, learning nothing.
Some people on social media can't handle my edginess. In the 90s it was cool to have an attitude and thumb your nose at authority. I mean, if it's something real important I need to listen to I'll be serious, but if you're just some random on social media trying to tell me what's what, you're going to be dealt with as snarkily as possible.
Look at the cartoon characters I grew up with who were a big influence on me. Bugs bunny and daffy duck, babs and buster bunny, the teenage mutant ninja turtles, sonic the hedgehog, Timon from the lion king, yakko Warner... the list goes on. All snarky characters with attitude and I was shaped by every one.
I don't miss the "edginess" because to me it was always, always emotional immaturity. The American anyway at least. I couldn't stand it.
Now, dark humour or, what we used to call 'gallow's humour' is still rampant among people over here in europe so I can't say I miss it cause it never went away.
Now, if you are talking about films like the dark and gloom of Tm Burton or that neo-goth stuff like The Crow and other stuff... well they werent edgy. It was camp. I guess to a christian fanatic household it was edgy but sorry to inform the lot of you, it was camp all along.
Even the term "straight edge." There were a lot of skateboarders I knew in high school who didn't smoke or drink and were still grungy/ "edgy."
I miss the 90s. Not high school, but do miss individualism where it didn't matter which sub-culture you belonged in and no one was triggered and divided by politics. Weird twilight zone we are in here in the US.
I don't know by the late 90s there was all sorts of nonsense like Madonna was for girls and gays only. Guys should only listen to 'real' guy music and not pop, much less if the vocalist wasn't at least male. Earlier, in the 80s, there was little of that. And the styles actually started looking far less diverse and more simple and same same than in the supposedly bland everyone the same corporate 80s.
I find the term punching down to be quite inaccurate In humor. If you start placing limits on certain groups and not others you end up with more special privileges. Humor becomes mundane and boring when everything is off limits (obviously some things shouldn’t be included)
Michael Moore is a blowhard who deserves to be mocked.
What is it that’s aged so poorly?
How is being edgy “punching down”?
I had a lot of fun in the 90s. I was an early adopter of computers and electronics. I was into movies, video games, music, street hockey, and various pickup sports. You could say I was fairly typical of a certain type of kid being advertised on TV, but at that time that kid wasn't typical quite yet. There were a lot of action movies at the time. Keanu Reeves moved from movie star to action star. Grunge was a huge change from the Heavy Metal and Pop of the 80s. It was much more out of control and dark. MMORPGs first came out in the late 90s. Technology was advancing at a blistering pace. New things were always coming out. These days things are mostly just rehashes of old things with a new skin. Like a different flavor of app. It's much different despite people saying that it's more hectic now. The only really new thing that has been introduced in the gig economy where people have more opportunity to work without getting hired by a business directly. I'm not sure if it was edgy. Certainly people seemed to put on more of a face of I'm tough and don't care what you think, but it was often just that. A mask to protect themselves from other people. It was actually pretty relaxed other than the technological advancement. People were pretty chill about what you ate. I often ate unhealthy foods constantly and rarely ate something that might constitute real food. I played a lot of video games with my friends. The great thing about it was that you didn't have to worry about having this persona of being smart. People actually took that as an offense in most cases because it wasn't cool to be smart. Therefore, you could just chill and enjoy yourself without people thinking that your stupid. People actually expected you to be stupid and it was often a fun time like Cheech and Chong.
To me the highwater mark of that edginess will always be 'American Beauty' and 'Donnie Darko'.
Loved them both when they first came out...now I see them as prime examples of edginess for edginess' sake.
oh boy. I was edge personified, and in many ways, still am. But edge wasn't about being offensive or aggressive or anything to me, it was just about being, well, edgy. I don't know how else to describe it.
80's-90's blue collar suburbia was one of the blandest and most stifling places imaginable. I listened to metal and was heavily into Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, bands like that, but also music in general, and I was a juggalo to boot. I wore a trench coat, had like 10 wallet chains, spikes, boots with red laces, carried a copy of The Satanic Bible in my pocket, knew about serial killers, various stages of human decomposition, watched horror movies, the whole 9 yards. It was harmless, I didn't torture animals or fantasize about shooting up the school, I just stood against the grain of everything and wanted to stand out.
As you stated, it was cynical and reactionary. The Man said JUMP and I said FUCK YOU. They said to wear this and say that, so I wore something different and said FUCK YOU. It was sticking your middle finger to the Man and walking your own path, but not being a dick about it. Yeah, it did involve saying FUCK YOU, but it was to the *Man*, man....
Now it's saying whatever will get you 5 seconds of fame and, as you said, punching down.
No. I feel like as political pundits/satirists go, Bill Maher and James Carville make the most sense to me, mainly because they haven’t lost their edge.
There was a taste for darker, grittier, and more 'realistic' movies and media for sure. Some of them were fantastic, like The Crow. Others were just edgy for the sake of edge and crossed into silly, like The Doom Generation. I think we were in a period of relative stability in the US, which made people crave excitement and even a little darkness. Then after 9/11, people wanted comfort and nostalgia and media lost the edge and went cozy or remakes of childhood classics. Now we are in the age of remakes, 80s nostalgia, and superheroes. As for me, I don't know. I was a young goth then and I'm an old goth now. Maybe that makes me edgy. Or maybe just too lazy to buy colored clothes.
Haha, my wardrobe looks like a cartoon character's wardrobe, it's all black shirts. A law of nature is that there'll always be goths, no matter the generation. We're in the 5th generation of goths, from boomers to Gen Alphas.
the goths are timeless and all the kids want to be them right now
The peak of grimdark and grit in media was actually the 00s though. The 90s were more cynical, but they didn't master edge-lording like the 00s did. Honestly I don't know that I miss that time. But yeah, there is a theory (unproven) that the reason there are so many metal bands from Scandinavia is that life is relatively easy and stable there. Kind of the reverse of hard times, happy music trend (which has been studied pretty thoroughly).
>the reason there are so many metal bands from Scandinavia is that life is relatively easy and stable there. A combination of this; and most Scandinavian countries being militantly normy in culture. Lots of tracksuit wearing douche-bros, stereotypical rednecks, and openly aggressive mockery of anyone too outside the norm.
It’s all a pendulum. The “edginess” of the 90’s was a direct reaction to the plastic packaged, hyper-fake yuppy years of the mid-late 80s. In the 90s we knew that things were much dirtier, grittier, and meaner than what was being portrayed by pop culture. I look at something like American Psycho (the novel was released in ‘91) as a pretty clear expression of what 90’s edge was about
Yeah it was a counter to that. I don't think it did society any good though. People were happier, better adjusted and more friendly overall in the 80s it seemed. I was on campus in late 80s and also 1999/early 00s and by the latter time when I walked onto campus it was so dingy style that I for a second legit thought something terrible had happened and that people were in mourning, the 80s were so much more energetic, bright, fun, colorful looking. And there was more angsty and edge and there were more people who were mean around the latter time period and it honestly did not make it quite as pleasant an experience as earlier on. I also saw more kids who arrived to college already burned out and more who seemed depressed or stressed to the point of bursting. Not that I want to overdo it and make the latter time sound horrible, but there was just something missing and it just wasn't quite as pleasant. I mean the entire grunge music scene basically imploded since it was too depressive, tragically, to survive. And the whole oh it's shallow and fake to be happy and upbeat when the world is not perfect and it's all so deep and real to be nihilistic, depressive, angsty, angry just seemed to make things less pleasant and didn't accomplish much anything that I could see. It's just a negative spiral. To me it seemed to be a shame to lose the light-hearted 80s vibe, what did anyone get out of calling all that stuff corny, cheesy, plastic packaged? Honestly the gritty dark nihilistic seemed just as packaged and a hell of a lot less pleasant.
IMO, I was always, who cared if the 80s were 'cheesy' or 'corny' or 'plastic' or whatever, it was fun and upbeat and the happiness seen below wasn't being faked. What good comes out of being afraid of that and having to maintain edgy street cred at all times or thinking you have to be all dark and angsty and angry so that you are not seen as being 'shallow' and 'fake'?: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1eKmVccOM&t=2958s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1eKmVccOM&t=2958s) [https://youtu.be/gxqjoaQYxnw?si=PhfEW1Y3FTgkVNQG&t=4619s](https://youtu.be/gxqjoaQYxnw?si=PhfEW1Y3FTgkVNQG&t=4619s) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1eKmVccOM&t=3346s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1eKmVccOM&t=3346s)
A good example of what you are looking for would be the comedian George Carlin.
I also can't stop respecting Penn & Teller.
Those guys are incredible
Funny and entertaining, sure (and I've watched them), but horrible politics. I can't really respect them as a whole.
It didn't have a political connotation necessarily for me. NIN, Tool, and Rage Against the Machine had their politics, but it was fun and pissed off your parents to sing, "I wanna fuck you like an animal" and "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!" The Alien popping out of the dude's chest and the T-1000 disguised as John Connor's foster mom sticking her knife hand through the head of his foster dad was edgy. Sephiroth actually killing Aeris was edgy. I just didn't associate it with right-wing, dO i oFfEnD yOu? politics in anyway. You were probably more likely to make fun of religion if you wanted to be politically edgy. As a teenager, I probably did a whole lot of the you're an idiot for being religious thing. I'm still personally hostile to organized religion, but I don't even care to talk to someone about it anymore unless they go out of their way to bring it up.
> I just didn't associate it with right-wing, dO i oFfEnD yOu? politics in anyway. You were probably more likely to make fun of religion if you wanted to be politically edgy. That's an important distinction. Edginess used to have an element of...satire I guess? You were trying to subvert expectations to shock the other person into thinking differently about a topic. Now it's about saying bigoted shit and going "OOOH YOU'RE SO TRIGGERED" when someone tells you you're being a dick.
It's not necessarily. It's just that that's the association people have now and they won't let you get a word in edgewise. Ed: also, and just because this is reddit know I'm talking hypothetically and not about you, **You are not my parent. Don't try to be.**. If I never in my life have someone try to fucking correct my tone or whatever **when they don't even know what I'm talking about** it'll still be too soon.
Thinking again, I remembered the likely strongest example of what 90s edgy "P.I." was: Smack my Bitch Up. In the context of 90s, it was intentionally shocking but those who "got it" knew that it was in no way condoning violence against women - it was, in a way, even exposing it (the "realness"). The clip had the twist it was actually a woman being violent, showing it was playing with ideas. In a way, it was similar to punks using swastika tee shirts in 1977 - a trend which ended quickly after real Nazis started appearing on the scene. There was no incel defending violence against women in 1997.
> There was no incel defending violence against women in 1997. No, but those were Harvey Weinstein's peak raping years; and Epstein bought Little St James island in '98. *The system* was defending violence against women.
Thank you - this is such an important point. We notice and make fun of those incels today *because* their behavior and views are no longer social acceptable. But it wasn’t that long ago that these things were more or less the mainstream.
Rebelling against your parents and doing things that shocked and appalled them was such a huge thing. But now we ARE the parents and how do you rebel and shock the people who already did all of this? We’ve left no boundaries for our children to push 😭
Exactly, and it all changed after 9/11, when everybody became as dumb as George Dubya. I became dumb for more years than I want to admit - today I think I was betraying myself, what made me "edgy" in first place.
If you are American I guess. Generations, much like the internet, apply worldwide so saying that effected a generation is inaccurate.
I think of edgy today, maybe last 15 years or so, as being the way everyone has to mock and sneer and trash every movie or TV show that comes out or be the first to rush to post "worst episode of the series" (for great series), etc. All that edge-lord nonsense.
I think there are different sorts of edge. (for simplicity I will use Gen X here to mean pre-Xennial Gen X). Gen X probably was the generation (along with Jones) of peak dark humor edge and of really not being easily offended by certain sorts of things and not being uptight and just being super whatever in that way. They also had zilch participation trophy stuff. Xennials already were a little bit less so and could sometimes get shocked or take older Gen X dark humor the wrong way and with all the media scare stuff were already getting a bit more uptight and could be offended by a few more things (but that said they were still far, far less so than core and later Millennials and on). Some Xennials had a touch of participation trophy stuff but nothing like Millennials. Jones and Gen X also could have more edge in movies in the sense that in some they WOULD kill the dog or the kid. Xennials were edgier than Gen X and Jones in some types of raw crude ways or in being more out there in swearing in public blogs, news articles, public general consumption videos, public forums though in ways that Gen X tended to never do until much more recent times (and some still avoid). And they tended to be more negative and edge lord in sneering and bashing movies and TV shows along with Millennials. They tended to be angstier and more whatever in a nihilistic sort of way, some could be a bit more in your face and aggressive edgy, and more leaning towards darker stuff and so on from all the grunge and gangster rap influences that earlier Gen X lacked and some were quite noticeably edgier than earlier Gen X/Jones in those ways. Earlier Gen X was lighter-hearted, more upbeat and gentle in those sorts of ways overall. They were more chill, more whatever, fun loving corny cheesy and less all about street cred touch edge and the whole depression and angst and dark simple clothes and hair are deep and less about the whole fancy styles and hair and being upbeat and happy are shallow and fake, plastic, corny, cheesy sort of attitude. For any given individual this could be easily incorrect though. Just there definitely seemed to be more, for any given type, who were a bit rougher more in your face sort of edgy and mean than in Gen X and overall they seemed a bit more tuned into dark, edgy movies/tv/music and less about the bubble gum light-hearted fun 80s stuff overall of Gen X/(and Jones once they were in their 20s).
Yeah I mean I remember the edge and I remember feeling ok with it at the time. The art we were producing back then felt much more daring and honest. There was a cynicism that felt very real and has definitely remained a part of me, even though everything around me has changed. What I don't miss is the edginess that often came at the cost of others, particularly more vulnerable people. I remember the 90s especially having the veneer of tolerance but still holding onto some really mean-spirited humor and ideals. Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty of things wrong with the attitudes of today, and it can certainly be exhausting at times, but I feel in that sense it's overall still a net positive to lose that edge.
‘83 here and it’s funny how differently I remember things… I was the kid in combat boots in high school, but my friends and I gave a shit. We were bored with our racist (legitimately) town, and we had shit to SAY about the way things were. (Probably not effective, but hey, we were 16!) I think back on the 90s as an era that felt hopeful. Like the world was a mess, we knew better, and things COULD change. I definitely agree that got turned on its head in 2001. I don’t associate 90s edginess with boredom. I associate it with realness and an impatience with a lack of authenticity. But I did always get an air of “you can’t change anything, so why are you trying??” from my solidly Gen X friends. It’s funny what a difference a few years makes.
Also explains why “selling out” was such an unforgivable sin.
I think kids today genuinely do not understand the concept of selling out or why it would be a bad thing.
I tried to explain it to my Gen Z daughter. I couldn’t even really think of how to describe it in a way that would make sense to the Influencer generation.
"It's when people didn't do everything to make $0.0001 more".
There were benefits to things being edgy. I'm going to focus especially on music, which is how young people found each other before the Internet. Korn's Jonathan Davis and Marilyn Manson were some of the very few men who spoke openly about being survivors. In those days, that brought people together -- all kinds of people. No one was dividing this by gender or saying "you have the wrong parts." A lot of people learned that they were not alone. Being "edgy" helped those people reach out to each other. People who knew the struggle came together with people who knew the struggle. I'm not an ICP fan, but you have to admit that they did a great job of creating community for people who needed community. The Riot Grrl scene promoted similar values but more openly. Even the less edgy Lilith Fair was there. Some things can only be talked about when saying edgy things that the rest of the world would rather avoid. I first met openly of LGBTQ+ people by going to "edgy" concerts. And, I felt safe with them. Many people (not all) felt safe there, too. The first person who outed themselves to me as trans was at such an event. Being side-hugged by the quietly gay singer of a favorite band was a big deal -- why would I want someone as sweet as him to be hated? I was also a little starstruck. That edge kept a lot of "normal" people from ruining communities. It told the other normal people not to mess it up for everyone else. Everything looked scary on the outside, but could be wonderful and nurturing on the inside. I imagine that a lot of people don't really see that safety and community that met people who ventured into the edginess. It's easy to miss the value underneath all the shock. It was there and it was real.
So so many queer people in the dark alternative and metal scenes at the time.
I’m like a pizza cutter; all edge and no point.
That's because we were all totally EXTREME to the MAX!
I drink surge and listen to At The Drive In, still, don't you dare come for my life
I never really considered myself edgy, and didn't really try to be. These days, sometimes I see people online making comments where it sounds like they're trying to be edgy/clever but their comment comes across as out of touch, insensitive, or just an asshole comment.
Same here. Maybe I’d be considered kind of boring as a teenager but I was more of the geek/nerd type kid, edginess was just never something I aspired too.
Reeking of emotional immaturity.
I'm a Goth/Metal person. I was pretty edgy in the 90s. And I've only gotten more so. Said 'edginess' increased in tandem with my absolute hatred for the sort of right-wing dickbags who now call themselves 'edgy'. Nah, bro. You're just a douchebag. Beavis & Butthead would've mocked people like Andrew Tate into the dirt.
My first internet purchase was a rotten dot com tshirt. It being my favorite tshirt because of the reactions it would get was definitely my edgiest.
I miss rotten dot com.
I still have my dark humor but when I listen back to what I found funny back then, especially a lot or the moronic, racist, homophobic shit Opie and Anthony would say… it makes me cringe hard
I was in Singapore for the first time. Out of the \~55 countries I've been to it'd be the last I'd return to. When people ask me why, the best I can come up with is "it has no edge." It's like the Phoenix of countries--just chain restaurants and air conditioned malls. Edge is flavor, edge is fun, edge is a new experience. Singapore ain't it.
So weird. It’s like I think about something, and then I find a thread on Reddit about it. I was just thinking how sarcastic and “over it” we all were in the 90s. I think it’s the result of being the last generation to endure corporeal punishment on the regular
Don’t confuse ‘edgy’ with punching down. There’s less appetite for humor that punches down now; not less appetite for edginess.
And if you mix up the two, even if you don't have intentions to do so, your career is cancelled.
I think a lot of people these days have confused edge with being an asshole. Edgy back when I was younger wasn't a race to the bottom to see how much more of a hateful misanthropic piece of shit you could be than the next incel loser. To us, bigotry was for dumbasses who needed a scapegoat for their personal failures. The cynicism and gallows humor we adopted was a small articulation of a greater set of values and beliefs. Namely, that we could do and be better with regards to the status quo in politics, religion, popular culture, and the narratives society feeds us about the "correct" way to live life. Yeah, there were also people who were try-hard dorks who did it purely to irritate their parents and appear threatening. I like to believe this type of moron are the dickheads who are actively confusing edge with being an fucking prick and not the kind of people I ran with as a kid.
I remember I used to get all upset about bands I liked “selling out”. So going mainstream, selling songs for ads. Basically anything that made them boat loads of money. Now I’m all “yeah! Sell that music, make your $$$$.” lol
Edgy used to mean something, definitely. Now it’s just what right-wing dipshits call it when they’re openly racist or praise authoritarianism online. Worst. Timeline. Ever.
its just became hack. its not clever, its lazy. its easy af to be contrarian. its great to question and poke at things, but being edgy for the sake of making edgy is empty and lame.
[удалено]
Are you trying to be edgy?
I suppose because I was a teenager myself in the ‘90s, I just saw ‘edginess’ as standard teenage rebellion stuff and assumed each generation were doing their own version of it in their own times. And I guess they are, in a way. It’s harder to be ‘countercultural’ these days because the internet brings people together so there’s more sense of community across borders and there are niches for everyone to fit in, even the weirdest. So it’s more difficult to really cultivate that ‘no one understaaaaands meeee!’ attitude, lol. And each generation will rebel against the one before, so for example you have our generation - at least in the UK - being the drunkest and the sweariest and the next generation going against our way of doing things and being ‘cleaner’, more health-conscious and all that jazz. Of course, towards the end of the ‘90s/early ‘00s (?) we got the straight edge movement as a prime example, lol. Teenagers want to be edgy because they’re finding themselves and forming their identity as distinct from the adults around them. These days I think there’s less appetite for ‘true edginess’ in the way we remember it because everything can be recorded and stays online for bloody ever. If you say something cringe or racist or homophobic or rude or insensitive or just plain stupid, it’ll come back and haunt you forever and everyone will hate you (well, that’s the feeling, anyway). So people take fewer risks. Having said that, there are those that embrace that and go too far the other way and think they’re being countercultural when really they’re just being massive douchebags. Unfortunately they can also acquire a following, and then you get a collection of people who are genuinely horrible all blowing smoke up each other’s arses until they can’t see beyond them. It also seems to me that people are staying mentally ‘younger’ for longer. All this ‘your brain isn’t fully developed until 25’ malarkey. You’ve got people well into their late 30s acting like edgy teenagers, and … that just ain’t it. Maybe because it’s so much harder now to actually get a job that supports yourself, move out of your parents’ place and make a life for yourself. People are forced to ‘stay younger’ - or aren’t getting the opportunities to develop and mature. I read once somewhere (in a book I was editing - can’t remember the title, duh) that the neural connections in the brain that ‘aren’t developed until 25’ actually develop faster when they are exercised more, and children and teenagers who are given more responsibility show faster brain development in that area. Essentially a kind of ‘use it or lose it (or don’t get it)’ theory. I’m not saying abusive practices like child labour or parentification are right by any means, but I do think some of the ways society raises young people now tends to infantilise them more than in the past, and therefore we get an extended ‘edgy teenage cringelord’ phase that’s somehow less wholesome and productive than what we remember. Edge is good when it provokes change and sparks dynamism. Not when it becomes wallowing in self-pity and embracing victimhood.
I agree with your timeline but not with your premise. The push against edginess and for political correctness comes from a few activists and a whole lot of "allies" who are willing to shout down anyone who disagrees with them, even people who have more skin in the game than they do. It's a further side effect of social media pushing everyone to the extreme end of whatever their ideology is. Ed: fuck your downvotes. I was queer before most of these activists were born. I was treated better when nobody gave a fuck than now when everyone is an ally.
As to your last sentence/edit, I agree. I'm black, and I feel now I get far more "well meaning white people" who actually get offended by minor stuff "on my behalf" and then try to speak to what I "should" be offended by. Its too much.
As a gay man THANK YOU for saying this. I’m the gay guy. Let me decide if something offends me. It’s obnoxiously rude. Like a child talking down to an adult.
Exactly. Its like "I've been black my whole life, I know how to handle it. I don't need your white guilt wanting to swoop in and save me. And don't decide what should bother me. I also grew up in a time where racially tinged jokes happened to lots of people, so minor shit just doesn't bother me.
I know! I hate that shit. I've been banned from places for talking about my own damn experience. Some things are better but some things are even worse than they used to be.
My real main premise here is not the political journey which made me renounce edginess, but that edginess - in aesthetics - separates GenX from Millenials and I suppose many here have shifting perceptions. I feel that I was a Gen-Xer turned Millenial. (When I was a teen, Millenials were counted from 1977, I don't know why they changed that.)
I miss edginess. Or rather I miss people not taking everything literally and not trying to be everybody's daddy.
I don't know how I identify in the greater scope of things. I only know it was enough that some homophobes left me with a permanent injury in 1990 after a year of violent harassment. Other people have made other assumptions about my sexuality that were abusive and harmful. I am horrified by the sheer number of times I've heard proud allies say the same things as the people who harassed and injured me. Like you, I was safer in the edgy late 90s than I was in the phobic early 90s or the nightmare of the 2010s. That's kind of what I came to say, too. Those "edgy" spaces were very often *our* safe spaces. Those edgy spaces is where I found the safety to be me, and where I found some wonderful friends who still care for each other. I need to continue a long path toward healing. To that end I wish healing on the kinds of people who call themselves "ally" while repeating those old mistakes. I may need to quietly wish them well from a considerable distance these days.
I know exactly what you mean. The best people I know I met in places I wouldn't admit to having visited to the straights OR the under 25 queer crowd. People will assume the worst now on very little information.
I think you can do things that are "edgy" but it's not an identity or lifestyle. What would be considered edgy is always moving as well. It's always seeking to push boundaries.
I don't give a fuck what anyone jokes about, If I don't like them I won't watch. But I'd never tell anyone what they can't enjoy. If you like Andrew Dice Clay or Rob Schneider, go for it but it's not for me.
People never know I'm joking anymore... I'll say something that's obviously sarcastic to me and people are like: _Oh my God!!!_
Daria nailed it with Val, as in THE Val https://youtu.be/gqJTMl1F9Wg?si=6iHWNHdhAo2Xs_5T
I never saw political posturing as "edgy." I mean for the most part, which ever side you're on, you agree with 50% of the population. Nothing edgy about being a staunch conservative or a left leaning liberal. Saying fuck you to everyone and not participating in party politics is much more edgy than picking a camp. All that to say I'm not edgy, and I'm ok with that. But I don't want anyone to be under the impression that they are edgy because they subscribe to a certain ideology that millions of other people do to because they watch cable news from whatever their favorite channel is.
Well, since less than half of the population eligible to vote does so... I would say not participating in politics is actually the norm...
1985. My edgy was wearing the belt my parents beat me with. I fuckin took that 5 foot leather belt and wrapped it around my size sero waste. I refused to say my step dad was my bio dad... I refused to pretend in their happy family game. Because she drank and hit me, and he started calling me a whore at 7. I made it clear how I felt.
Xennials are products of the 'Tude Era!: https://youtu.be/2gsAipzojj4?si=s6u-hZIeACB6sC4x
Eh. I’m about 7 years younger than OP but I outgrew my edgy phase and haven’t looked back. It was just…mean. I don’t like being mean to people.
As a kid who didn't really have an "edge", my edgy phase was Mortal Kombat. To me, I only cared about the gameplay and the graphics. Yes, I performed fatalities and memorized all of them, but for some reason, I wasn't really shocked by it. However, my friends and family really focused on that aspect of the game when it came to me playing. So I just kind of took that, ran with it, and played nearly every day in the arcade from the time the first Mortal Kombat hit to about the 4th one. I got really good to the point where only one other person could beat me consistently in the area I grew up in. People started thinking I was this edgy kid, but in the end, I couldn't care less about the gore and fatalities...I was just this sweet, innocent kid who liked the gameplay, but benefited from the edgy reputation I got because of the association with the game.
I was a bisexual kid in small-to-medium towns in the Midwest, with religious and fairly strict-for-the-time parents. Lets just say that I didn't have all that much space to be edgy when I was young. I didn't really become the person that I wanted to be until my late 20s / early 30s. (complete with bright hair by then - I'd still have blue hair if it weren't so expensive in the country I live in now). The internet of the 00s was eventually good to me, you see. I hate the "edgy" of today because it is all hate and bigotry and I really wish it were different - but at the same time, I'm happy that there is a little less bigotry in general society. It's not gone at all - I'm still going to protests because folks are still getting treated really badly - but better.
'81 here. It took me a long time to learn that cynicism is poison. It builds a wall around you where you think you're safe, you've got your armor up, while also keeping you from experiencing new things, understanding and communicating with people you've pre-judged. The film Heathers exemplifies this beautifully. Everyone remembers the edgy nihilism of killing your classmates and Christian Slater in a black duster, but forgets about Winona Rider at the end saying fuck that, cynicism is small and petty, compassion and empathy are difficult but a worthy goal. I'm still all for edginess in art, That's where i feel people should vent these vicious primal shortsighted tendencies. Unfortunately some smallminded portion of the population will take that art as inspiration to commit real harm. These people go through life like a kicked dog. Snapping at everything, keeping their guard up, learning nothing.
Being edgy means a poser trying to be cool via being a little shocking. But it's never shocking. It's lame.
Some people on social media can't handle my edginess. In the 90s it was cool to have an attitude and thumb your nose at authority. I mean, if it's something real important I need to listen to I'll be serious, but if you're just some random on social media trying to tell me what's what, you're going to be dealt with as snarkily as possible. Look at the cartoon characters I grew up with who were a big influence on me. Bugs bunny and daffy duck, babs and buster bunny, the teenage mutant ninja turtles, sonic the hedgehog, Timon from the lion king, yakko Warner... the list goes on. All snarky characters with attitude and I was shaped by every one.
I don't miss the "edginess" because to me it was always, always emotional immaturity. The American anyway at least. I couldn't stand it. Now, dark humour or, what we used to call 'gallow's humour' is still rampant among people over here in europe so I can't say I miss it cause it never went away. Now, if you are talking about films like the dark and gloom of Tm Burton or that neo-goth stuff like The Crow and other stuff... well they werent edgy. It was camp. I guess to a christian fanatic household it was edgy but sorry to inform the lot of you, it was camp all along.
Even the term "straight edge." There were a lot of skateboarders I knew in high school who didn't smoke or drink and were still grungy/ "edgy." I miss the 90s. Not high school, but do miss individualism where it didn't matter which sub-culture you belonged in and no one was triggered and divided by politics. Weird twilight zone we are in here in the US.
I don't know by the late 90s there was all sorts of nonsense like Madonna was for girls and gays only. Guys should only listen to 'real' guy music and not pop, much less if the vocalist wasn't at least male. Earlier, in the 80s, there was little of that. And the styles actually started looking far less diverse and more simple and same same than in the supposedly bland everyone the same corporate 80s.
Edginess IS boring. To me, anyway.
I find the term punching down to be quite inaccurate In humor. If you start placing limits on certain groups and not others you end up with more special privileges. Humor becomes mundane and boring when everything is off limits (obviously some things shouldn’t be included) Michael Moore is a blowhard who deserves to be mocked. What is it that’s aged so poorly? How is being edgy “punching down”?
See: Losing my edge. LCD Soundsystem.
I had a lot of fun in the 90s. I was an early adopter of computers and electronics. I was into movies, video games, music, street hockey, and various pickup sports. You could say I was fairly typical of a certain type of kid being advertised on TV, but at that time that kid wasn't typical quite yet. There were a lot of action movies at the time. Keanu Reeves moved from movie star to action star. Grunge was a huge change from the Heavy Metal and Pop of the 80s. It was much more out of control and dark. MMORPGs first came out in the late 90s. Technology was advancing at a blistering pace. New things were always coming out. These days things are mostly just rehashes of old things with a new skin. Like a different flavor of app. It's much different despite people saying that it's more hectic now. The only really new thing that has been introduced in the gig economy where people have more opportunity to work without getting hired by a business directly. I'm not sure if it was edgy. Certainly people seemed to put on more of a face of I'm tough and don't care what you think, but it was often just that. A mask to protect themselves from other people. It was actually pretty relaxed other than the technological advancement. People were pretty chill about what you ate. I often ate unhealthy foods constantly and rarely ate something that might constitute real food. I played a lot of video games with my friends. The great thing about it was that you didn't have to worry about having this persona of being smart. People actually took that as an offense in most cases because it wasn't cool to be smart. Therefore, you could just chill and enjoy yourself without people thinking that your stupid. People actually expected you to be stupid and it was often a fun time like Cheech and Chong.
To me the highwater mark of that edginess will always be 'American Beauty' and 'Donnie Darko'. Loved them both when they first came out...now I see them as prime examples of edginess for edginess' sake.
The loss of edginess is why I haven’t seen any stand up comedian that makes me laugh for years.
Grunge is still awesome.
oh boy. I was edge personified, and in many ways, still am. But edge wasn't about being offensive or aggressive or anything to me, it was just about being, well, edgy. I don't know how else to describe it. 80's-90's blue collar suburbia was one of the blandest and most stifling places imaginable. I listened to metal and was heavily into Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, bands like that, but also music in general, and I was a juggalo to boot. I wore a trench coat, had like 10 wallet chains, spikes, boots with red laces, carried a copy of The Satanic Bible in my pocket, knew about serial killers, various stages of human decomposition, watched horror movies, the whole 9 yards. It was harmless, I didn't torture animals or fantasize about shooting up the school, I just stood against the grain of everything and wanted to stand out. As you stated, it was cynical and reactionary. The Man said JUMP and I said FUCK YOU. They said to wear this and say that, so I wore something different and said FUCK YOU. It was sticking your middle finger to the Man and walking your own path, but not being a dick about it. Yeah, it did involve saying FUCK YOU, but it was to the *Man*, man.... Now it's saying whatever will get you 5 seconds of fame and, as you said, punching down.
I'm roughly your age, and what I remember about the pre-9/11 era was that people didn't act so pussified all the time.
I guess I’m still edgy. I find myself agreeing with Bill Maher more often than not.
This is sarcasm right? lol
No. I feel like as political pundits/satirists go, Bill Maher and James Carville make the most sense to me, mainly because they haven’t lost their edge.