I have occasionally thought to go to Hot Topic and purchase an outfit for the sole purpose of disguise.

I feel a little guilty about using this image, but it makes me laugh a little.

I'm weird. This must be disclosed before I address my topic, which seems a little weird to me. But I'm weird, so maybe this is normal? I don't know! Let me begin:

I don't really listen to music. The last CD I got was the soundtrack to Enchanted, and it was a gift, although I recently grabbed the title music to Team Fortress 2 off Pirate Bay. I was a total band geek in high school and into college. I listened exclusively to jazz with an almost hipster-like superiority complex. This was before I discovered the wonders of public and talk radio, of course. I was really into the Aquabats for a while too, but I think that had as much to do with the superhero persona they adopt as their chipper lyrics. I ventured briefly into worlds of rock in more forlorn periods (bawww!), but never so much as to integrate any sort of music into my identity or espouse any sort of cause or attitude. An exception could be argued for jazz in my case, but in my standing as white kid from the suburbs, I don't think anyone is going to accuse me of swinging. Certainly, not enough to dictate my style. But it's been a long time since I favored jazz and I don't actively dislike any sort of music, except when it is conveyed with an aura arrogance (but that is not the fault of the music but its patrons). Perhaps my musical background could be described as apathetic, a musical outsider.

This is what I find interesting. I find it a little hard to imagine, or rather to empathize, with either group, especially when they come to violence! It seems a little silly, especially when I had initially read the boingboing post about it. Perhaps it is become the subcultures I have participated in seem to revolve around happy times and jello. A perverse part of me secretly wishes to witness these events, if only for confirmation that such things exist, and I am loathe to admit this about myself. At the same time, I can't help but imagine the Sharks and the Jets a little in some sort of musical tumult. And It reminds me a little of this. But maybe it's not all bad and I'm probably missing the point; it's not really about fashion.

I remain somewhat glad that I have never experienced the auditory epiphany necessary to devote myself to a form a musical expression so fully. Maybe I'm missing out.