This is a good opportunity for me to post
this Morbid Angel video (SFW). Stick around for the 1:00 mark. Shit cracks me up.
Also, I think Darnielle nails not only Hipster Metal, but Indiefolk in general.
John Darnielle Wrote:
My long-standing shtick is that ironic appreciation is actual appreciation, but it’s hesitant. It’s sort of wanting to maybe dip their toe in, but in the event that the whole subculture goes “What the fuck are you talking about? We don’t listen to polka,” they can go “Ah-ha, I was just kidding.” As a culture all indie rock people sort of gradually are like, “I like this metal, but it’s intelligent metal, but they’re kind of our people” and this and that. Ironic appreciation is one of those ways of not having to do what is a very scary thing.
This whole concept of some Bizarro Cool World inhabited by the not-so-cool kids in high school with a monopoly on Quality & Legitimacy at the expense of the laypeople who wouldn't give a flying fuck about Clap Your Hands Say Yeah if they had a relative in the band is self-aggrandizing foolishness.
There will always be Indie-Approved Metal / Hip-Hop / Top 40 [ circle one ]. It will generally be only a token gesture. It's the music preference equivalent of "I can't be racist; I have black friends."
Indiefolk are a clique. Indiefolk tend to like what all the other Indiefolk like, and those who disagree either aren't smart enough or are guilty of the dreaded "backlash". And for as much disdain as the Indiefolk hold for their
popular high school classmates, they are pretty much the same article, only dressed poorly.