Maya Cohen starts her record player. The Ramones’ Rocket to Russia blares from the speakers. She straightens her plaid miniskirt. Standing in front of the mirror, she draws her eyeliner big and bold, humming to the music.
Cohen, a sophomore at Baruch College Campus High School, lives her life as part of various alternative subcultures. Like many teens, she feels like she doesn’t belong to the mainstream culture many of her peers subscribe to. While it’s easy to think of alternative culture as nothing more than black clothing and eyeliner, the many diverse subcultures that fall under the alternative umbrella are actually rich tapestry of influences in music, fashion, and mindset.
“I really feel a lot more comfortable when I’m wearing fishnets and a miniskirt…than if I was wearing jeans and a long sleeve sweater like people expect me to.“ Cohen says.
One of the most recognizable elements of alternative culture, at least to outside observers, is fashion. Whether it’s the pins and patches of punks or the black lace and pale makeup of goths, fashion is a key part of self expression for alternative teens.
“It’s important for me because that’s just how I’ve been building my personality. When I’m not wearing rings or bracelets or necklaces, I just feel really boring,” says sophomore Tiffany Wilson, describing her elaborate sense of style. “I think I’ve always had issues with expressing myself, so this helps me.”
A very important part of alternative fashion is sustainability. Often, alternative teens get many of their clothing items from thrift stores, as gifts, secondhand, or even make them themselves, rejecting fast fashion. They find fashion inspiration from social media, such as Pinterest or TikTok, or from the musicians they follow.
Music is another key part of alternative culture. Many alternative subcultures sprang from the music scenes of the past, like goth in the 1970s with bands like The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees, or grunge in the 1980s with bands like The Melvins and Nirvana.
“More mainstream music, it’s kind of a lot of the same stuff theme-wise, but more alternative music, there’s so many different things that people talk about, and they talk about it in so many different ways,” says Cohen.
Alternative music includes any music that isn’t considered mainstream, which can make it difficult to determine whether or not an artist or album is alternative. Some of the more prevalent genres of alternative music include punk, from which most alternative music genres were created, goth, grunge, metal, and emo.
For those looking to learn more about alternative culture, many teenagers recommend first listening to and learning about alternative music. Some alternative album recommendations include Green Day’s American Idiot, Van Halen’s self-titled debut album Van Halen, Alice in Chains’ Jar of Flies, Mazzy Star’s Among My Swan, and The Last Dinner Party’s Prelude to Ecstasy.
Alternative is not just a culture surrounding fashion and music, though. Alternative subcultures have unique mindsets attributed to them. For example, punks tend to be very politically active, and protest against discrimination and oppression.
“In my opinion, being punk, you have to be accepting of people, and you have to, I think, have some level of activism and do something in your life to better the world and get rid of dehumanization and stuff like that. Because if you’re not doing that, then you’re not punk, you just wear chains,” says an anonymous punk.
One value shared by all alternative teens is being who you want to be, regardless of what other people have to say. Alternative culture is very accepting of everyone’s uniqueness and individuality, and recognizes the beauty in being different.
“A lot of it is about self expression and not fitting into societal norms, and being okay with the fact that you don’t fit into societal norms,” says sophomore Emma Pullen.
For teens who feel like they struggle to belong and fit in, alternative subcultures can offer a safe space to find a sense of belonging. Teens who feel othered or alienated by the ordinary can find a community that reflects their ideas and experiences.
“It’s a very diverse community, and, you know, diverse communities don’t really shun people away,” says Wilson.
For many teens, the seemingly “scary” alternative people around them turned out to be incredibly kind and accepting, sometimes even more than the “normal” teens they had given up on fitting in with.
Freshman Patricia “Trish” Harrick echoes the core idea behind all alternative subcultures. “Don’t care about what people think. It’s not going to matter. If you want to dress how you want, you shouldn’t be like, ‘Oh, I’m scared to do this.’ Do what you want. We’re living on a floating rock.”
