My true views on the rivethead
subculture:
1/ 'Rivethead' is a really
terrible name.
2/ The term
"rivethead" is just another label. Labels are nice,
neat and stereotypical; people's personalities, tastes and
opinions are not.
3/ Be yourself, screw the
trends. Wear whatever the hell you want to wear, listen to the
music you like and keep an open mind.
So how do I define myself?
Mostly rivethead, a bit gothic and partly something else
undefined. I love industrial-type music, I hate feminine and
girly crap and I am not and never have been into the floaty black
dresses/black velvet and lace/white foundation/black lipstick
side of the trendy goth subculture nor have I ever liked most of
the crap that passes for gothic music (but then probably neither
do most true goths). I am definitely more of a rivethead. But I'm
too polite to be a proper one - when someone calls me a freak I
say thank you instead of kicking the shit out of them. ;-)
Screwing with people's
misconceptions and prejudices is always fun. I do actually get
people crossing the street to avoid me and plenty of bus drivers
seem to think I'm gonna put a brick through the bus windows or
try to dodge fares. When I turn out to be very polite and sweet
and innocent (*grins*) that really warps their minds. And anyone
who gives me crap for the way I look just proves to me that I am
better than them (I do have a tendency to start laughing when
people give me weird looks, which gets me even more weird looks
off people who think I'm one of those nutters who sit there
laughing at nothing). Everyone seems to think of me more as a
goth though, which I don't mind as long as they don't think I'm
either into the whole playing dead in graveyards whilst spouting
bad poetry kind of crap or a Marilyn Manson obsessive (and by the
way, I have nothing against Marilyn Manson; I quite like
him/them, to some extent; the new album and Antichrist Superstar
don't do anything for me however).
Most fans of industrial
music I have encountered are not stereotype rivetheads. On the
other hand, online forums devoted to industrial music do seem to
attract a number of elitist rivetheads of the type who have an
extreme level of contempt for popular artists (NIN and Marilyn
Manson seem to be the most hated) and have conveniently forgotten
that without popular artists utilising elements of underground
genres of music, only a couple of people would probably ever hear
about the underground artists and the genuine pioneers. And
plenty of these "genuine rivetheads" do fit many of the
other criteria I've mentioned on this site. These people probably
deserve to have the piss taken out of them for taking things way
too seriously.
Ultimately no one has to
find my "How to be industrial" guide funny, but it is
not meant to be taken seriously. If you send me hatemail then
that will just prove to me you're way too uptight and need to
lighten up a little.
Go back to the "How to be
industrial" guide
