In Defense of: Techno Hipsters

The word hipster is so loaded. Those seven letters bring up images of skinny jeans, Cosby sweaters, beards, mustaches, thick-framed glasses, and whatever other fashion throwback is trendy at the moment. The term invariably evokes a string of sarcastic comments about the asshole wearing them. The increased popularity of electronic music around the globe has trickled down to the gatekeepers of the underground, who have become the targets for vicious comments in clubs, on forums, and on social media outlets.  

It’s common to hear how some punter would have had a great time at a party, if it weren’t for those bloody hipster wankers. Whenever I ask what the hipsters did to salt the party vibes, the response is usually that the offending hypebeasts stood around all night, looking at their phones and talking to their “stupid mates.” Honestly, how can someone who appears to be standing still ruin someone else’s night?

When you’re out to listen to music, why does it matter that someone is on their phone all night, or standing around talking to their mates? Those behaviors are common to many people in a club at any given time. 

Yet, phone usage seems to be so that more offensive when the perpetrators are identified as hipsters. But the critics are actually reacting to the fact that these cell phone junkies are outsiders. It’s not about how they look, it’s that they are assumed to be new to the scene and hence not “real” techno fans. But they’re just a side product of the genre’s growing popularity. 

People talk about this divide as if all of the “real” techno fans were found as babies in a dusty crate behind the DJ booth in Berghain and can be spotted thanks to the absence of a chin after years of stroking. The truth is that the new fans are arguably more important than the chinless figures in dark corners. Their presence means different people are getting into the good stuff. 

They’re the newbies who will make sure there’s another generation of kids coming through to keep pushing the music, or the parties, or the scene forward in some way. 

As someone who spends a lot of times at parties (as punter and promoter), the best nights are the ones with a diverse crowd. Club kids sit next to doofers in scalemail bras, hipsters Instagram their mug shots from the club’s photo booth, and DJs fire up the strobes to dazzle an amazing dance floor. Everyone has fun because no one is getting hung up on what everyone else is doing. 

In techno meccas like Berghain, no time is wasted judging other people, and that creates an incredibly liberating environment. When you’re at a good party, a sensation washes over you—it feels like you’re free to be anyone you want to be, and it doesn’t matter. All that matters in the club is the next song, and that you have a good time. 

This escapism is pivotal to the nature of clubbing. It’s the idea that for that time in the club, there is nothing else—no bills, no shitty bosses, no hassles, except whether it’s time for another smoke/drink/bump. So I ask everyone to stop getting so hung up on what those other kids are doing. Just have a good time and chill out about what someone else is looking at on their phone. 

Pat is one of the brains behind Pleasure Planet, a party that doesn’t discriminate.