still one of my favorite album covers, ever
How annoying are these people to me, a visual appraisal from left to right:
- His outfit is so ridiculous that I'm just going to assume he's on his way to or returning from a costume party. I'm being generous. He gets a pass, just.
- She's okay, but those shoes are really ugly. What's with clunky sneakers, people? They're like clogs made from more comfortable materials.
- Oh boy. The hat. The rolled up jeans. The fucking
hair. It's a three-way race between this kid, the 80s revival doofus in the blue singlet, and that girl in the bear hat.
- I don't know what that thing is around his neck. If it's something important then he could just put it in his pocket like a normal person does. If it's some kind of pendant then it just looks stupid. But in general his appearance is too bland to be truly annoying.
- I'm going to assume she's just a kid. I don't wanna start ripping on kids, that's not cool. If she's not a kid then maybe she should stop dressing like one.
- For fuck's sake. 80s revival blue singlet doofus. Okay let's be generous again and assume he's getting in on the costume party action along with that guy in the skeleton outfit (though on reflection what the hell's with Skeletor's red bandana? What is he, an undead bikie? The skeleton of Jesse James?). This outfit sails much closer to the wind though because unlike Skeletor's it's conceivable that somebody might actually wear this kind of shit every day and think they're being cool or something. (Here's a secret: they're not.)
- The least annoying of the lot, though I think those shoes might actually be clogs. The oversize flower in the hair is a difficult look to pull off and it might be just the overexposure of the photo that's allowing her to get away with it.
- Okay bear hat wins the race to the prize. The prize is derision and scorn. Maybe she'd get away with it if she wasn't also throwing up the most half-hearted peace sign/V-for-victory sign imaginable. Maybe if she was wearing an entire bear costume I might be willing to lump her in with the costume party crowd. As it is she's a girl in a stupid hat for no good reason.
This cover is pretty much a summary of everything that perpetually shits me about hipster/indie culture. (Namely "irony", the mindless worship of trashy pop culture, and the perpetual tendency towards infantilisation.)