My Music - My American Life

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/45/media-fringe

I would try to talk about my own writing about being on the fringe, but I'm not even on the fringe, I'm two states over, at least a time zone away from anything that you could try to talk about being in the media, so instead of talking about the writing and media that I produce, I'm going to the media that actually has an audience larger than 30 (assuming that all of the views on here are from separate people) and go with Happy Hardcore, my music, and how weird of a fringe it is.

To understand Happy Hardcore, you have to take a quick look at the EDM world. EDM (electronic dance music) is a lot like rock and roll, it's a big tent that covers a lot of different areas. You can range everywhere from astral plinks and plunks to thudding bass rumbling beats. That means that in the EDM world, there's genres, sub genres, and even smaller genres within those that come and go as they see fit (I'm looking at you S3RL trying to push the 'new' genre of midcore)

The weird fringe that I enjoy, that I bounce along with while at work when I'm not listening to This American Life, is Happy Hardcore, which is a sub-genre of a genre called Hardcore. Hardcore is fast, heavy, and in your face, but because of that aggressive nature of songs like Boomstick

it gets a bit aggressive at points. The problem with this, is that most people don't want to be hyper aggressive when listening to music, or at least I don't. So the genre of Hardcore gets split into some sub genres that focus on different elements. You get things like Gabber that are hyper aggressive and in your face, and then you take the happier lighter side of Hardcore and get Happy Hardcore.

The thing about Happy Hardcore that I love is that at it's best it's tongue in cheek, nothing is sacred, we're just going to have a good time. We'll take whatever we want, mash it together, and laugh at just how awesome it sounds when we get our hands on it. Happy hardcore is the home of greats like Guitar Hero, Models are Ugly, Pika Girl, and countless other bouncy, quirky, little gems that make you want to get up and jump around.
https://soundcloud.com/mcwhizzkid/hardcore-positivity
But that quirky nature, making fun of ourselves, just having a good time, is why I love it. You don't have to worry about the media, you don't have to worry about what other people think about you, you don't have to do anything, you just sit back and bounce to the beat. It's a friendly, kind, atmosphere, that's just a fun place to be in.

Happy Hardcore is also the home of kandi ravers. The over the top, huge pants, bright colors, have fun, wear whatever, ravers that you think of when it comes to raves.

But the thing that you never hear about is that if there's a room full of people dressed like that, there's absolutely zero chance that you're going to be the 'weird one' in the room. In Happy Hardcore, you can be you, be happy, be loving, be kind, and it's totally okay to do that.
 https://soundcloud.com/djgammer/itsqwerkouttime

The only thing bad about being on this fringe in the media, is that everyone that doesn't know what the happy hardcore world is, instantly thinks of 90's bad raves with bad, repetitive music. And sure, there's the bad stuff out there that you can't listen to without wanting to do drugs because it's so bad that the only way that you can ever listen to it is if you're on drugs, but that's not how it is now. The music is different, the scene is still bouncy and funny and a home away from home with complete strangers.

You just have to get past some of the more. . . unique. . . clothing and hair options.