Well, I thought that I’d talk briefly about the topic of “coolness” today – and how it differs from being trendy.
This was something I ended up thinking about on a sleep-deprived and angst-ridden morning in early-mid March when I stumbled across the music video (Warning – flickering images, creepy groping) for the 1999 rock song “96 Quite Bitter Beings” by CKY.
Even though I’d never heard the title of this song before, the main guitar riff was instantly recognisable. I think if you were a teenager during the early-mid 2000s, you just sort of know this guitar riff even if you’re not quite sure where you know it from (probably watching “Jackass” at a friend’s house, or videogames or something).
Anyway, although I vaguely remember seeing “CKY” DVDs on sale in MVC and HMV shops (anyone remember those?) back in about 2002-3 or so, I didn’t directly listen to this band back then. I didn’t have a skateboard and I’m not American. My idea of “being rebellious” back then was reading old second-hand horror novels, getting into “15 certificate” films at the cinema when I was thirteen or fourteen etc….
And, all these years later, I found myself feeling miserable. It wasn’t just that I missed the incredibly rose-tinted US media version of the 2000s that I was getting nostalgic about but that, at the time, I didn’t even get to experience or encounter some of the “cool” parts of that time. It felt like “FOMO”, like a missed opportunity.
But then I looked at my life these days and I could start to see elements of it that I think are cool. Case in point, my other sketchbook. Back in 2023, to recover my confidence in my own human-made art after seeing a more advanced A.I. image generator, I started a second sketchbook just for fan art, fun art, “art journal” type stuff… and it’s fascinating. Parts of it are like a comic about my own life, made by me and for me. There’s fan art of all my favourite stuff etc… It is something I find to be ridiculously cool and meaningful, to the point I sometimes focus more on it than on my “public” art.
If you look at your own life, you can probably find something cool about it. Notice how I said “cool” instead of “trendy”. It’s easy to conflate those two terms but “cool” is more of a subjective quality – like “This movie is cool” or “This song is cool” or whatever. It’s more of a feeling, one of fascination and admiration. Of meaningfulness. It’s an expression of “This thing means something to me“. And it is up to you to find whatever you personally feel is cool. Because different things are cool to different people.
On the other hand, “trendy” is more about other people. And it constantly changes. Back in the 2000s, the trendy music was totally different to the trendy music today. So were the fashions and the videogames and basically everything. Even the trendy types of humour are totally different today than they were twenty years ago. Yes, I know, I’m “old”…
If you try to be trendy, then you’ll only be trendy for a short amount of time unless you are some sort of chameleon with no real interests or personality of your own, just mindlessly following and changing yourself to fit in with what other people think is trendy. But, if you focus on coolness – on noticing when you think “This thing is so cool” – then you’ll end up with something that not only feels cooler and more meaningful to you, but which will endure the ages.
And, again, there is probably something about your life right now which, when you notice it, you’ll think “Hmmm… That’s actually sort of cool“. Because coolness is such a subjective and personal quality, there is no one objective way to “be cool”. To me, goths and punks and metalheads are cool. To another person, they are probably “cringe” or “uncool”. Both are – in their own way – right. Because when you say something is “cool”, you’re just stating your own sensibilities and opinions. So, focus on what YOU find cool.
It’s a lot better and… cooler… than trying to be trendy. Trying to constantly keep up with whatever other people – ones you’ve probably never even met – think is cool. If you find what you – and you alone – genuinely think is cool, then it’ll mean a lot more to you.
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Anyway, I hope that this was interesting 🙂
