This Ain’t a Scene, it’s a Home
The two groups of middle school kids most likely to utter the phrase “it’s not a phase, mom!” are young people in the LGBTQ community, and those in the alternative rock scene.
As professors Jayna Brown and Tavia Nyong’o wrote in their guide to the queer punk scene, “Punk and queer are a match made in the gutter.”
The alternative rock music scene and punk ethos tell the fan base to go against the status quo. From the style of music that provides folks an outlet to vent their frustrations, to the community itself that celebrates people who color outside the lines, the alternative rock scene draws in people from all walks of life. In a sea of so many misfits and disruptors, it’s not hard to see why LGBTQ individuals have found themselves attracted to the scene.
Three of those young queer folks: Hadas, Bug, and Alex shared how the music and the scene has impacted their lives. Each individual favors a slightly different flavor of alternative rock and interacts with a different slice of the community, but their experiences all highlight what it is about these bands that put out a siren’s call to members of the queer community.
Hadas Scher
Queer sex shop employee, harm reduction advocate from Ohio. Enjoys punk artists like Mother Mother, Ezra Furman, Violent Femmes and Pussy Riot.
“My identity absolutely influences my draw to alt and punk,” they said. “It can be weird being a young gender nonconforming person and not have any words for it, let alone access to communities and celebrations of queer identity. Seeing nonconformity as an art form drew me in and showed me a way to celebrate my differences.”
Their experiences in the scene have affirmed their identity and given them a space to find community.
“I know lots of queer people who have found refuge in the possibilities that alt rock artists open up,” they said.
Bug Valladolid
Beautician from Las Vegas. Enjoys pop-punk artists like Bring me the Horizon, the Nova Twins, Meet me @ the Altar, and Pierce the Veil.
Valladolid, who specializes in hair and make-up looks geared towards more alternative tastes, defines the genres under alternative rock not by the music itself, but by the fans who show up to the live shows and shape the community culture.
“[Some] rock shows are still scary, basement garage shows are still scary, I will not go to indie punk shows, I won’t go to underground shows because I don’t feel comfortable,” they said.
They said the live music experience of a pop-punk show is slightly more structured than that of a more traditionalist punk or underground emo show and that bit of structure allows them to feel safe in their flamboyancy and focus on the music.
Despite the differences between subgenre show culture, Valladolid still thinks there are aspects of all the alternative rock subgenres that bring queer folks into the fold.
“Alt. music, rock music and pop-punk have always been very open to ‘hey, I’m weird, I’m okay with it and you’re going to deal with it,’” they said. “With goth culture, alt. culture and pop-punk, you can have bright colors in your hair, you can tease it, cut it into a shag, a mullet, a mohawk. Seeing all those things has further shown me that I can be the person that I want to be.”
In the early 1980s through early 2000s, queer rock stars like Laura Jane Grace and Pete Shelly, along with bands like Limp Wrist and the B-52s, made alternative rock music that spoke to their queer experience, however, the foundation they laid was only the beginning of the scene flourishing for queer music lovers.
Valladolid said that the queer undertones and elements to the music scene that have always been there have been amazing, however, going to shows and on online forums they’ve noticed that the outside perspective of the scene has been some what homogeneous.
“When people think alt-rock, they still might not think Black, Brown or woman” they said. “They mostly think skinny, tall white boys like Johnnie Guilbert.”
With these modern alternative rock stars like Meet me @ the Altar, Willow Smith and Lynn Gunn who openly identify as members of the LGBTQ community, even more queer folks just like Valladolid see themselves explicitly represented in the scene. Little by little, queer alternative rock artists and fans have done work to change that perception to more accurately reflect the fanbase and artists and Valladolid is excited to see that change.
“The pop-punk scene has influenced the way I present myself as a person,” Valladolid said. “Seeing more marginalized identities come to the forefront of the pop-punk scene, I see myself.”
Artists in the same scene who aren’t openly queer or making music about gender and sexuality still find themselves with queer fans who deeply resonate with their music based on their personal experiences.
Alex Ramos
Writer and music critic from California who enjoys emo artists like Paramore, Boys like Girls, and Hayley Williamson in her solo project.
In an article for NPR Music called “How Paramore’s ‘Brand New Eyes’ Helped Me Envision A Future For Myself,” Ramos explained how the album served as the soundtrack to their teenage years and journey navigating religion, acceptance, and life as an immigrant.
“I had a lot of aggression as a teenager and part of that was because I grew up in the Philippines, which is largely Catholic,” Ramos said. “Now, there’s a more thriving LGBTQ community, but back when I was growing up a lot of [LGBTQ and gender nonconforming] teenagers were really persecuted and that made me really upset.
“Sometimes, the only way I could really tune into that anger was listening to music,” they said. “It’s really like the other half of the story that I just didn’t really get to discuss in the article.”
As Alex reflected on the music they resonated with as a teenager, they recalled a playlist they made called “The Dregs of my Teenage Years.” The playlist skewed towards the emo side of the alt rock subgenres.
“We were really attracted to these bitter, breakup songs but really weren’t upset about that specific thing,” they said. “A lot of us were just upset about our own problems in our small little school where all of us were kind of trapped in for like 13, 14 years.”
One song they specifically referenced from the playlist was Boys Like Girls’ “The Great Escape.” On its surface, the song is a love anthem with a chorus that goes:
“Throw it away, forget yesterday
We’ll make the great escape
And we won’t hear a word they say
They don’t know us anyway
Watch it burn, let it die
‘Cause we are finally free, tonight.”
It isn’t difficult to understand why anyone who feels misunderstood might resonate with the lyrics whether they’re in love or not.
Whether because of the ethos of nonconformity, the platform for physical expression of raw emotion or the lyricism and heavy guitar progressions, alternative rock has carved its way into the hearts of many queer folks who have found their home in the scene.
The alternative rock scene is one where fans fully immerse themselves into the culture. Fans wait in lines for hours and days to get into venues and scream lyrics until their voices give out.
“Live [alternative] music is all about releasing energy and seeing that there are other people who have the same emotional connection to the music that I do,” Marcus said.
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