00:00Remember the tribes of the schoolyard?
00:03Those unspoken rules of who you were, what you wore, and what you listened to?
00:08In the 90s, your identity was a uniform and your music was the flag that you waved.
00:13And this is a trip down memory lane to the tribes that defined a generation.
00:18Well, my generation on this occasion.
00:20To quote the good prophet, Fred Durst.
00:23We start with a term I was frequently called,
00:25gothic, or greebo, or metalhead, but mainly gothic around the areas I was in.
00:33It was a catch-all put-down for anyone who didn't listen to chart music or top 40 dance music.
00:39The true gothic subculture, spelt G-O-T-H-I-C,
00:45were a distinct subculture defined by their devotion to all things dark and dramatic.
00:50Their musical home was in the gothic rock of The Cure or Sisters of Mercy,
00:55the theatricality of Marilyn Manson, K-M-F-D-M, or Nine Inch Nails.
01:00Their uniform was an ode to black.
01:03But that term was also applied to others who were musically distinct,
01:07like the rockers and the metalheads.
01:10These kids like myself wore all black too,
01:12but the uniform with band t-shirts and denim jackets covered in patches,
01:16or the baggiest blue jeans at this side of the river train.
01:20To the untrained eye, they were all just gothics, spelt G-O-F-F-I-K-S,
01:26a term that would later be succeeded by emo as the next catch-all label,
01:31as the emo movement from Prominent.
01:34Now, the polar opposites of gothics,
01:36our mortal enemies back in the mid-90s,
01:39the trendies were all about mainstream chart-topping commercial music.
01:43Their style was an ode to the brands in athletic wear,
01:47think track suits, backward baseball caps, expensive trainers,
01:50you know, the kind of people that would give you a lot of flag
01:53that you did your shopping at a charity shop,
01:55rather than going to expensive prices
01:57that were well beyond the financial remit
01:59of anybody that went to high school.
02:02They were into the pop-its at the time,
02:04from artists like Spice Girls and All Saints,
02:06but they also dabbled a little bit with Alice DJ,
02:09and the more mainstream-y, acceptable artists of the time.
02:13And unfortunately, they seemed to be the most visible
02:17and loudest tribe in the school corridors.
02:21Not quite as mainstream as the gothics,
02:24but the indie kids traversed that line between mainstream
02:26and the fringes of alternative music.
02:29Now, this tribe was defined by the rivalry between Oasis and Blur,
02:34their look was a mix of classic British style
02:36and the casual, Gladish swagger.
02:38And they were often found debating Oasis vs. Blur
02:42in the school common room,
02:43or extolling the virtues of an EP from a band
02:46that you've never heard of before,
02:48and probably never will in your lifetime again.
02:52And of course, we couldn't forget about the hip-hop heads.
02:55This tribe was all about the rhythm and the rhyme,
02:58living and breathing the golden age of hip-hop,
03:00and the rise of hip-hop in the 90s as well.
03:03Their music tastes were a deep dive into the likes
03:05of a tribe called Quest and Wu-Tang Clan,
03:08and they knew the lyrics, the samples,
03:10and the history behind every track.
03:12Their style was a direct import from New York,
03:15baggy jeans, oversized hoodies,
03:17and fresh-out-of-the-box trainers,
03:19bringing a slice of American street culture
03:21to the British schoolyard.
03:22So, whether you were a goth, spelt G-O-double-F,
03:27a goth, spelt G-O-T-H,
03:29a trendy, an indie kid, or a hip-hop head,
03:32your tribe was your identity,
03:33whether you liked it or not,
03:35until you left full-time education.
03:37And it wasn't just about the music you listened to,
03:40it was about the stories you told
03:42and the world that you belonged to.
03:44Like it or not,
03:45that was the rule of the schoolyard at the time,
03:48I'm afraid.
