Latest news with #vibeshift
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
160,000 mod-haired Oasis fans make for Croke Park
Around 1994 something happened to music fans in Dublin . It was a great transformation. Wispy indie kids who once sashayed vaguely started to swagger assertively. Long hair was sculpted into mod helmets. Depressive romanticism was replaced with grumpy sarcasm. Plaid shirts were replaced with football jerseys. Timid apathy was replaced with bolshie confidence. It was what the kids these days call a 'vibe shift'. The best pop stars are the most easily imitated. Oasis were easy to imitate – swing the arms, helmet up the hair, approximate a defiant scowl – then, depending on your disposition, grunt like Liam or quip like Noel . That's it. READ MORE Fans of their arch-rivals Blur were less visible. Pulp-fans aped Jarvis Cocker but they tended to hide in the corner. And soon after that the whole world descended into an internet-enabled postmodern mush. The Oasis-head is arguably the last truly visible pop-cultural fandom. Who cares, really, that after the first wave of imitators the band never really had a sustained cultural influence? Their first album, Definitely Maybe was a genuinely exciting bellow of brash potential: four-to-the-floor drums, droney wall-of-sound guitars and catchy, context-free couplets snarled by a sullen man who seemed annoyed with us. Their oddly punctuated second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? had the illusion of forward momentum, but the third album Be Here Now answers a question nobody really asked: 'What if too-much cocaine made a noise?' Oasis in Withington, Manchester, in 1993: Paul McGuigan, Noel Gallagher, Tony McCarroll, Liam Gallagher, Paul Arthurs (aka Bonehead). Photograph: James Fry/ Getty Images They never sounded remotely like the Beatles; I have no idea what that was all about. So Oasis's greatest creation, really, was the Oasis fan. These strutting, mod-haired giants once roamed this island scattering depressed goths, hedonistic techno-fiends and doleful grunge-kids before them. Now, approximately 160,000 of them are in the suburbs sculpting their barnets, pulling their weather-ambivalent big anoraks from the attic and placing their children in the care of their mocking, Beatles-loving parents, all set to invade Croke Park tonight and tomorrow for Oasis's Dublin gigs. I'm not going, but I'll be marvelling at the fans. I mean, look at them. Aren't they magnificent?
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Conservatives celebrate 'vibe shift' to MAGA merch at LA Airport
Conservatives are celebrating what they call a 'vibe shift' to the right after surprising images revealed MAGA merchandise for sale inside Los Angeles International Airport - in one of the bluest cities in America. While AMERICA! isn't officially a 'Trump store,' LAX describes the retailer as a store having a 25-year track record specializing in 'local pride, pop culture, and current events' with an emphasis on all things Americana. 'The dynamic, constantly evolving assortment of carefully curated merchandise reflects ever-changing American trends in the market, the local experience, pop culture, politics and current events,' the store description states on LAX's website. The footage quickly went viral social media, with many users praising the display. 'That's so awesome to see,' one wrote. 'MAGA is more than a slogan to those of us who saw the previous administration send billions of dollars to foreign countries while abandoning Americans in Western North Carolina. MAGA just means: America before anyone else. Period.' Another commenter wrote: 'MAGA is the new way we live. We embrace everything that we love about America under the greatest president who has cared about our country in Donald J. Trump. We are taking back California.' A third simply said: 'I never see any representation. This is nice.' 'So in one of the most liberal cities in the country. They have a Trump store, but I'm supposed to believe the election is close,' another added. Despite its reputation as a liberal stronghold, Trump and the Republicans picked up substantial gains in November's general election. Large swathes of California voted for him in areas far away from coastal cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. Back in January, sources revealed that Trump was convinced the devastating California wildfires would help him turn the traditionally left-wing state Republican. One legal source close to the President told the Mail at the time: 'Donald sees this as an opportunity to turn California Republican red. This is a state which has the fifth largest economy in the world and it should be thriving. Instead, the liberals have destroyed it with their woke policies. Crime is rising, the streets are filthy, homelessness is everywhere. During the last election people in California were already hearing Donald's message and voting for him.' 'It's still one of the most liberal states in the US, but this total screw-up with the wildfires, the fact that the fire hydrants didn't have enough water, the fact that Democrats constantly cut the fire budget, the fact that none of the vital forest and wild land clearance work has been done – all this supports Donald's message that the Dems have screwed it up badly. His message to ordinary Californians is that these wildfires are the final straw. Make the change and vote Republican and watch California come roaring back to prosperity.'
