Man Rock, Genre or Lifestyle?

I walk in to V Bar and literally felt my shirt being pinned to my chest from the sheer volume of the song being played. “Men” in affliction shirts, fake tans, jeans with loud flashy embroidered back pocket designs, and freshly applied coats of L.A. Looks hair gel are singing loudly (no one could actually tell if they were singing loudly or not, due to the current pollution being pumped through the speakers). And to say the Girls wearing next to nothing were just being down right classless and un-lady like would be a terrible understatement. All of that to tell you, the song that could have definitely punctured my ear drum when walking in that night was none other than the instant “Man’ Rock” classic, “Lips of An Angel”.

What is “man’ rock” you ask? Man rock the genre once included such greats as Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath but has taken an awful left turn to bands such as Hinder, Nickleback, and Creed. But has it remained a genre and solely that?

My thoughts on this issue are as follows. No, the genre has not been able to remain just a genre; it has evolved into a full-blown lifestyle. Weather we choose to acknowledge it or not the “man’ rock” community is growing in numbers. Its popularity has breeched the boundaries of the jersey shore and spread like an STD in a Texas Tech Co-ed dormitory.

Here we use the word “man” in a very patronizing, talking down to, sort of way. Why? Because the type of “man” who choose to listen to this “music” has a very distorted view of what it is like to be a “man”. Some prime examples of these “men” could have been seen on the infamous TV show Growing Up Gotti. Like I mentioned before, these dudes are inches away from being downright fabulous. Some other things that go hand in hand with the “Man’ Rock Lover” are: barbed wire or thorn bicep tattoos, rice burner cars, under-glow on their rice burner car, “No Fear” stickers on the back of their rice burner cars, sunglasses at night, colored contacts, “candid” pictures, Italian flags, energy drinks (to fake intoxication?), little man syndrome aka napoleons complex, bedazzled denim, black wife beaters, light weight drinking, and last but not least…new haircuts (the Brooklyn Fade).

So in coming freshman be warned, college is a place where you can re invent yourself, make a whole new you. And if you find yourself singing along to the newest Stained album and smiling at the same time, you might want to take a good look at the guy in the mirror and figure out weather you are ok with the afore mentioned doushetacular qualities or not. My advice…don’t be that guy.

SR

Side note: If you love guidos as much as I do and would like to point and laugh for an extended period of time I suggest http://www.guidofistpump.com/