Underground Clothing Store Hot Topic is Dying
Hot Topic was created with the intention of bringing underground clothes, merchandise, and music to teenagers who didn't live near the actual scene. I mean, is it fair to let city kids have all the fun? Hell no! Plenty of suburban kids like punk music, and live by the punk "do what you want and fuck what everyone else says" attitude. HT was for those kids, so they could have access to those clothes, merchandise, and CDs, and they could express themselves and live the punk lifestyle even if they didn't live near the punk scene.
The Hot Topic bags say "all about the music." That's the way it's supposed to be, sort of. It's about music, and subculture, and being different. I used to love Hot Topic because you could count on finding good stuff in there, as opposed to other stores that changed their style every couple months. Hot Topic was the subversive, edgy, and alternative clothing store, for the teens that wanted that kind of stuff, rather than the preppy/trendy crap found in just about all the other stores at the mall.
But Hot Topic is changing. It's becoming less underground, more mainstream. Their clothing is becoming more "trendy," there are whole sections devoted to merchandise of current "dark" movies. They're selling more t-shirts of bands that are barely punk or even rock, and fewer shirts of real punk bands and classic rock bands. It's hard to find a shirt of a good band there, now they sell Good Charlotte and Simple Plan like they're as badass as the Sex Pistols were.
And now it's undergoing a huge makeover, they're making the store lighter, and they won't be playing the same awesome music they've been playing for years. It'll be officially mainstream, as if they don't have enough preppy princesses in there already.
People are saying it used to be scary and they were afraid to go in there. THAT WAS THE POINT! If you're too freaked out to go in, you probably don't belong in there. Now it'll be more inviting, and all preppy hell will break loose.
Hot Topic will become "all about the mainstream" instead of "all about the music"
I mean, I thought it was a punk store, and now they're being total hypocrites, just changing it according to what the mainstream wanrs so more people will shop there/
I weep for the future youth.
We need a new store. A store that's like what Hot Topic used to be, the way it was supposed to be.
Published by Allison
I am currently a student at Northeastern University. I love to write, as well as a few other things. I'm a political science major and hope to run for office someday, but if that doesn't work I have been tol... View profile
Gothic & Punk Style 2007: Great Shoes for Toddlers at Hot TopicLooking through this company's merchandise, I am not surprised that many people shop here. This store has something for everyone who enjoys gothic and punk style clothing. Hot T...- Workplace Stress is a Hot TopicWhether it is an irate boss breathing down your neck, the sound of a deadline whooshing past or the long hours that you are pulling in the office - workplace stress is a hot topic.
Perez Hilton Starts New Hot Topic Clothing Line: Will it Be as Successfu...Check out Perez Hilton's new Hot Topic clothing Line!
Parenting, a Hot Topic that SalesThe best part about parenting is that you can take one topic and turn it into three or four writing projects. For instance, if you were going to write about how to teach a child...- A Few Reason's Why Shopping at Hot Topic is for EveryoneMost importantly, I have found that no matter who you are, how old and what you dress like, you are welcome. There has never been one instant where this bleached blonde, almost 40 year old Mom has been looked down upon.
- Live Music Venues in Birmingham, AL
- Live Music Venues in Missoula, Montana
- My Review of Hot Topic
- Hot Topic and Torrid: Options for Plus Sized Girls
- Halo Wars Release: T-Shirts, Toys, Gifts and Gear at Hot Topic
- Goths, Punks and Cultural Rebels: Our Rebellion is Dead and Hot Topic Killed It
- Greenhouse Gases Are a Hot Topic
7 Comments
Post a Commenti agree because it was different but now gangster kids are shopping there and there clothes are now boring but the wanna be's will buy it because the company figures that they could make a lot of money and the posers r taking over!!!
I agree 100% with the fact that Hot Topic is not venturing out from the norm and keeping what is supposedly IN and conforming to what they think the style is now-a-days and not taking that chance like they used to and giving people that have small business clothing lines a chance to place their clothes in their stores which could set them apart from the rest like they used to be and give us all a chance that are in the clothing business a chance. I know this because the MentinkiZM clothing line (visit us at www.mzmvoice.com to see our clothing line and speak your mind) were based out of Jackson, MI but our clothing line is primarily online for everyone to check out and are interested in finding stores to sell our shirts state to state too. We felt that hot Topic would be a great candidate for our type of design and statement but they declined us because they said they were looking more for cartoon shirts, t.v shirt and video game shirts and they said the word shirts with sayings on th
who ever said they [tried] to be scary. They didn't try, it was just the people opinions that they were.
and the whole point of hot topic was their music and style. Now that they're "evolving" they're kinda turning
to crap. Like a mix between GAP and clairs.
"People are saying it used to be scary and they were afraid to go in there. THAT WAS THE POINT!" This also bothers me. You shouldn't have to try and be "scary". You shouldn't have to try and make people "afraid to go in" a store. Trying to be scary, trying to rebel makes you - yes, I'm going to say it - a poser. A wannabe. You're either scary and rebellious or you're not, you either have something or you don't - TRYING to be scary and rebellious does NOT make you scary and rebellious, it makes you a POSER.
I'm all for alternative clothing styles and lifestyles. I, myself, am a cyber-goth. However, even I know where to draw the line between alternative and less-than-genuine rebellion against the mainstream.
"People are saying it used to be scary and they were afraid to go in there. THAT WAS THE POINT!"
People who think the way you do bother me greatly. If a clothing store doesn't go out of its way to defy the mainstream, all of a sudden, it's "preppy" and "trendy"? Hot Topic is not conforming, Hot Topic is not becoming preppier, it is simply evolving. Style evolves every day - Even alternative clothing styles: goth, punk, rockabilly, cyber. Get with the program.
"People are saying it used to be scary and they were afraid to go in there. THAT WAS THE POINT!"
hot topic is ass. you can't manufacture punk rock