Although I've been going to live shows since I was 15 and dance clubs since I was 21, I consider the 90s to be my "heyday." For seven years I was DJing at the most popular goth/industrial dance clubs in the City, spinning 1-3 nights a week. On my nights off I would go to other clubs to dance, drink, and socialize. I was one of those people who always went out and knew "everyone" at the clubs I frequented. It was great, and it was this built-in social life; I never had to make plans with people if I didn't want to, and whenever I went out I knew there would be people there to talk to. It was exactly what I needed at that time in my life.
But things change. Eventually I got tired of doing the same thing, over and over. Of listening to the same songs, again and again. The good clubs and venues closed, the people whom I had grown closest to stopped going out or moved away, and it was no longer fun. DJing had become a job. So I quit.
Now it's many years later and the weird thing is I don't miss it. I hate using age as a reason or as an excuse, but I do feel like I've grown out of the club scene. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that I had moved past the point where I needed it as a crutch, and I was willing to make the jump to find friends and social events on my own, rather than relying on what the clubs provided.
Making that jump was rather scary, as I no longer had an automatic thing to do on Saturday nights. But things worked out well, and it ended up giving me a sort of freedom I never knew I was missing.
It's just funny, looking back at the various paths life has taken me. I feel like I've come full circle.
- Mood:
maybe only slightly nostalgic
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good years and good fun, those late 80s/early 90s.
i think im marginally in the same camp as you - except im totally 100% ok with listening to the same songs over and over again - when i actually LIKE them :) in the scene that i focussed my clubbing days in, there came a point, sometime in the mid-90s, where the music at those clubs just lost its balls, and became uninteresting to me, and i spent my time at clubs waiting to hear (and dance to) songs i could, frankly, just play for myself at home. and i stopped caring enough to dress up for acceptance's sake. oh, and people stopped recognizing me when i did. and the people i was going out to clubs to see stopped showing up. and i became less interested in drinking nasty club drinks, and the drunken results. and i came to realization that these people didnt share any interests with me (generally speaking) outside of the club, and that meaningful interaction with them at the club was basically a foregone conclusion regardless of that. oh, and i got more involved with a different scene, the basics of which didnt involve going out dancing. and i got more in touch with my not-so-inner recluse.
there are times when i miss it, but im just not willing to be the older guy who doesnt "look the part", and hang out with a bunch of people i dont know, who dont care about me, and listen to music i can barely tolerate. id rather go to live shows of other genres, and save my goth roots for my now decades-behind-the-times-but-at-least-th
in the end, im back to my old childhood ways. id rather spend my time reading, going on long bike rides, and generally exploring things in real (ie non-internet, non-scene) life.
I think that eventually getting loaded every other night and yelling at people over loud music ceases to be fun, even if you like the music and the people.
I am, however, at the newer stage of this journey because I ditched the whole thing only a couple of years ago. I'm still finding those interesting individuals who appreciate a nice lunch or a good evening of conversation/games/whatever but getting completely soused...
Whoope, I gotta go - you're here! :)
-c