Pop Culture Fixation #2: (Overly) Concerned About Shoes and Pop

By JUICE Malaysia  •  26 Sep 2014 in Features

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Every Friday, the JUICE team scours the recesses of pop culture – both from the archives and the recent zeitgeist – and highlights those that shaped us. Basically just cool shit we dig.

Why Paying So Much For Shoes Is Okay

The internet is a cesspool of opinions. And while some of these opinions can be good ones, most of them are just gateways for “concerned” individuals to flex their knowledge. It’s okay if you try to give gainful or insightful knowledge, but it’s fucked up when you positively think your opinion, knowledge, or whatever view is the only right one.

This brings us to the subject of buying a pair of shoes with an insane price tag. We’re pretty sure you’ve come across situations where either you or your friend decides to drop more than RM1,000 on a pair of shoes. And it can be any shoe, a simple minimal looking pair of Common Projects or ridiculous looking Raf Simmons, the comments upon purchasing them are usually very colourful. They will range from the mild, “Wow, you paid that much?” or “Not my thing but okay,” to the sudden explosions of, “WTF, I WOULD RATHER SPEND ON PIZZA!” or “RATHER GET JORDANS, OG BRO,” or any combination thereof.

But at the end of the day, why the hell do you care what others spend their money on? So what if someone decidedly drops their months’ pay on a pair of plain looking shoes. They think they’re nice and honestly that’s all that matters. It is an odd obsession we as an internet culture to always seek out and define other people’s actions, especially something as trivial as purchasing footwear.

Most of the time, snide remarks come from those that grew up with Jordans, Stan Smiths, or Air Force 1s, given to the newer generation of sneaker fans that are drawn to more minimal silhouette shows offered by newer brands like Common Projects or Filling Pieces. Heck, even designers like Valentino or Margiela are getting heckled just because they are diversifying themselves into the sneaker culture (it’s a multi-million dollar business guys, of course diversifying is the way to go).

The question still remains, why do you care? Yes, you may dispense all the knowledge you want and thank you for the opinion, which we wholeheartedly respect but kids are still going to buy those shoes. They like them, they are them and you are you. Must we have the same opinion about the choice of footwear? Take a step back and look at it, you’ll realise how ludicrous it actually sounds because at the end of the day, we’re here talking about goddamned shoes. Yes, we know, the sneaker culture is one that takes itself very seriously. A million dollar, if not a billion dollar, industry built upon our feet. But really, they are just shoes, and we really like that pair of CDG Shirt x Erik Schedin sneakers, and we will buy them because they are nice, which is all that matters. Once there’s a raise, that is. SWB

Popping Back a Decade

We hear complaints of how pop music is progressively getting worse. Of how it’s become more formulated, more generic, without a semblance of longevity, that these songs won’t be remembered for years to come. So let’s turn back the clock and have a look at how things were like a decade ago.

BILLBOARD TOP 5 SONGS OF 2004
1. Usher feat. Lil Jon and Ludacris – Yeah!
2. Usher – Burn
3. Alicia Keys – If I Ain’t Got You
4. Maroon 5 – This Love
5. OutKast – I Like The Way You Move

One of these artistes is not like the others (that might just be a little racist). We kid. But in all seriousness though, nobody’s going to be playing back ‘Yeah!’ and ‘Burn!’ in fifty odd years or so like how we’re still listening to Simon and Garfunkel and dropping a Bob Dylan tune like it’s hot – and the sad truth is that those greats were the ones topping the charts in their time.

Let’s see what Pitchfork had to say about the top tunes of ’04.

PITCHFORK STAFF LIST TOP 5 SINGLES OF 2004
1. Annie – Heartbeat
2. Jay-Z – 99 Problems
3. Britney Spears – Toxic
4. M.I.A. – Galang
5. LCD Soundsystem – Yeah! (Crass Version)

In our opinion, ‘Heartbeat’ was decent. At that time, yes, it was relatively revolutionary – but it sounds like almost every other electropop tune on the charts now, and no one’s going to remember it but for that fact. We don’t have a problem with ’99 Problems’, and ‘Toxic’ is iconic, but nahh. At least now we’ve got artistes like twigs and Banks getting into the spotlight, and taking some of the focus off inherently calculated pop creations on the radio. Let’s hope it gets to our shores soon.

It’s getting better. IM

A Concise Counterargument
All of those are pretty fucking potent pop tunes that are still being played a decade later, Isaac. Maroon 5 sucks though, and who the hell is Annie? AOM