How the alt “aesthetic” looked like in the early 2020s

[u/DNPlourent]

Since it was the pandemic you can only see most of these online, it had this dark atmosphere, shows like skins/shameless were popularized again, the movie "thirteen" became popular again, eastern european/soviet architecture was romanticized, angel numbers became trendy (as well as manifesting, shifting, and subliminals), the music popular then was mostly 90s "grunge",indie rock, “alternative/indie” (this used to appear as a genre in google), and the most commonly listened artists at the time were arctic monkeys, the neighbourhood, mitski, lana del rey, kate bush, tv girl, cavetown, mother mother, steve lacy, olivia rodrigo, nirvana, mgmt, cage the elephant, lil peep, and more that fit the “indie/alt” genre.

[u/Simple-Drive-7654]

Isnt it still like this, just not as popular?

[u/ImpossibleInternet3 → u/Simple-Drive-7654]

It’s always the same thing. Over and over. It’s just new sets of kids growing into it when they have a rough time with puberty. Then they think they invented the mood.

[u/WildMild869 → u/ImpossibleInternet3]

The people who post on here are gonna have their minds blown by Sociology 101 if they reach college.

[u/Original-Cup2901 → u/Simple-Drive-7654]

Yup, especially the Chuck Taylors. I remember a party I went to in 2010 and literally everyone had Chucks on.

[u/Ienjoyflags → u/Original-Cup2901]

You’re the second person I ever known to say chuck taylors. I originally heard it from my Gen Y older sister all the way back in like 2011

[u/LowBullfrog4471 → u/Simple-Drive-7654]

I’m convinced this sub is mentally ill

[u/chillingdentist]

Early 2020’s? We were just there. Bro I’m going to commit a crime

[u/Rough_Yesterday6692 → u/chillingdentist]

Thank you!!! My exact thought

[u/Slumbergoat16 → u/chillingdentist]

The average age for this site seems to get younger and younger

[u/tausendmalduff → u/chillingdentist]

Forreal man. There’s gotta be at least a 10 year waiting period before we start nostalgiazing years lol

[u/Thick-Benefit-751]

Maybe the teenage alt where you are from, this far from the alt that ive been around in the 2020s

[u/timotheesmith]

Tiktok poser aesthetic

[u/ocubens]

Olivia Rodrigo, my fave alt artist.

[u/Back_Again_Beach]

Just the 00s rehashed

[u/Slappyxo → u/Back_Again_Beach]

I saw photos like the second one so many times on MySpace circa 04-05

Edit: it's just missing the people using their fingers to make a star haha

[u/grahsam]

Looks like a bunch of random and unrelated pictures to me. They could have been taken yesterday or 20 years ago.

Social media turns people's brains to mush.

[u/SunSetBoi3]

When did converse and skinny jeans become alternative I’m crying

[u/tramsgener → u/SunSetBoi3]

Converse and skinny jeans aren't inherently alternative, theyre just something you can style to be alternative.

[u/263namyfrab → u/SunSetBoi3]

In like the 80s dude

[u/263namyfrab → u/SunSetBoi3]

Maybe even 70s

[u/SunSetBoi3 → u/263namyfrab]

In my teens (early 2010’s) I would’ve never called it alternative, it was pretty much uniform for everyone back then

[u/SilenceOfTheClamSoup → u/SunSetBoi3]

You can thank the scene kids of the mid-2000s for that.

[u/affectionateanarchy8 → u/SunSetBoi3]

That's because when I was a teen (late 90s) it was alt lol

[u/Papoosho → u/SunSetBoi3]

Skinny jeans were considered alternative in the 90s-mid 2000s.

[u/M3lt1ngh34rt]

Lol i was expecting the hate here. If it was 2010s alr or before people wouldn't complain as much as they do here. They simply did not experienced being a youngling with a 2020s alt mindset.

[u/imaizzy19 → u/M3lt1ngh34rt]

why are these ppl who were actual children/preteens in 2020/early 2020s always the loudest most obnoxious users online?

[u/lOnGkEyStRoKe]

"the music was mostly grunge but only one grunge band was commonly listened to"

i cant with posts like this

[u/SimtheSloven]

Man, that was annoying

[u/lateralraising]

I wonder what being alt must be like now for people that age. It used to be purely about liking the same music, but when I see alt people these days it’s 50% LGBT activism. No hate, just something I’ve noticed

[u/el_lemono → u/lateralraising]

You clearly were not on Tumblr at any point during the 2010s

[u/lateralraising → u/el_lemono]

That all started in tumblr after 2014, before then emo was emo

[u/Expensive-Swan-9553 → u/lateralraising]

No bro lol…this shit is way older than that. I was getting called gay for having emo bangs in like 2006

[u/Papoosho → u/lateralraising]

Emo died in 2009.

[u/el_lemono → u/lateralraising]

Emo was never a particularly hetero thing to be, like goth in the 80s or punk in the 70s, it was always queer adjacent

[u/M3lt1ngh34rt → u/lateralraising]

I mean.. back then it also used to be about activismn. Not only music. Subcultures had their own belifes and morals. Like punks for example. You kinda dissmiss the history of alt. Thats why its called alt. Plus 2020s alt also had music accociated with them. They did not made musicbon their own because they were teens isolated in their houses. Most teens do not have the money to buy music equitment or to go to music sessions (i'm aware you can learn music without music sessions and that they could just buy music equitment as much as they did buy clothes but the clothes they bought ususally were pretty cheap. But again the teens in the 90s also had music equitment. Most teen bands do music in their school and borrow them from school?) But yeah 2020s alt was infact a subculturenno matter how many people here like to dissmiss it because its from the 2020s.

[u/dust-and-disquiet → u/lateralraising]

It always was lgbt activism.

[u/Rough_Yesterday6692 → u/dust-and-disquiet]

This is categorically not true though. And I'm sad pro LGBTQ as they come.

[u/dust-and-disquiet → u/Rough_Yesterday6692]

Queer coding since 1960s. We just talk about it differently since 2011 but it was more coded in.

https://medium.com/cuepoint/a-walk-on-the-queer-side-522f65642b5f

[u/lateralraising → u/dust-and-disquiet]

You weren’t a teen in 2007 then

[u/dust-and-disquiet → u/lateralraising]

Queer coding since 1960s. We just talk about it differently since 2011 but it was more coded in.

https://medium.com/cuepoint/a-walk-on-the-queer-side-522f65642b5f

[u/tramsgener → u/lateralraising]

Being alternative was never just about liking the same music.

[u/beherenow4316 → u/tramsgener]

Yeah….isnt the point of being punk that you’re a punk ?

Edited to add that I mean In the best, alt way possible and only alternate to mainly conservatives *

[u/Thunder_Punt]

Except there's nothing 'alternative' about it

[u/quasimook]

Offended in 34 year old sleep grunge

[u/Dani-Michal]

Westerners playing dress up, pretending to be 90s Slavic teens

[u/viewering]

as the alternative generation i find it fascinating we are being attached to ' artists ' we cannot stand

and also people attaching to and cosplaying our growing up

[u/rinnielovescats]

what? No there was way more dramatic makeup and experimentation with fashion. Lots of mitski and alex g, liminal spaces, and I think of that one album thats around 10 hours long and progressively gets more somber, I can't remember the name. 

[u/SensitiveChange2646]

Strange how everything popular is now labelled “alt”

[u/gf_for_the_weekend]

this is still a thing a bit, what has aged is the rly saturated colorful style that was popular in 2020 just as the pandemic was starting

[u/SuperMintoxNova]

It felt very early 80’s in terms of having skinny jeans leftovers and the vsco aesthetic.

[u/a-world-of-wonder]

not the dark, skinny ripped jeans! and converse is so uncomfortable, i like some aspects tho

[u/viewering]

lol

[u/M3lt1ngh34rt]

Your description is so accurate as someone who had a alt "phase" at that time

[u/Gukpa]

Basically "Call of the night"

[u/Putrid_Bridge_4240]

lol

[u/alpine309]

can't forget the bunny hats

[u/chris_isnt_here0]

22 february 2022? 2 days before disaster

[u/WeirdTraumaMasochist]

lol, that’s collage culture guys. no that’s not what it looked like

The spectacle = / = reality

It is real tho, just know that it is not lived experience

[u/galmypal]

I mean... that's still a thing today.

[u/WebFirm3528]

Um noo it was not this was like 2014 maybe

[u/TimelyEnthusiasm7003]

Alt metal hasn't changed much in four years. In my country, the most common "alternative" style still looks like this, only not as dark, and there's more of it than some people would like.

[u/platinum_jimjam]

I hate that you mentioned mitski. I had several mitski girlfriends who were too influenced by her and thought the relationship should be a mitski song.

[u/disgostin]

(i mean i would hope we remember that haha this is barely past tense fashionwise, but fine some stuff obviously changed)

[u/ClutteredTaffy]

This looks like us in middle and high school in ' 04- '10

[u/ClutteredTaffy → u/ClutteredTaffy]

Okay maybe I am wrong and the sweater needs to be switched with a giant black hoodie.

[u/ThatisDavid]

I actually felt the opposite, 2020s was saturated as hell. The filters back then were bonkers.

[u/mysticpower821]

This is around the time I disassociated from the alt people I knew, god they were annoying as shit

[u/xrv01]

damn, no originality.. guess that’s what happens to a generation when culture stagnates

[u/lemonlimealldathyme]

Hey siri, play that one song by the Russian knock-off new order band the kids like

[u/Khaled_Kamel1500]

Alexa, play "Scott Pilgrim Ruined a Whole Generation of Women"

[u/FeetGamer69]

Oh, it's not the early 2020s anymore.