“You are what you eat,” is a lie. Despite a mild resemblance in the wobbly bits, even a youngster who subsists on pudding couldn’t rightly be termed a spotted dick. He’s just a tubby kid, not a foodstuff. However, with a simple one-word revision, that saying is rendered completely true: “You are what you hear.”
Listen to emo, you are emo, cultivate a taste for indie, you are indie. The music we choose to cram in our ipods can guide how we dress, how we think and whom we hang out with. Friends band together around, well, bands.
Making friends when you first start uni is a daunting task, but bonding around music can make it easy. Discovering people who share your musical tastes is like finding a long lost cousin – you don’t know much about each other, but there’s a deep connection.
But what if you didn’t know your Happy Hardcore from your Hair Metal in school? Uni is the perfect time to re-invent yourself; all it takes is a little revision in advance. And we’ve got the crib notes.
Genre: Emo (from “emotional punk”)
Sounds like: Thrash ‘n bash choruses with plaintive, whiney verses. Subjects usually cover break-ups culminating in slash-her-tyres type revenge.
Looks like: Black hair dye (to match your dark mood), wristbands, and guyliner. Don’t bathe too much.
Mainstream names: Panic! at the Disco and Dashboard Confessional
Name-drop these: American imports Paramore. They’re massive in the US but yet to break big in the UK
Related: Screamo, Hardcore, Happy Hardcore, Post-Punk, Punk
Genre: Nu Rave or New Rave
Sounds like: Dance rock digitized
Looks like: Anything goes as long as it’s neon. Tight trousers and baggy tops in all colours of the fluoro rainbow, topped off with chunky chains and 80’s shades.
Mainstream names: The genre was supposedly invented by the Klaxons, who call it “a joke that’s got out of hand”.
Name-drop these: Up-and-comers To My Boy and Partyshank
Related: Electro, electro clash, new wave
Genre: Grime
Sounds like: Stripped down and sped up rap, fast and furious, guttural and gruff
Looks like: Hoodies with a bad attitude, high-top trainers and oversized jumpers
Mainstream names: Dizzee Rascal and Lady Sovereign
Name-drop these: M.I.A., Sri Lankan born mistress of electro-grime mash-ups whose second album is about to drop
Related: Ragga, hip hop, Dancehall
Genre: Indie dance rock
Sounds like: Not to be confused with indie which is outré, this is rock slashed through with buzzy synths and pulsing beats
Looks like: Skinny jeans and Top Shop’s latest and brightest offering, dark eyeliner and shaggy haircuts. Don't forget The Hives, who are currently buzzing back from the edge of "over". Few things are cooler than saying you "still" like something that's come perilously close to the rim of the indie dustbin
Mainstream names: The Rapture and Scissor Sisters
Name-drop these: Next big thing Pull Tiger Tail
Related: Indie rock, alternative
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