Quote:
Originally Posted by Vlajos
I still don't understand why Austin, TX is considered such a "cool/unique/hip" city. It is not any of those things. It's pretty mediocre truthfully.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by ThePhun1
Austin can be overrated like a great number of places (**cough** New Orleans **Sneeze** Miami) but it is still a cool and hip place. Having a major university and continually attracting progressive people has a way of doing that.
|
To each their own. Austin's always been a little "quirky" -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnYb...CdXTyqMFSBytXM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-2yN1uLzfA
Having said that, some people like to talk trash about TX and it being backwards, but I remember a completely different TX in the 80's and 90's. Depending upon the year, I either lived in or frequently visited Dallas, Houston, and Austin. In regards to Austin, I can only speak to my personal experiences and memories of having lived there and in Central TX during the late 80's-early 90's. Just a snapshot in time, but Austin was a pretty progressive little city back then. When I moved to AZ in late 92, I used to rave about how much fun Austin was and how much of a hip underrated city it was. I've made life-long friends from my time spent there.
Austin's always been a music festival gathering place whether AquaFest, SXSW, or ACL, but the ever-changing dynamic of the clubs and venues has also been a staple. It's sometimes difficult to pinpoint one particular thing that I thought made Austin cool and hip, but IMO, music definitely played a part in it (I'm sure XTC did as well) and brought people together (interesting read:
https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2000-06-09/77529/) This during the earlier years of SXSW, pre-and-infancy rave years, and before people could connect via the internet, social media and dating apps. I was in the military at Fort Hood when I first started venturing down to Austin. People loved to party in Austin and many of my military friends and I would party there almost every weekend. The music at the clubs was phenomenal and there were so many clubs, live venues and gay clubs establishments where everyone mixed it up. I usually stuck to the clubs where people socialized, danced, and expressed themselves. Austin never shied away from the bizarre or cutting edge. While some frequented the live venues to discover new musical acts in their infancy, others ventured to the clubs in order to hear what types of different music was out there. It was easy to see earlier alternative bands like New Order, Book of Love, Anything Box, Front 242, Nine Inch Nails, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Erasure, etc. play at club venues. The club music was best described as a combo of anything from New Wave/Electronic/Synthpop, Acid House/New Beat, Industrial, Techno/Ambient Techno, Downtempo, Early Rave, House, Italo/Disco, Freestyle, Goth, and early Trance.
In many ways, Austin's club music scene was an extension of the popularity of music that sometimes started play in the clubs in Europe, LA, NY, as well as Dallas (like Starck) and Houston (Club 6400 and its many clones) which leaned very alternative dance during that period in time. Of course the difference between Dallas and Houston vs. Austin was that while the clubs were more spread out in the former metros, they were more confined to downtown and adjacent to UT resulting in a more walkable downtown Austin. There is still a subculture that remains in Austin that remembers and appreciates the memories of past Austin and reunion nights are held for some of the long-departed nightclubs of the past.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDu1...W_b2ONac60cUsg
https://www.mixcloud.com/peterhale58...IblBz81309yMTQ - just found this one - didn't realize I was in the pic
Unfortunately, there aren't as many Austin radio or club music recordings, but the Houston ones give you an idea of what was popular in Austin and just one of the reasons why people loved to party there:
https://www.mixcloud.com/gustavoarre...bdHH2IDyaU1nRw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUJw6_N0poA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkRUV6ZjatQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GaNWI3opbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1dm-e6hc-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp2ihp4O27Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhNDwRpmlWc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAmyD4VvE1s