BEFORE: AFTER:
4. Covering A Hip Song For Cred
In the Napster era, one could search "ska cover" and find an enormous list of 80s and 90s hits pepped up with some horns and upbeats, sometimes without even a band to take credit. These covers could be formulaic, so sometimes the intention is more important than the actual interpretation. There are ironic covers and genuine covers. There are also cred covers, wherein the band chooses a song that will make the group appear cooler. In modern times, the most irking cover is "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service as interpreted by Streetlight Manifesto, a band with a history of questionable covers. This is a prime example of the cred cover's downfall - it is an exercise in showing off one's tastes that comes off as tasteless in the process.
BEFORE: AFTER: 3. Going Emo
This is a particularly fascinating trend to me, if only because I was a chubby, thrift-store shirt, black-frame glasses, bad haircut ska kid in high school who became a chubby, thrift-store shirt, black-frame glasses, bad haircut emo kid in college without changing anything. Most of the folks who consciously made this transition did so with a clean break. The ska band broke up, the emo band formed. Some bands folded emo into the pre-existing style, and if the band wasn't called The Impossibles, it was probably awful.
