Poseur (music)
Encyclopedia
Poseur is a pejorative term, often used in the punk
, heavy metal
, hip hop
and goth
subculture
s to describe a person who copies the dress, speech, and/or mannerisms of a group or subculture, generally for attaining acceptability within the group or for popularity among various other groups, yet who is deemed to not share or understand the values or philosophy of the subculture. While this perceived inauthenticity
is viewed with scorn and contempt by members of the subculture, the definition of the term and to whom it should be applied is subjective. While the term is most associated with the 1970s- and 1980s-era punk and hardcore
subculture, English use of the term originates in the late 19th century.
Dictionary.com says the word refers to "a person who habitually pretends to be something he is not." The Merriam-Webster dictionary notes that the term was also used to refer to a "person who pretends to be what he or she is not" or an "insincere person". The Encarta dictionary states that the term is used to describe a "pretentious person" or "somebody who tries to impress others by behaving in an affected way". The Cambridge Dictionary defines a "poseur" as "someone who pretends to be something they are not, or to have qualities that they do not have."
Many individuals misspell the word as poser, which by Merriam-Webster's definition is either "a puzzling or baffling question" or "a person who poses" as if for a portrait.
Music journalist Dave Rimmer
wrote that the first punks in London used "terms in which they expressed their disdain for hangers-on and those whose post-hip credentials didn’t quite make it came straight out of the authenticity movements: "Poseurs" was the favorite epithet." Ross Buncle argues that eventually the Australian punk scene "opened the door to a host of poseurs, who were less interested in the music than in UK-punk fancy dress and being seen to be hip". He praises the gigs where there "were no punk-identikit poseurs" in the audience.
In a review of The Clash
film Rude Boy
, a critic argued that this "film was another sign of how The Clash had sold out – a messy, vain work of punk poseurs." US music journalist Lester Bangs
praised punk pioneer Richard Hell
for writing the "strongest, truest rock & roll I have heard in ages" without being an "arty poseur" of the "age of artifice" Another critic argues that by the late 1970s, "punk rock had already, at this early date, shown signs of devolving into pure pose, black leather jacket and short hair required." Please Kill Me includes interviews with punks in New York and Detroit who "rip their English counterparts as a bunch of sissified poseurs."
The term poseur was used in several late-1970s punk songs, including the X-Ray Spex
song "I am a Poseur" and the Television Personalities song "Part-Time Punks". The Television Personalities' song "was a reaction to the macho posturing of the English punk scene". The lyrics argue that, "while Television Personalities were not themselves punks in the orthodox sense, neither was anyone else." The song "declared that either everyone who wanted to be a punk was one or that everyone was a poseur (or both)", and it argues that "the concept of ... punk rock authenticity, of Joe Strummer
, was a fiction." Red Cross
included the song "Standing in front of Poseur” in their debut EP (however, it can be argued that the song is strictly about a local record store named 'Poseur').
An article in Drowned in Sound argues that 1980s-era "hardcore
is the true spirit of punk" because "[a]fter all the poseurs and fashionistas fucked off to the next trend of skinny pink ties with New Romantic
haircuts, singing wimpy lyrics..." It argued that the hardcore scene consisted only of people "completely dedicated to the DIY ethics"; punk "[l]ifers without the ambition to one day settle into the study-work-family-house-retirement-death scenario."
Dave Rimmer
writes that with the revival of punk ideals of stripped-down music in the early 1990s, with "Cobain
, and lots of kids like him, rock & roll ... threw down a dare: Can you be pure enough, day after day, year after year, to prove your authenticity, to live up to the music [and] live with being a poseur, a phony, a sellout?" Refused
's Dennis Lyxzén
and Bad Religion
's Brett Gurewitz
used the term to refer to early 2000s-era pop punk
fans as "kids — more specifically the new wave of punk poseurs who came to the music via bands like Good Charlotte
..." They argue that these young listeners want "not to have to think and [instead they] would rather use music as escapism [,] and too many bands seem willing to comply."
One writer argued that the Los Angeles punk scene was changed by the invasion of "antagonistic suburban poseurs", which bred "rising violence ... and led to a general breakdown of the hardcore scene." A writer for The Gauntlet praised the US Bombs' politically oriented albums as "a boulder of truth and authenticity in a sea of slick poseur sewage", and called them "real punk rockers" at "a time where the genre is littered with dumb songs about cars, girls and bong hits."
University of Texas professor Neil Nehring argues that some performers "who in their time we thought of as schlocky pop poseurs" are now seen as interesting and worthy of study." Daniel S. Traber argues that attaining authenticity in the punk identity can be difficult; as the punk scene changed and re-invented itself, "[e]veryone got called a poseur". One music writer argues that the punk scene produced "...true believers who spent long days fighting the man on streets of the big city [and living in squats who] always wanted to make punk rock less a cultural movement than some kind of meritocracy: "You have to prove you're good enough to listen to our music, man."
Actors and actresses who form a band on the side have been called poseurs , such as The Pretty Reckless
, whose front-woman Taylor Momsen
is both a model and actress but still categorizes herself as grunge
and punk. Other examples, i.e. Avril Lavigne
and Paramore
, are also called sell-outs and phonies, which refers to the fact that they do stunts for money and personal gain and not for music.
Joe Keithley
, the singer for D.O.A.
said in an interview that "for every person sporting an anarchy symbol without understanding it there’s an older punk who thinks they’re a poseur." The interviewer, Liisa Ladouceur, argued that when a group or scene's "followers grow in number, the original devotees abandon it, ... because it is now attracting too many poseurs—people the core group does not want to be associated with."
The early 1980s hardcore punk
band MDC
penned a song entitled "Poseur Punk", which excoriated pretenders who copied the punk look without adopting its values. As part of MDC's 25th anniversary tour in the 2000s, frontman "Dictor's targets remain largely the same: warmongering politicians, money-grubbing punk poseurs (including Rancid
, whose Tim Armstrong once worked as an M.D.C. roadie), and of course, cops." NOFX
's album The War on Errorism includes the song "Decom-poseur", part of the album's overall "critique of punk rock's 21st century incarnation of itself." In an interview, NOFX's lead singer Mike Burkett
(aka "Fat Mike") "lashes out" at "an entire population of bands he deems guilty of bastardizing a once socially feared and critically infallible genre" of punk, asking "[w]hen did punk rock become so safe?"
groups.
Jeffrey Arnett argues that the heavy metal subculture classifies members two categories: "acceptance as an authentic metalhead or rejection as a fake, a poseur." In a 1993 profile of heavy metal fans' "subculture of alienation," the author notes that the scene classified some members as poseurs, that is, heavy metal performers or fans who pretended to be part of the subculture but who were deemed to lack authenticity and sincerity.
Ron Quintana wrote that when Metallica
was trying to find a place in the LA metal scene in the early 1980s, it was difficult for the band to "play their [heavy] music and win over a crowd in a land where poseurs ruled and anything fast and heavy was ignored."
David Rocher described Damian Montgomery, frontman of Ritual Carnage
, as "an authentic, no-frills, poseur-bashing, nun-devouring kind of gentleman, an enthusiastic metalhead truly in love with the lifestyle he preaches... and unquestionably practises." In 2002, Josh Wood argued that the "credibility of heavy metal" in North America is being destroyed by the genre's demotion to "horror movie soundtracks, wrestling events and, worst of all, the so-called "Mall Core" groups like Linkin Park
, SlipKnot
and Korn
, [which makes the]... true [metal] devotee’s path to metaldom...perilous and fraught with poseurs."
In an article on Axl Rose
, entitled "Ex–‘White-Boy Poseur'", Rose admitted that he has had "time to reflect on heavy-metal posturing" of the last few decades: "We thought we were so badass... [until] N.W.A came out rapping about this world where you walk out of your house and you get shot. ... It was just so clear what stupid little white-boy poseurs we were."
scene, authenticity or street cred is important. Larry Nager of The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote that rapper 50 Cent
has "earned the right to use the trappings of gangsta rap — the macho posturing, the guns, the drugs, the big cars and magnums of champagne. He's not a poseur pretending to be a gangsta; he's the real thing."
A This Are Music review of white rapper Rob Aston
criticizes his "fake-gangsta posturing", calling him "a poseur faux-thug cross-bred with a junk punk" who glorifies "guns, bling, cars, bitches, and heroin" to the point that he seems like a parody. A 2004 on BlackAmericaWeb claims that the late Russell Tyrone Jones, better known as rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard
, was not "a rough dude from the ’hood" as his official record company biographies claimed. After Jones's death from drugs, the rapper's father claimed that "his late son was a hip-hop poseur, contrary to what music trade magazines published in New York" wrote. Jones' father argued that the "story about him being raised in the Fort Greene [Brooklyn] projects on welfare until he was a child of 13 was a total lie”; instead, he said "their son grew up in a reasonably stable two-parent, two-income home in Brooklyn."
The article also refers to another "hip-hop poseur from a decade ago", Lichelle “Boss” Laws. While her record company promoted her as "the most gangsta of girl gangstas", posing her "with automatic weapons" and publicizing claims about prison time and an upbringing on the "hard-knock streets of Detroit", Laws' parents claim that they put her "through private school and enrolled [her] in college in suburban Detroit."
As hip hop has gained a more mainstream popularity, it has spread to new audiences, including well-to-do "white hip-hop kids with gangsta aspirations—dubbed the 'Prep-School Gangsters'" by journalist Nancy Jo Sales
. Sales claims that these hip hop fans "wore "Polo and Hilfiger gear trendy among East Coast hip-hop acts" and rode downtown to black neighborhoods in chauffeured limos to experience the ghetto life. Then, "to guard against being labeled poseurs, the prep schoolers started to steal the gear that their parents could readily afford." This trend was highlighted in The Offspring
song "Pretty Fly for a White Guy."
A 2008, Utne Reader article describes the rise of "Hipster
Rap", which "consists of the most recent crop of MCs and DJs who flout conventional hip-hop fashions, eschewing baggy clothes and gold chains for tight jeans, big sunglasses, the occasional keffiyeh, and other trappings of the hipster lifestyle." The article says this "hipster rap" has been criticized by the hip hop website Unkut and rapper Mazzi, who call the mainstream rappers poseurs or "fags for copping the metrosexual
appearances of hipster fashion." Prefix Mag writer Ethan Stanislawski argues that there "have been a slew of angry retorts to the rise of hipster rap," which he says can be summed up as "white kids want the funky otherness of hip-hop...without all the scary black people."
's 1956 essay The White Negro, which "lauded a 'white hipster elite' for talking, listening, and playing like black people
," Mailer "comes off like a poseur attempting to articulate this minority mimicking a minority, these white kids’ existential attempt to deal with the 'psychic havoc' of the atomic age
though jazz
and dope." Mark Paytress writes that in 1977, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger
called singer/songwriter Patti Smith
a "poseur of the worst kind, intellectual bullshit, trying to be a street girl...".
A music writer for The Telegraph called Bob Dylan
an "...actor and a rock 'n' roll poseur to rival David Bowie
and Mick Jagger at their most flamboyant."
The skateboarding
subculture attempts to differentiate between authentic skaters and pretenders. A New York Times article on the 2007 skateboarding scene notes that "some first-time skaters drawn into the sport by catchy choruses or candy-colored sneakers are dismissed as poseurs" who are "walking around with a skateboard as an accessory, holding it in a way we call ‘the mall grab. ..."
A LA City Beat magazine writer argues that "dance music
had its Spinal Tap
moment some time around the year 2000," arguing that "the prospect of fame, groupies, and easy money by playing other people's records on two turntables brought out the worst poseurs since hair metal ruled the Sunset Strip ... Every dork with spiky locks and a mommy-bought record bag was a self-proclaimed turntable terror." A Slate magazine article argues that the while the independent music scene "can embrace some fascinating hermetic weirdos such as Joanna Newsom
or Panda Bear
, it's also prone to producing fine-arts-grad poseurs such as the Decemberists and poor-little-rich-boy-or-girl singer songwriters..."
The term "drugstore cowboy" denotes people who dress up like cowboy
s or cowgirls but whom are not involved in associated cowboy activities such as herding cattle, putting horseshoes on horses, fixing fences and working on ranches.
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
, heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
and goth
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
s to describe a person who copies the dress, speech, and/or mannerisms of a group or subculture, generally for attaining acceptability within the group or for popularity among various other groups, yet who is deemed to not share or understand the values or philosophy of the subculture. While this perceived inauthenticity
Authenticity (philosophy)
Authenticity is a technical term in existentialist philosophy, and is also used in the philosophy of art and psychology. In philosophy, the conscious self is seen as coming to terms with being in a material world and with encountering external forces, pressures and influences which are very...
is viewed with scorn and contempt by members of the subculture, the definition of the term and to whom it should be applied is subjective. While the term is most associated with the 1970s- and 1980s-era punk and hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
subculture, English use of the term originates in the late 19th century.
Etymology and definitions
The English term poseur is a loanword from French, in which it is used figuratively since the mid-19th century with the same meaning as in English to refer to people who "affect an attitude or pose". Etymonline, an online etymology dictionary, argues that since the "word is Eng.[English] poser in Fr.[French] garb", thus it "could itself be considered an affectation."Dictionary.com says the word refers to "a person who habitually pretends to be something he is not." The Merriam-Webster dictionary notes that the term was also used to refer to a "person who pretends to be what he or she is not" or an "insincere person". The Encarta dictionary states that the term is used to describe a "pretentious person" or "somebody who tries to impress others by behaving in an affected way". The Cambridge Dictionary defines a "poseur" as "someone who pretends to be something they are not, or to have qualities that they do not have."
Many individuals misspell the word as poser, which by Merriam-Webster's definition is either "a puzzling or baffling question" or "a person who poses" as if for a portrait.
Punk subculture
Dave Rimmer
Dave Rimmer is a music journalist and critic who has written books and articles about a number of pop and rock artists. He wrote for SMASH HITS and FACE in the 1980s, and wrote a book about 1980s pop entitled Like Punk Never Happened. His second book Once Upon a Time in the East, is about Eastern...
wrote that the first punks in London used "terms in which they expressed their disdain for hangers-on and those whose post-hip credentials didn’t quite make it came straight out of the authenticity movements: "Poseurs" was the favorite epithet." Ross Buncle argues that eventually the Australian punk scene "opened the door to a host of poseurs, who were less interested in the music than in UK-punk fancy dress and being seen to be hip". He praises the gigs where there "were no punk-identikit poseurs" in the audience.
In a review of The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
film Rude Boy
Rude boy
Rude boy, rudeboy, rudie, rudi or rudy are common terms used in Jamaica. In the 1960s it was also used for juvenile delinquents and criminals in Jamaica, and has since been used in other contexts...
, a critic argued that this "film was another sign of how The Clash had sold out – a messy, vain work of punk poseurs." US music journalist Lester Bangs
Lester Bangs
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs was an American music journalist, author and musician. He wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines, and was known for his leading influence in rock 'n' roll criticism....
praised punk pioneer Richard Hell
Richard Hell
Richard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins...
for writing the "strongest, truest rock & roll I have heard in ages" without being an "arty poseur" of the "age of artifice" Another critic argues that by the late 1970s, "punk rock had already, at this early date, shown signs of devolving into pure pose, black leather jacket and short hair required." Please Kill Me includes interviews with punks in New York and Detroit who "rip their English counterparts as a bunch of sissified poseurs."
The term poseur was used in several late-1970s punk songs, including the X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex were an English punk band from London that formed in 1976.During their first incarnation , X-Ray Spex were “deliberate underachievers” and only managed to release five singles and one album...
song "I am a Poseur" and the Television Personalities song "Part-Time Punks". The Television Personalities' song "was a reaction to the macho posturing of the English punk scene". The lyrics argue that, "while Television Personalities were not themselves punks in the orthodox sense, neither was anyone else." The song "declared that either everyone who wanted to be a punk was one or that everyone was a poseur (or both)", and it argues that "the concept of ... punk rock authenticity, of Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...
, was a fiction." Red Cross
Redd Kross
Redd Kross, a rock band from Hawthorne, California had their roots in 1978 in a band called The Tourists begun by Jeff and Steve McDonald while the brothers were still in middle school...
included the song "Standing in front of Poseur” in their debut EP (however, it can be argued that the song is strictly about a local record store named 'Poseur').
An article in Drowned in Sound argues that 1980s-era "hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
is the true spirit of punk" because "[a]fter all the poseurs and fashionistas fucked off to the next trend of skinny pink ties with New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
haircuts, singing wimpy lyrics..." It argued that the hardcore scene consisted only of people "completely dedicated to the DIY ethics"; punk "[l]ifers without the ambition to one day settle into the study-work-family-house-retirement-death scenario."
1990s-2000s
Dave Rimmer
Dave Rimmer is a music journalist and critic who has written books and articles about a number of pop and rock artists. He wrote for SMASH HITS and FACE in the 1980s, and wrote a book about 1980s pop entitled Like Punk Never Happened. His second book Once Upon a Time in the East, is about Eastern...
writes that with the revival of punk ideals of stripped-down music in the early 1990s, with "Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
, and lots of kids like him, rock & roll ... threw down a dare: Can you be pure enough, day after day, year after year, to prove your authenticity, to live up to the music [and] live with being a poseur, a phony, a sellout?" Refused
Refused
Refused was a Swedish hardcore punk band originating from Umeå, Sweden, formed in 1991. In total the band released five EPs and three albums, before splitting up in 1998...
's Dennis Lyxzén
Dennis Lyxzén
Dennis Lyxzén is a musician most famously known for being the lead vocalist for Swedish hardcore punk band Refused.-Career:...
and Bad Religion
Bad Religion
Bad Religion is a punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1979. Their current line-up consists of Greg Graffin , Brett Gurewitz , Jay Bentley , Greg Hetson , Brian Baker and Brooks Wackerman . Gurewitz is also the founder of the label Epitaph Records, which has released almost all of the...
's Brett Gurewitz
Brett Gurewitz
Brett W. Gurewitz , nicknamed Mr. Brett, is the guitarist and a songwriter of Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and sister-labels ANTI-, Burning Heart Records, Fat Possum Records, and Hellcat Records...
used the term to refer to early 2000s-era pop punk
Pop punk
Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...
fans as "kids — more specifically the new wave of punk poseurs who came to the music via bands like Good Charlotte
Good Charlotte
Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 1998, the band's constant members have been lead vocalist Joel Madden, lead guitarist and back-up vocalist Benji Madden, bass guitarist Paul Thomas and rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Billy Martin...
..." They argue that these young listeners want "not to have to think and [instead they] would rather use music as escapism [,] and too many bands seem willing to comply."
One writer argued that the Los Angeles punk scene was changed by the invasion of "antagonistic suburban poseurs", which bred "rising violence ... and led to a general breakdown of the hardcore scene." A writer for The Gauntlet praised the US Bombs' politically oriented albums as "a boulder of truth and authenticity in a sea of slick poseur sewage", and called them "real punk rockers" at "a time where the genre is littered with dumb songs about cars, girls and bong hits."
University of Texas professor Neil Nehring argues that some performers "who in their time we thought of as schlocky pop poseurs" are now seen as interesting and worthy of study." Daniel S. Traber argues that attaining authenticity in the punk identity can be difficult; as the punk scene changed and re-invented itself, "[e]veryone got called a poseur". One music writer argues that the punk scene produced "...true believers who spent long days fighting the man on streets of the big city [and living in squats who] always wanted to make punk rock less a cultural movement than some kind of meritocracy: "You have to prove you're good enough to listen to our music, man."
Actors and actresses who form a band on the side have been called poseurs , such as The Pretty Reckless
The Pretty Reckless
The Pretty Reckless are an American rock band from New York. The current members are Taylor Momsen , Ben Phillips , Mark Damon and Jamie Perkins ....
, whose front-woman Taylor Momsen
Taylor Momsen
Taylor Michel Momsen is an American actress, musician and model who portrays the character of Jenny Humphrey on the CW television series Gossip Girl and portrayed the role of Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and fronts the rock band The Pretty Reckless.-Early life and career:Taylor...
is both a model and actress but still categorizes herself as grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
and punk. Other examples, i.e. Avril Lavigne
Avril Lavigne
Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more...
and Paramore
Paramore
Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, and guitarist Taylor York...
, are also called sell-outs and phonies, which refers to the fact that they do stunts for money and personal gain and not for music.
Joe Keithley
Joe Keithley
Joey "Shithead" Keithley is a punk musician with the band D.O.A.. He was raised in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, and attended Burnaby North Secondary. At age 11, he began playing drums. He would later take up the guitar and vocals. He owns and operates his own record company, Sudden Death...
, the singer for D.O.A.
D.O.A. (band)
D.O.A. is a hardcore punk band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk, along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Teen Idles, and Minor Threat. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to...
said in an interview that "for every person sporting an anarchy symbol without understanding it there’s an older punk who thinks they’re a poseur." The interviewer, Liisa Ladouceur, argued that when a group or scene's "followers grow in number, the original devotees abandon it, ... because it is now attracting too many poseurs—people the core group does not want to be associated with."
The early 1980s hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
band MDC
MDC (band)
MDC is an American hardcore punk band formed in Austin, Texas in 1979. The band were subsequently based in San Francisco, California, and are currently based in Portland, Oregon. MDC originally formed as The Stains before changing their name...
penned a song entitled "Poseur Punk", which excoriated pretenders who copied the punk look without adopting its values. As part of MDC's 25th anniversary tour in the 2000s, frontman "Dictor's targets remain largely the same: warmongering politicians, money-grubbing punk poseurs (including Rancid
Rancid (band)
Rancid is an American punk rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 1991. Founded by Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, both of whom previously played in the ska punk band Operation Ivy, Rancid is credited—along with Green Day and The Offspring—for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the...
, whose Tim Armstrong once worked as an M.D.C. roadie), and of course, cops." NOFX
NOFX
NOFX is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California .The band was formed in 1983 by vocalist/bassist Fat Mike and guitarist Eric Melvin. Drummer Erik Sandin joined NOFX shortly after. In 1991 El Hefe joined to play lead guitar and trumpet, rounding out the current line-up...
's album The War on Errorism includes the song "Decom-poseur", part of the album's overall "critique of punk rock's 21st century incarnation of itself." In an interview, NOFX's lead singer Mike Burkett
Mike Burkett
Michael John Burkett , better known as Fat Mike is an American musician, producer, lead vocalist, and bassist for the punk rock band NOFX, as well as bassist for the punk rock supergroup cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.-Musical career:The moniker "Fat Mike" was given to Mike by friends...
(aka "Fat Mike") "lashes out" at "an entire population of bands he deems guilty of bastardizing a once socially feared and critically infallible genre" of punk, asking "[w]hen did punk rock become so safe?"
Heavy metal subculture
In the heavy metal subculture, some critics use the term to describe bands that are seen as excessively commercial, such as MTV-friendly glam metalGlam metal
Glam metal is a subgenre of hard rock and heavy metal that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene...
groups.
Jeffrey Arnett argues that the heavy metal subculture classifies members two categories: "acceptance as an authentic metalhead or rejection as a fake, a poseur." In a 1993 profile of heavy metal fans' "subculture of alienation," the author notes that the scene classified some members as poseurs, that is, heavy metal performers or fans who pretended to be part of the subculture but who were deemed to lack authenticity and sincerity.
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
was trying to find a place in the LA metal scene in the early 1980s, it was difficult for the band to "play their [heavy] music and win over a crowd in a land where poseurs ruled and anything fast and heavy was ignored."
David Rocher described Damian Montgomery, frontman of Ritual Carnage
Ritual Carnage
Ritual Carnage is a thrash metal band formed in 1994. All the members are Japanese except for Damian Montgomery, their American frontman and leader.- Current members :* Damian "Danny Carnage" Montgomery – vocals...
, as "an authentic, no-frills, poseur-bashing, nun-devouring kind of gentleman, an enthusiastic metalhead truly in love with the lifestyle he preaches... and unquestionably practises." In 2002, Josh Wood argued that the "credibility of heavy metal" in North America is being destroyed by the genre's demotion to "horror movie soundtracks, wrestling events and, worst of all, the so-called "Mall Core" groups like Linkin Park
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...
, SlipKnot
Slipknot (band)
Slipknot is an American heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. Formed in 1995, the group was founded by percussionist Shawn Crahan and bassist Paul Gray...
and Korn
Korn
Korn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...
, [which makes the]... true [metal] devotee’s path to metaldom...perilous and fraught with poseurs."
In an article on Axl Rose
Axl Rose
W. Axl Rose is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist and only remaining original member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he enjoyed great success and recognition in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before disappearing from the public eye for several years...
, entitled "Ex–‘White-Boy Poseur'", Rose admitted that he has had "time to reflect on heavy-metal posturing" of the last few decades: "We thought we were so badass... [until] N.W.A came out rapping about this world where you walk out of your house and you get shot. ... It was just so clear what stupid little white-boy poseurs we were."
Hip hop subculture
In the hip hopHip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
scene, authenticity or street cred is important. Larry Nager of The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote that rapper 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
has "earned the right to use the trappings of gangsta rap — the macho posturing, the guns, the drugs, the big cars and magnums of champagne. He's not a poseur pretending to be a gangsta; he's the real thing."
A This Are Music review of white rapper Rob Aston
Rob Aston
Rob Aston, also known as Skinhead Rob, is an American rapper, lyricist, and a member of the rap group Expensive Taste, along with Paul Wall and Travis Barker. With Tim Armstrong of Rancid, he founded punk/hip hop band Transplants and provided lead vocals on all of their releases.Aston's career...
criticizes his "fake-gangsta posturing", calling him "a poseur faux-thug cross-bred with a junk punk" who glorifies "guns, bling, cars, bitches, and heroin" to the point that he seems like a parody. A 2004 on BlackAmericaWeb claims that the late Russell Tyrone Jones, better known as rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard
Ol' Dirty Bastard
Russell Tyrone Jones was an American rapper and occasional producer, who went by the stage name Ol' Dirty Bastard or simply ODB...
, was not "a rough dude from the ’hood" as his official record company biographies claimed. After Jones's death from drugs, the rapper's father claimed that "his late son was a hip-hop poseur, contrary to what music trade magazines published in New York" wrote. Jones' father argued that the "story about him being raised in the Fort Greene [Brooklyn] projects on welfare until he was a child of 13 was a total lie”; instead, he said "their son grew up in a reasonably stable two-parent, two-income home in Brooklyn."
The article also refers to another "hip-hop poseur from a decade ago", Lichelle “Boss” Laws. While her record company promoted her as "the most gangsta of girl gangstas", posing her "with automatic weapons" and publicizing claims about prison time and an upbringing on the "hard-knock streets of Detroit", Laws' parents claim that they put her "through private school and enrolled [her] in college in suburban Detroit."
As hip hop has gained a more mainstream popularity, it has spread to new audiences, including well-to-do "white hip-hop kids with gangsta aspirations—dubbed the 'Prep-School Gangsters'" by journalist Nancy Jo Sales
Nancy Jo Sales
Nancy Jo Sales is a US writer who has written articles for The New York Times Magazine, New York, People magazine, and Vanity Fair.-Career:...
. Sales claims that these hip hop fans "wore "Polo and Hilfiger gear trendy among East Coast hip-hop acts" and rode downtown to black neighborhoods in chauffeured limos to experience the ghetto life. Then, "to guard against being labeled poseurs, the prep schoolers started to steal the gear that their parents could readily afford." This trend was highlighted in The Offspring
The Offspring
The Offspring is an American punk rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1984. Known as Manic Subsidal until 1986, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland, lead guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, bassist Greg K. and drummer Pete Parada...
song "Pretty Fly for a White Guy."
A 2008, Utne Reader article describes the rise of "Hipster
Hipster (contemporary subculture)
Hipsters are a subculture of young, recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers with musical interests mainly in alternative rock that appeared in the 1990s...
Rap", which "consists of the most recent crop of MCs and DJs who flout conventional hip-hop fashions, eschewing baggy clothes and gold chains for tight jeans, big sunglasses, the occasional keffiyeh, and other trappings of the hipster lifestyle." The article says this "hipster rap" has been criticized by the hip hop website Unkut and rapper Mazzi, who call the mainstream rappers poseurs or "fags for copping the metrosexual
Metrosexual
Metrosexual is a neologism derived from metropolitan and heterosexual coined in 1994 describing a man who spends a lot of time and money on shopping for his appearance...
appearances of hipster fashion." Prefix Mag writer Ethan Stanislawski argues that there "have been a slew of angry retorts to the rise of hipster rap," which he says can be summed up as "white kids want the funky otherness of hip-hop...without all the scary black people."
Other genres and subcultures
An on-line reviewer argues that in Norman MailerNorman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
's 1956 essay The White Negro, which "lauded a 'white hipster elite' for talking, listening, and playing like black people
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
," Mailer "comes off like a poseur attempting to articulate this minority mimicking a minority, these white kids’ existential attempt to deal with the 'psychic havoc' of the atomic age
Atomic Age
The Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is a phrase typically used to delineate the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear bomb Trinity on July 16, 1945...
though jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and dope." Mark Paytress writes that in 1977, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
called singer/songwriter Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
a "poseur of the worst kind, intellectual bullshit, trying to be a street girl...".
A music writer for The Telegraph called Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
an "...actor and a rock 'n' roll poseur to rival David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and Mick Jagger at their most flamboyant."
Skateboarding
Skateboarding is an action sport which involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard.Skateboarding can be a recreational activity, an art form, a job, or a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2002 report...
subculture attempts to differentiate between authentic skaters and pretenders. A New York Times article on the 2007 skateboarding scene notes that "some first-time skaters drawn into the sport by catchy choruses or candy-colored sneakers are dismissed as poseurs" who are "walking around with a skateboard as an accessory, holding it in a way we call ‘the mall grab. ..."
A LA City Beat magazine writer argues that "dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
had its Spinal Tap
Spinal Tap (band)
Spinal Tap is a parody heavy metal band that first appeared on a failed 1979 ABC TV sketch comedy pilot called "The T.V. Show", starring Rob Reiner...
moment some time around the year 2000," arguing that "the prospect of fame, groupies, and easy money by playing other people's records on two turntables brought out the worst poseurs since hair metal ruled the Sunset Strip ... Every dork with spiky locks and a mommy-bought record bag was a self-proclaimed turntable terror." A Slate magazine article argues that the while the independent music scene "can embrace some fascinating hermetic weirdos such as Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom is an American harpist, pianist and singer-songwriter from Nevada City, California.- Early life :Newsom grew up in the small town of Nevada City, California...
or Panda Bear
Panda Bear (musician)
Noah Benjamin Lennox also known as Panda Bear, is an experimental musician and a founding member of Animal Collective.-Early life:...
, it's also prone to producing fine-arts-grad poseurs such as the Decemberists and poor-little-rich-boy-or-girl singer songwriters..."
The term "drugstore cowboy" denotes people who dress up like cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
s or cowgirls but whom are not involved in associated cowboy activities such as herding cattle, putting horseshoes on horses, fixing fences and working on ranches.