The internet has made a lot of stupid things possible. One of these things is the proliferation of seapunk, a 'movement' that encapsulates '90s acid rave, Brooklyn hipsters and a whole bunch of blue hair dye.
We know guys, we know. But the interesting thing about seapunk is how it has grown from a Tumblr run by a girl with My Little Pony hair, to something that famous people are actually emulating. And not just internet famous people!
According to the
New York Times profile on seapunk earlier this year (yes, that actually happened) it all began with Twitter. DJ
Lil Internet claims he coined the term in 2011
"after having a surreal dream, which he tweeted about: 'Seapunk leather jacket with barnacles where the studs used to be.' His friends added a hashtag to “seapunk,” and a trend was born, like Aphrodite from the foam". *
From there it moved to
Tumblr. With Spongebob Squarepants looking graphics, blue hair and nautical imagery on acid, seapunk kind of of adopted a hippy style, with smatterings of early '90s surfwear, dyed hair and... water. And more Clipart pictures of fish than you could ever dream of.
Plus there's music! Well, sort of. A seapunk gig mainly consists of beach themed, glow stick laden warehouse parties where DJs play electronic rave and acid house, with the occasional '90s R'n'B samples. Punk doesn't seem to have a huge amount to do with it, but then we've never heard a live seapunk band. They could be punk-y as shit.
But you can't dismiss seapunk as lame. It's appeared in
Dazed and Confused. People have caught on. An they're people you actually
like.
(Well, you like some of them.)
Azealia even credited seapunk for her obsession with mermaids (seapunks didn't like that though, they hate mermaids). It turns out this internet fed movement may have more legs than this cynical Lounger cares to admit.
Go seapunk?
*There is some conjecture on who actually started seapunk. Musician
Zombelle reckons it's her, producer Albert Redwine reckons it was him. Both claims are unconfirmed.