[syntheweave]

I agree. What it documents is a little bit beyond the kind of mundane expectations-meet-reality story of alternative scenes as they grow into having a legacy. The author at his age knows that already: everything that became a big trend in past decades commercialized itself into uncool. But the article isn't a "dog bites man", it's saying something else.

What Berlin offers, by having one of the biggest and oldest legacies, borders on collective self-awareness of such. It knows some of both what makes parties a business, and also what makes them cool. And in the current era, it's been revitalized around new norms. It doesn't have to be a designated "cool party" to be that - it just has to have the "right kind of person" showing up and making it cool. And I think the article does get that across, even if it wanders a bit to do so.

[ianpenney]

Thank you so much for helping me elaborate on this.