☆ 2010s Club Kids ☆
I don’t think many people would argue that the 2010s’ impact on nightlife and music has proved to be remarkably “unremarkable”. Everyone’s aware of the gentrification phenomenon that is still slowly but surely stripping London of its popular culture and underground history. It felt that our beloved capital was more or less being ruthlessly destroyed by greedy property developers and clueless councillors.
What transpired from the whole debacle was the evident decline of West End nightlife in favour of the one of once-deprived areas like Dalston, Hackney Wick and Haggeston. As the 2010s kick-started, there was indeed a greater choice of less costly alternative clubs in East London, even if the scene and its protagonists had lost much of their sparkle. The dressing up wasn’t as polished as in previous times and, when it was, it often felt a mite déjà vu. Thankfully there was still a gaggle of kids who were willing and able to push the boat out in their experimentation. However, on the whole, “tacky drag” was well and truly order of the day. Who hasn’t come across a barrowload of lumberjack types throwing on a Poundland party wig and a pair of jumble sale stilettos for a night out on the piss thinking they were the dog’s bollocks? Don’t fret, you won’t see any of that lot on these pages! Moreover, It has to be said that drugs like ketamine made the scene and the music feel somewhat darker, certainly in some places.
Having said all that, you could still have a barrel of laughs, at least on a good night, at dives like Inferno, Sink The Pink, Savage and even, ahem, Dollar Baby. There were also various ephemeral club nights at Vogue Fabrics and The Dalston Superstore, as well as more classy happenings at egg like Gold Diggers and Berlin Berlin, but that was in Kings Cross.
I guess if you’re a teenager, you’d be inclined to think that the decade’s scene was all that and a bag of chips. As they say, what you don’t know, you can’t miss. Sure there were nighthawks bent on innovating who made jaws drop. It’s just that they weren’t as plentiful or as dazzling as they used to be. Just saying!
In a nutshell, one can safely declare that there’s been NO revolution in the 2010s but, let’s be optimistic, the ’20s might just change all that once we manage to see the back of a certain deadly virus that threatens to exterminate humanity and society as we know it.

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