Sexism in the hyper-masculine world of rock music is nothing new, but recently a group of 4chan trolls turned Soundcloud artists have made it their entire USP. Jake Hurley explores the emerging wave of self-described incels using DIY punk as a vehicle for their misogyny.
In recent years the social media behemoth TikTok has led to the emergence of a wide variety of largely innocuous viral crazes. For the most part the apps big successes have been the types of dances that you may have seen enthusiastically practiced by your nephew, Ellen DeGeneres, or both.
Recently however, a starkly different trend emerged seemingly out of nowhere in which TikTokers react to songs featuring deeply misogynistic lyrics. The songs in question are part of the new but growing internet micro-genre known as “incelcore” – on account of their anti-feminist lyrical content coupled with the artists self-identification as involuntary celibates.
As music has long been an artistic medium in which young men can profit off tales of unrequited love and broken hearts – one might be tempted to ask what makes this any more incel than, say, a yearning hit such as Eric Clapton’s Layla. A cursory listen will, however, reveal more shared ground between Elliot Rogers manifesto than the blues-rock classic.
“BPD and ecstasy, conceited with low self-esteem, she’s a whore, a hole a dime a dozen jezebel” sings flagship incelcore artist Negative XP in his song “Scott Pilgrim VS the World Ruined a Whole Generation of Women” which became a viral hit on TikTok and propelled the 19-year-old from relative obscurity to music industry infamy.
While the sonic palette of the music draws to mind the low-fi surf punk of Pitchfork buzz band Wavves who rose to fame 10 years prior, the lyrical themes found in the incelcore genre paint a stark contrast with the beach bum lifestyle espoused by their predecessors.
The songs are almost exclusively written in a vernacular borrowed from the murkier corners of 4chans /pol/ board and reflecting the usual obsessions of the far-right; communists, liberals, George Soros, as well as their primary target of women.
“The epic songs that get TikTok roasties seething”
The genre is so steeped in 4chan culture that even incelcore band names tend to reflect in jokes found on the message board. These include acts Fried by Fluoride, AnHero (4chan lingo for suicide) and NEET, an acronym used by incels to denote their pride in being “not in employment, education or training”.
“The epic songs that get TikTok roasties seething”, is how the music of Negative XP and his small circle of imitators and collaborators have been described by users of the dedicated incels.co message board. In the often-impenetrable jargon of the incel community, this post is using predictably misogynistic language to express joy at the negative reaction the music evokes in women.
Incelcore adherents often cite this perceived negative reaction from “normies” as the chief reason they enjoy the genre, placing those involved in a long and storied tradition of right-wing grifters profiting off justified anger in the face of their transgressions.
The most popular “incelcore” playlist on Spotify comprises largely of Negative XP songs, however the creator notably included a roster of classic records which he places retroactively in the incelcore cannon. Most prominently the playlist includes the entire “Pinkerton” album by Weezer, who despite their crossover success in the mid 90s have had a resurgence in the kind of online spaces where incel discourse tends to form.
The incel community’s gravitation towards Weezer is partially due to a history of problematic lyrics regarding women (particularly Asian women), as well as the nebbish, unlucky in love character singer Rivers Cuomo presents himself as:
“I’m so jealous of the hooker-uppers. Seems like it’s so easy to get laid now all these good looking athletic young guys r getting so much free sex it kills me. laxitutes. Such a bummer. Such a bummer” writes Cuomo surprisingly not on incel.co, but while annotating the lyrics to his song “Thank God for Girls”.
The playlist also positions first wave emo bands as the ideological forebearers of incelcore. In their heyday, emo bands such as Brand New and Taking Back Sunday caught flack for the covert misogyny inherent in their musical identities of average young men who have had their hearts stomped on by apathetic women. Incelcore however feels worlds apart from “Cute Without The E” in terms of blatancy of the vitriol on display.
Adherents of the scene found a new foe last year in the form of popular online music vlogger Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop, who posted a now deleted tweet reading:
“I’m wondering what kind of rut you need to be stuck in to be recording lo-fi incel rock songs that are all just Wavves ripoffs and upload them to soundcloud”
The tweet attracted the ire of fans of the scene and attracted a response “disstrack” from Negative XP entitled “You Shouldn’t be Allowed to Listen to Music if you Watch the Needledrop”.
While misogyny in music is hardly a new development, it is undeniable that the emergence if incelcore is a concerning development, particularly considering the young demographic of listeners and the recent rise of far-right terrorism largely perpetrated by young men radicalised in the same online spaces from which incelcore has developed.
Despite presenting himself as a truth teller, Negative XP and his sphere of incelcore musicians are anything but radical in their reflection of the hegemonic toxic attitudes that are sadly all too familiar to women.
At this point in time a diverse slew of artists are releasing vibrant and essential punk records to soundtrack the turbulent in which we live and Negative XP is certainly not amongst. If you want lo-fi punk with fuzzy guitars and apathetic vocals, listen to Wavves and skip the right-wing propaganda.
Jake's Corner 