I interviewed Lynval Golding of the Specials when I ran a ska/punk magazine and I asked him about how he felt about the ‘scene’. Was dressing up in two-tone suits, just like everyone else, just a sign of conformity? Wasn’t dressing-down, way-down, in mohawk, leather and chains, like everyone else in the scene, going against the anti-conformist attitude of punks? He said it’s not about  conforming or individuality, but it’s about being part of a community. By being part of the community, you can dress different than the rest of society, identify each other on the street, support one another, and feel safe. Safety helps you seek comfort in a chaotic world. We are rather insecure social-beings after all. The result of that feeling of safety and comfort is the freedom to be expressive and to be creative.

Sudhir Venkatesh befriended a drug dealer and eventually studied the leaders of the gangs and how they ran their “business”. He wrote a book on his ethnographic study of gangs. Much like in the regular economy, in that underground criminal community, the economics developed in a highly creative fashion with their own stories of creative espionage and hierarchical management-order. It paralleled the regular economic theories of our mainstream economy. My guess is that the gangs that came out on top had a strong internal community where everyone felt comfortable to offer up new ways to commit crimes, had a leader who was highly creative, were able to look holistically at all the obstacles (cops, junkies, etc.) and had a group of people he trusted, where he felt safe and comfort (although probably few in number).

From an outsider’s perspective the circle-pits of hardcore shows, moshpits at punk shows, and skanking at a ska show looks chaotic, but it is culturally-creative, it has never existed before, and it is mentally-comforting for the people in the scene.

If you fall in a mosh pit, your community will pick you up.
If you jump off the stage, they will break your fall.
If you crowd-surf, they will hold you up.

Knowing that you’re in a safe place, allows the environment to breed creativity. Bands experiment with new sounds and the audience tries out new dance moves. Once it becomes popular and the community-bond dies, so does the feeling of safety and comfort, and out goes creativity. As outsiders come-in, the original community feels compelled to harden their views and stick to the original plan. You can’t be dorky and make mistakes any more because you have to intimidate the outsiders. It’s a very fragile and short road to blandness.

Being in a safe environment is the foundation for creativity. That’s where you can feel comfortable applying all of the other skills like rapid-prototyping or brainstorming and not be ostracized. When you feel safe you can be a nerd, a dork, or a punk and you can share your alternative views from that perspective. If you’re worried about what your boss might say or if you’re worried that you wont look “cool” in the circle pit, then you won’t try anything creative. Create a safe environment, if you see someone fall, pick them up, if you see someone jump, break their fall, if someone wants to surf, hold them up. Be safe and be creative.