[The Horrible Esthete]

I think that the main reason is that individuals in this younger generation of Americans (and this, of course, is going to be an extremely general characterization), doesn't really understand how to form and cultivate their own "tastes" as far as authentic rock and roll bands go, let alone pursue those tastes without some strange sense of risk of being an outcast. And few American teens risk being an outcast.

It seems younger Americans are taking ALL their cues from mass media and pop-culture-at-large, and don't even want to begin to consider that there is an entire musical universe that they won't even DARE to explore. They're hell-bent on being 'tragically hip', if you'll excuse the pun.

There is a subculture, of course, that deviates from the fare of the lemmings, but that subculture thrives on word-of-mouth, and TTH are not in anyone's ears and/or mouths, primarily because there is zero exposure for TTH down here anymore -- even in this Great Lakes region. 1995 saw the largest push TTH has ever made down here, and it didn't even cause a ripple. I used to hear an occasional Hip single from a current album on select college radio stations, but not anymore. They've given up chasing new fans here, which was inevitable.

Though I'm glad they never caught on. Not for the band's sake, but for my own. We hardcore fans only benefit from their relative obscurity here.