Wesch Michael L 1997

Phish-Heads:

Modern Society, Youth, and Identity

I

Paper submitted

for

Senior Honors ThesisKansas State UniversityApril15th, 1997

by

Michael Wesch

X

U4&&

Michael

L(

weschundergraduate,~6istant rofessor,

b

Sociology~raduateeaching Asst,

ForewordMembership Cards, Secret Handshakes, and

Super

Decoder

RingsLittle did I know to what depths of consciousness thisproject would end up taking me. It started off as merely acombination of laziness and trickery on my part.

I

had beeninterestedingoingtoseethisbandcalled"Phishwitha'ph'" since my friend/x-girlfriend told me about them almost two yearsago in the summer of

1995.

She told me about the laid-backatmosphere of thcfIhi.ppy-squL

an&

a

ie

+whiekyou

-

couldnotkeepfromdancing.Sowhenitcamedowntodecidingon atopicformythesisayearlater

I

thoughtabouthow muchfun it would

be

to follow this band ("what was their name again?Phish?"), meanwhile writing an ethnography of their subculture topass off as my thesis.

I

started writing in my head before

I

even showed up on thescene.

I

came up with titles such as "The Ethics of Being aRebel" and "Conforming Non-conformists" and a killer conclusionthat

I

thought was sure to stun the readers

--

These neo-hippieswhothinkthey're

so

"different"arereallyallthesame.

Notlong afterIarrived

on

tke

sane

*bug&

4

eakizecthat-I-

-

would have to abandon all my preconceived notions, catchy titles,and knock-out conclusions.I met up with the Phish Summer Tour

'96

on August

4,

1996,

in Red Rocks, Colorado.

I

planned to spend four days with these"neo-hippies" as both a participant and a researcher, plottingtheir daily activities at first, then taking part myself andWesch

1

strikingupconversationsthatIhopedwouldleadtothe discoveryofthemotivationsbehindtheiractivities. Eventually,

I

wantedtodetermine thegroup'scorevaluesand hopefullydiscoversometowhichtheyunconsciouslyadheretoas partofthe"mainstreamsociety" Ithoughttheywereagainst. However,what

I

thoughtwasasubversivecounter-cultureunited andstrivingforsomesort

of

freedomthattheycouldnotfindin "mainstreamsociety"wasnotthatatall.Asmyfirst intervieweesaid,"There'salltypesofPhish-heads.It'slike

a

microcosmofthewholething." Hewasright.Isoondiscovered

a

wholerangeofdifferent "types"ofPhish-heads,alltherefordifferentreasons.

I

alsodetecteddifferentlevelsofPhish-heads:someseemedtodevote theirentire lifetoPhish,otherswerejusttherefortheday beforereturningto"normal"life.

I

soonrealizedthatdescribingthePhishsubculturewasgoingtobemuchmore difficultthan

I

hadthought.Tocomplicatemattersevenmore,interviewingdidnotgoso wellfromthestart.When

I

asked,"Howdoesonerecognizea Phish-head?"

I

hopedfordetailedanswersreferringto everythingfromclothingtovalues.Unfortunately,such responseswerefewandfarbetween.Onerespondentstated, "We'retheoneswhopickournosesandwiggleourhandslike fish."Anotherresponded,"Wehavemembershipcards."Then anotherchimedinwithachuckle,"Whataboutthesecret Wesch

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