Were you an emo/goth/geek/mean girl at school?

[MadMAGA]

14yo DD is into Billy Eilish and other miserable music, but was mystified when I described her as an emo. She knows what goths and means girls are though. I was trying to remember which tribe I was in as a teenager. Probably a bit geeky.

What was your tribe?

I was an still am Emo

The rock group. There were only 3 of us. I used to wear band T-shirts under my white shirt. Surf wear was popular with rockers too so we all wore Alder jackets to school. College was wear I let loose with my clothes though. That was 1990 massive hair all round

Yes grebs in the East Midlands as well in the late 80s/early 90s... also me 🤘

DMs, fringed skirts, band t-shirts, army stores canvas bag... great days 😆

Goth

I don't think there was a name for the tribe I was in, sort of creative but not arty, we made fanzines about bands that didn't exist, recreated music videos shot by shot, we created a long running verbal novel about a sarcastic llama that went on for about 3 years but was never written down.

I had an older sister that everyone was scared of, and I was friendly through primary school with the head mean girl, so me and my pals were just left alone to have fun together. It was a great time.

I was the only rockabilly lol. Used to wear my hair short in a quiff, and non uniform crepe shoes

Swot, followed by indie kid!

Oh my goodness. I forgot fringed skirts.

I don't think we had any of those - not that I could identify, at least. I'm not sure what they all mean! I was in the not-particularly-sporty-or-popular crowd. Our school had 2 sixth form common rooms. One was for the popular crowd, the other for the normal people (including me).

Autocucumbering 🤣🤣🤣

Late 80’s-early 90’s goth, I was the only one in my year. My gang of friends were clever, unpopular kids. We got bullied by the mean girls, worrying how many of them now work in “caring” roles. I still love the music and am going to see The Mission live next month 🖤

None of the above. I had friends in lots of groups but was also bullied but was VERY popular with the boys but was also quite bookish. So I kind of fit in a whole bunch of groups.

Hmm 🤔 mid-90's...popular, but not the top, popular group, who were all very wealthy and majority of girls and guys were twats.
We were probably the second group down-best friend the best looking in the year/school nearly, but we were nice to and got on with anyone who was decent and we didn't care about groups as such. Hung around with popular, but great guys two years above and older. Into house music, raves, drugs (oops) but I also liked indie etc too. All very wild, but my group of five girl mates read voraciously and it was what we did when we were stuck in our rooms after being grounded numerous times-that or practicing skinning up 🤣
I think we were pretty cool, not mean and had a bloody good time!

What would our group even be called??

When I was young in the 70's and 80's grebo was a term for long haired bikers into heavy metal - Motorhead, Black Sabbath, AC/DC. Oily jeans, Triumph bikes, and the stench of Patchouli.

Was massively into fashion but wasn’t a mean girl, we didn’t really have them. Wasn’t in Alpha popular group because I didn’t want to be; too many rules & not enough individuality. My bf was though but I flitted between Alpha & Beta groups as I liked the Beta crowd more.

I was one of the weird ones... as in, on the far, far side of the social spectrum from the cool kids (including my sibling, who didn't acknowledge my existence, and people were surprised to find that I existed at their wedding...). Somewhat inevitably, I got bullied by a lot of different people, and had very few friends.

I suppose that, in a way, it gave me the inclination and perhaps the confidence to go my own way (mostly!) as an adult, and to go to places on my own, which people continue to find weird!

Grunger.

I fondly remember shopping at Camden Market, and now my dd is into the kpop cutsie goth type look, im really looking forward to going back.

Goth /hippie/arty /geek. Still am. A cross between Amy Lee and Stevie Nicks is what I sort of aim for. Met ds's father playing mtg. Have a massive discworld tattoo. I still have a wine coloured velvet spafh strap top that was my mums in the 80s, and my eno new rock boots I bought when I was 16. 20 years later all that's changed is I got a bit wider so the corsets I wore as a teenager don't fit anymore. I'm still quite dramatic in my style now. Lost my way a bit in the 2010s when ds was very young but started dressing like 'me' again when I left exdp.

My two best friends, one is a very gay, very into pink and sparkles man, the other we have been friends since we were 3 and I she was bopping to spice girls while I was discovering nirvana and HIM. You would probably never put us together

I was relentlessly bullied in school but I'm not sure if that was because of my tribe or the undiagnosed nd, probably a bit of both. I don't speak to anyone I went to school with, I didn't even go to the year 11 leavers ball. I went to the krazyhouse on wood st in Liverpool. Iykyk

I was everything. A goth, a mod, a raver, a bookworm. The list goes on. I really enjoyed reinventing myself as a teen.

100% Geek. Or swot. Or creep. Or whatever other insult people could think of. I was one of a handful of kids at my bog-standard comp in a grotty ex-mining town in the 80s who saw some point in school & exams because we aspired to going to university. We were very much the odd ones out.

Of course it wasn’t enjoyable to be ostracised & called names, but I knew I had a brain and that education would be my ticket out. I also knew that the people who said these things were headed for a future of dead-end factory or retail jobs, young marriages & financial struggles, just as their parents had done. Which was why I bit my tongue & never retaliated. Because I was getting out & they weren’t. And we both knew it.

Going to very much date and locate myself for anyone who recognises the term, but in mid-teens we were called “sweaties” and you were basically in that camp, or in the “chav” camp.

Emo but did have a moment of mean girl when somebody punched my brother in the face. I took great delight in dragging him to the closest wall and pinning him against it 😇

I was a weirdo. Desperate to be a good girl and desperate to be popular.

So I smoked to be cool with the other weirdos round at the techy block.

I went through phases of punk and mod (was really a huge geek trying to fit in !)

So was I, edging into Psychobilly. Loved my vintage bowling shirts and bitterly regret losing them over the years!