“Subversive Pop Culture”. What is it? Hyperpop, pop-punk, indie pop, glitch, emo, an underground pop aesthetic, and anything pop found outside of the mainstream.

There’s always been a thriving underground scene in art, music, and fashion; it’s where everyone starts in their careers, and where brands look for ideas. The ones who make it out and achieve commercial success have the backing of corporate entities that ensure their reach to larger audiences or customers for their products or services. Unfortunately, the ones left behind are left to fend for themselves. Many musicians are unconcerned with commercial success, but instead labor to share their art with more people, seeking appreciation for their art while making a few bucks for a loaf of bread and a new pair of Converse™ (which is becoming increasingly difficult these days). Neuerotica’s purpose is to help these artists facilitate their aspirations through interviews and articles. We offer the same attention, professionalism, and respect to lesser-known creatives as we would mainstream artists. 

You can stop reading at this point. Everything I’ve said thus far is basically what Neuerotica is. If you’re truly interested in the details, they can be found in the pages of this twelve-part introduction, which, admittedly, is a lot of reading. Mapping and constructing the art/sex/socialism DNA of Neuerotica wasn’t a matter of simply connecting the dots; there are dynamics involved that required a comprehensive understanding of the qualities of each element that facilitates their interrelation. If that sounds like something you want to spend your sunny afternoon reading about, then by all means, read on.

What I did was determine the locus of the interrelationship between art/sex/socialism to present a cohesive triumvirate of philosophical exhibition and exposition through Neuerotica. Basically, I put these elements together in a way that doesn’t come off as something that I threw together because I thought it was cool. It would have been impossible to publish articles about underground pop culture without the presence of these elements in this space, and there’s a very good reason for that. The underground exists because without it, the blight of rampant capitalism, commercialism, and oppression would be the end of humanity. Underground culture feeds mainstream society to lend it some semblance of authenticity and substance. This applies to art, music, fashion, and even technology. However, while mainstream society relies on the underground for its sustenance, at the same time, it spends in inordinate amount of resources suppressing the root of their ingenuity and success from the general public. It does this for two reasons:

1. In a capitalist society, ideas are as good as cash. No one cares that you’re a talented songwriter or musician unless

   they can make a buck off of said talent. We’ve seen how white Americans have usurped the credit for creating the many forms of jazz and rock and roll from poor and oppressed African Americans. The culture is plagiarized, sanitized, and repackaged in order to take credit and build wealth off of the people responsible for its creation. Corporations control the ownership and distribution of most of the world’s music, without so much as a nod to the creators responsible for their wealth and power; it’s why most people know nothing about the African American origins of and contributions to American music.

2. ‍Underground creatives are anti-establishment, and in a capitalist society, that kind of philosophy is bad for business. While corporations feed off of the creativity of the underground, at the same time, they would rather not have the public knowing anything about the creators for fear that they would lose revenue to something “purer” and superior to their diluted facsimiles. ‍

There’s a lot more in this twelve-chapter introduction than I anticipated writing, but I believe that it’s worth it. You don’t have to read it straight through in one sitting (if you want to read it at all); you can skip sections by clicking the link of your choice in the table of contents at the top, and you’ll be taken to the section where the information you’re searching for can be found.

If you’re a musician, model, artist, photographer, or fashion designer and want in on the madness by having an article or interview written about you, click on the SUB link in the menu and fill out the submission form.

For those who want to get straight to our great content, be on your way; the masochists can follow me by clicking a link in the table of contentsup top, and we’ll begin our journey into the depths of this phenomenon known as Neuerotica, take a deep dive into its origins and purpose, and perhaps learn something about its mysterious creator along the way.

Every chapter in this absurdly long introduction (which is what “proem” means, in case you were wondering) was written by me. It took me almost two years for me to get to here, and I had no help whatsoever. I need you to appreciate the work I put into this e-magazine, but more importantly, I sincerely hope that you show your appreciation for our articles and interviews on these young artists, and support them. They are, after all, who I built Neuerotica for.

Before you leave, please note that:

1) You don’t have to be a socialist to enjoy our articles (maybe stay clear of the editorial section).

2) If you’re racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or transphobic, you won’t have a good time here, and our editorials are going to do nothing for you except have you foaming at the mouth. Don’t do it to yourselves.

3) Being queer, socialist, trans, non-binary, or neurodivergent is not a prerequisite for enjoying our content, but if you’re a straight, capitalist, cis neurotypical, I hope that you enjoy our articles about some amazing people, regardless of your sexual proclivities, political leanings, pronouns, or psychological profile.

4) I’m human, fallible, and (contrary to the opinions of family and friends), I don’t know it all. Everything you read in our Proem chapters was written by me, the publisher. You’re going to find errors and redundancy, and that’s to be expected. While I do have a pretty solid understanding of history and key events, I’m not a historian. If you’re looking for a great historian whose history books are laced with copious amounts of profanity and snark, I suggest Canadian journalist/author James Fell; you won’t regret it.

5) Neuerotica was customized using photographs, traditional art, digital, 3D art, or something I made myself. There may be one or two that are AI-generated, but they’re placeholders until I find something appropriate to replace them with. The environmental impact aside, I’m not an enemy of AI art, reasons of which I intend to explain in an article sometime in the near future. I do use use them to make memes, but the art isn’t made by me. I see something I like at DeviantArt, take it, edit it, and slap my words of wisdom on them.

6) My manner of speech, tone, and behavior changes depending on my audience, but until recently, I didn’t know that it affected my writing. I’m mentioning this because I don’t want to anyone thinking that I’m using AI to compose my articles and interviews. It all comes straight from the dome.

Background photograph by Frankie Cordoba