I went clubbing on saturday night. I wanted to write a bit about how much I hate clubbing, there is something about that entire scene that irritates me beyond belief.

Sure, when I was a teenager I went to clubs. Occationally I had some fun in them, but overall in my opinion they suck. My reasoning behind this..

1. The music. I am a huge music fan but for some reason I just cannot get into dance music. There is nothing interesting about it, the beat is to standard, and there is no difference between every song.
   
2. The venues. You ever thought about why the lighting in clubs is so bad, cause they really don't want you to see details. Most of the clubs are holes. They are too small, badly laid out and are designed to cause distortion.
   
3. The people. Clubs are designed for the lowest common denominator. So what do you get when you mix the worst society has to offer wtih alcohol and other substances? People who are more stupid than usual.
   
4. The motivations. The people who are there are there for one of two reasons, get as fucked up as possible, or hit on any member of thier prefered gender.
   

So, if we add these three factors together, what do we get for me? Music, if I want to listen to music, I will go to a club, but if it's dance music, forget about it. Venues, if I wanted to spend time in a building that should be condemed, I don't want to pay a cover for the option. People, I hate stupid people, I really hate stupid people in altered states. Motivations, I don't drink much any more, and I gave up all other substances a long time ago. I also won't go to a club to pickup, because I have two simple rules when it comes to dating,

1. I don't date the type of girl who dates guys she meets in clubs (see the people comment above for explainations why).
   
2. I don't do one night stands.
   

When it comes to live bands, the music side of the equation changes, and I will tolerate the other 3 factors in order to see and enjoy the music. However there would need to be *significant* (and I really mean significant) shifts in the other 3 factors before I would tollerate dance music and go to a club.

Oh, one more comment relating to people. In perth, most clubs enforced a dress code. Basically, if you were a guy, you would not be getting in if you wore jeans, a non collared shirt, or non-dress shoes. On saturday night, I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt, shorts and thongs (flip flops for americans). The thongs scare me, bare feet near that floor is asking for trouble. The rest of the outfit is also troubling, because while the bar to get in is already low, it appears that it is being lowered over more.

For more reasons why I hate clubs, take a read of Clublife, an insiders view of the NYC club scene.