Olderbrothercore

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Olderbrothercore is an aesthetic based on stereotypical objects and traits associated with teenage older brothers in the early 2000s to early 2010s. These traits often include popularity, rebelliousness, and traditional masculinity. The archetype is frequently drawn from 2000s media, which portrayed these characters as "cool" figures, often serving as either mentors or bullies to their younger siblings. Some commonly associated Olderbrothercore imagery includes Monster Energy drinks, Xbox games, nu-metal and punk CDs, and CRT televisions.^[1] The term was popularized on TikTok in June 2023, where users retrospectively named and categorized past aesthetic trends for greater searchability.

Visuals[]

Some visuals found in Olderbrothercore include:

Pictures taken with old digital point-and-shoot cameras, usually with flash turned on
Rooms with posters, CRT TVs, and game shelves
- Video games with an older, more masculine demographic and aesthetic, such as Grand Theft Auto, Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, etc.
Cluttered rooms with posters on the walls, trash on many surfaces, and 2000s furniture
House parties, drinking, and smoking marijuana
Urban exploration and graffiti
2000s-era locations associated with teenagers that have declined or no longer exist, such as video rental stores, arcades, and video game shops
Pictures of energy drinks/sodas (ex. Mountain Dew, Rockstar, Monster Energy, Faygo, Fanta) and chips/crisps (Doritos, etc.)
Junk food typically associated with gamers and teenagers, such as pizza, chips, and convenience store slushies
Images taken from multiple other named aesthetics from 2000s subcultures for men, such as Skaters, Mall Ninjas, Emo, and Animecore

Fashion[]

Olderbrothercore fashion is remarkably easy to pull off by either gender, and is the most notable part of the aesthetic

(Usually) Baggy jeans
T-shirts with logos and/or detailed designs on them
Flannel jackets
Band tees
Fur-trim hoodies
Skater shoes
Unique belt buckles
Beanies
Layered shirts (long-sleeve under short-sleeve)
Fingerless gloves

Music[]

Olderbrothercore music tends to be, very similarly to Poster Gal music but with more masculine leaning, rock and Metal that was popular in the 2000s, when the aesthetic was most relevant, mainly Nu Metal and Pop Punk, along with Shoegaze in more modern (and controversial) instances.

Rock/Metal[]

3 Doors Down
Adema
Alien Ant Farm
Alice In Chains
Blindspott
blink-182
Breaking Benjamin
Buckcherry
Chevelle
CKY
Creed
Crossfade
Deftones
Dope
Drowning Pool
Dry Cell
Earshot
Evanescence
Garbage
Green Day
Hollywood Undead
Hoobastank
Incubus
Jimmy Eat World
KoЯn
Level
Limp Bizkit
Linkin Park
Mudvayne
Murderdolls
Nickelback
Nirvana
The Offspring
P.O.D
Pantera
Papa Roach
Primer 55
Puddle of Mudd
Seether
Senses Fail
Sevendust
Skillet
Slipknot
Snot
Social Distortion
Soulfly
Soundgarden
Staind
STATIC-X
Stone Sour
Sugar Ray
Sum-41
System of a Down
Taking Back Sunday
Theory of a Deadman
Third Eye Blind
Three Days Grace
TOOL
Trapt
Trust Company
Type O Negative

Hip-Hop[]

50 Cent
Big L
Busta Rhymes
Crime Mob
Cypress Hill
D12
Dr. Dre (2001 era)
DMX
Eminem
Eazy-E
Fat Joe
Fred Durst
Fort Minor
G-Unit
Hieroglyphics
Hush
Ice Cube
Insane Clown Posse
Ja Rule
Lil Jon
Lil Scrappy
Lil Wayne
MF DOOM
Mobb Deep
N.E.R.D
N.W.A
Nelly
The Notorious B.I.G.
OutKast
Paul Wall
Slim Thug
Snoop Dogg
Soulja Boy
Wu-Tang Clan
Young Buck

Media[]

Film[]

Beavis & Butt-Head Do America
Clerks
Jackass: The Movie
Kick-Ass Duology
Kids
Immigrants
South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Matrix Trilogy

Television[]

Adult Swim
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Beavis and Butthead
Clerks: The Animated Series
Drake and Josh
Family Guy
G4
Jackass
MTV
The Nutshack
Regular Show
The Simpsons
South Park
Spike TV
Viva La Bam

Video Games[]

Video games are extremely important to the Olderbrothercore aesthetic, being heavily prevalent in photographs related to it.

Bully
Call of Duty
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Counter-Strike: Source
Devil May Cry
DOOM
Gears of War
God of War
Garry's Mod
Grand Theft Auto Series
Guitar Hero
Half-Life
Halo
Mortal Kombat
Quake
Killer Instinct
Need for Speed
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Resident Evil
Rock Band
Runescape
Slayerz X
Super Meat Boy
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Saints Row 2
Silent Hill
Skate
Team Fortress 2
Twisted Metal

Fictional Characters[]

Zane (Hypnospace Outlaw)
Reese Wilkerson (Malcolm In the Middle)
Rodrick Heffley (Diary of a Wimpy Kid)
Bart Simpson (The Simpsons)
Mordecai and Rigby (Regular Show)
Spencer Shay (iCarly)
Beavis and Butt-Head
Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)
Max Goofy (An Extremely Goofy Movie, A Goofy Movie)
Brad Buttowski (Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil)
Hero (OMORI)
Barley Lightfoot (Onward)
Terrence (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends)
Scott Pilgrim
Gary Oak (Pokémon)
Marshall Lee (Adventure Time)
Johnny Test
Nicole's Brother (Class of '09)
Andy (Toy Story)
Pre-Scratch Dirk Strider while evil and possessed (Homestuck)
Andrew Graves (The Coffin of Andy and LeyLey)

Criticism[]

Olderbrothercore has become a source of controversy amongst Alternative communities (especially among skaters, being seen in the same vein as how Mallgoth was seen in the 1990s. In some scenarios people have even threatened violence towards people who enjoy the aesthetic. This contempt mainly comes from real skaters who believe that Olderbrothercore is ruining the representation of skating-related clothing brands or how certain individuals conflate Olderbrothercore with Grunge or Emo.

Olderbrothercore is also often deemed a "male manipulator" style.^[2] This is a loose term describes men who deliberately do certain things to manipulate women into their affections through putting on a faux deep persona, which further leads the communities in the above paragraph to see this aesthetic in a negative light.