The Welsh town of Bridgend, in the county of the same name, is nothing if not unique. The residents in this town arguably have more "street cred" than nearly any other place in Wales. Though a medium sized town with a population of around forty thousand people, Bridgend has the attitude and outlook of a big city which also explains some of the problems that many big cities have.
The town is a wonderful place for the youth culture to grow up. Bridgend has some of the best alternative clubs and concerts in the country and nearly the entire South Wales music scene owes its prominence to Bridgend. Nearly every cutting-edge form of music enjoys a healthy following in Bridgend and these include obscure music forms like emo, nupunk, screamo, and thrash metal. Bridgend gets a lot of flack from the media, however, because of the high incidence of binge drinking that typically accompanies such scenes.
Bridgend has had its share of recession woes and high unemployment and this makes sense in light of the fact that the punk scene was born as a result of labor struggles and poverty in places like London and Birmingham. Bridgend does seem to be enjoying a slight growth in jobs and income, however, and it will be interesting to see what this does to the indie music scene. No matter what happens, though, we can be sure that Bridgend will always have a place in the public consciousness for as long as it exists.
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