I nearly died laughing when I walked into one and the top
LP on the stack was "Comprehensive Guide to Moderne Rebellion" by
Good Riddance.
Self-referential irony was never this funny before.
To their credit, Hot Topic sells music you can't find at other stores, mostly
industrial goth or
punk, and they have a lot of it in vinyl! If only my
record player actually worked... Their
stickers are damn funny too.
Try this sometime, go into a Hot Topic dressed in your best
preppy style, and talk to the employees. Chances are theyll be nice to you. Now go dress like a
mansonite and walk through some
hoity-toity upscale department store. Not only do the sales clerks glare at you, you'll have three or four
rent-a-cops shadowing you by the time you leave.