According to Michael Brake, subcultures are “modes of expression or life styles developed by groups in subordinate structural positions” in response to a more dominant culture (134). Thus, a youth culture is a group defined by children or teenagers. Most often, youth use music for the purpose of constructing a group identity. Music, as one of the oldest forms of communication, gives young adults individualism from a concept most feared: being like their parents. The leading musical interest in each generation is chosen as an aspect of the necessary teenage rebellion against their parents.
There is a journey from childhood to adulthood in which teenagers are stuck between. Teenagers, being in this always-awkward middle ground, find methods for self-expression and identity. This identity they seek is most often different from their parents. Youth culture is about individualism. Brake states that subcultures “offer a context for the selection of cultural elements such as style, values, ideologies and life-style that can be used to develop an achieved identity outside the ascribed identity offered by home, school, or work” (11). A significant move away from ones parents towards ones peers has been found to be associated with interest in music and music preferences.
Early in the century, youth set out to be different from society’s conforms. In the 1920s, rebellious youths dressed as flappers and sheiks. Just out of the conservative Victorian era, “young women…shocked their elders with wild clothes, prank, and dances” (Beal 6). The change derived from the new jazz music. To fit the evolvement from classical to jazz, the lifestyles of teenagers were altered as well. More independent and holding early feminist ideas, young women boasted shorter skirts, shorter hair, shorter sleeves, and makeup. All of these actions were deemed unsightly by parents. However, the dresses and clothes fit perfectly with the new youth culture that had evolved. It gave freedom of movement so that one could dance. Similarly, the young men wore bright obnoxious colors. This was a direct rebellion “against businessman dads” (Beal 7). Also, young men tried to project a shady image by mirroring the styles of gangsters such as having slicked back hair, hidden pockets for liquor, and a hat set at an angle. The lifestyle went hand in hand with the defiant music.
Not to be forgotten is the swing era. Large numbers of teenagers, regardless of racial background, listened and danced to it. At the same time, many others sought after an explanation for its popularity and social significance. It was thought to express “a certain spirit of the age” (Stowe 1). The major significance of this musical movement was that it brought about ideas and concepts that people and society were not ready for: integration of the races. In spite of the race of swing band members, teenagers still listened and supported the music. White youth listened to black bands and black youth listened to white bands. This subculture was probably one of the first to realize that quality is not dependent on race. There still were tension though, but they could not be avoided because they were the same problems “as those played out in larger culture” (Stowe 2). Youth flocked to this culture because it had an appeal. The dancing was wild, fast, new, and once again different from what was coming out of their parents’ radios. Adults viewed swing as “musical Hitlerism” because of the mass sense of letting one’s self go (Stowe 24). Arthur Cremin, a music educator from New York City at the time, tried to suppress the movement. He attributed a wave of sex crimes to the popularity of jazz and swing. Other oppositional forces tried to connect the fast paced tempo with “breaking down conventions leading to moral weakness among impressionable young people” (Stowe 32). This correlation was weak and was overpowered by the growing popularity of swing. Nevertheless, like all youth culture movements, the interest in swing passes with the end of World War II. It was time to prepare for increasingly different music.
In the early 1950s, American rock n’ roll became a youth movement. The success of rock can be given credit to the youth’s sense of identity because it was shocking new music. Subcultures set out to shock and be different. Rock n’ roll accomplished this fast and effectively. It seemingly disrupted the ideologies and morals of the previous generation. The icon of the era is clearly Elvis Presley. His music and image was raw, sensual, and exciting. Through his image and music, he even brought about a sexual revolution. The energy filled songs attracted the youth and appealed to them as a dramatic contrast from the smooth mellow voice of Frank Sinatra. Early in Sinatra’s career, the age demographics were clearly older adults. However, even later on in the 1980s and early 1990s, “the age profile of audiences at his performances were of people in their twenties and thirties,” as pointed out by essayist, T.H. Adamowski (Mustazza 26-27). Nonetheless, this age bracket clearly missed the teenage years. The youth needed their own leader.
Elvis Presley served that purpose as not only their icon but as their leader. Presley was “excessive and emotional and defiantly erotic, openly violating mainstream standards of social restraint and cultural refinement” (Doss 7-8). Teens of the day, both male and female, felt a connection with Elvis. His style and music had this vivacity that made them dance. Critics of the period, undoubtedly adults, looked down on Elvis and condemned him for his corrupting the young adults of America. They accused him for “blatantly symbolizing the sensual subversion of reason and control” (Doss 9). True to words, Elvis was a profoundly ambiguous sexual icon. Teenage girls lusted after him and teenage boys mimicked his style as to attract girls. A vocal spokesperson for postwar Catholics, Cardinal Spellman, warned society that Elvis “embodied dishonesty, violence, lust, and degeneration” (Doss 5). However, it was what the youth called for and needed. Using him to justify their actions, the teens were able to break away. They challenged repressive postwar moralism. They needed this difference to distinguish themselves from the standards they had been raised from. Youth culture is meant to shock. This mass defiance of morals, standards, and society from parents was just the start of youth rebellion to come.
At any rate, the 1950s came and went. Elvis experienced his rise and his fall. Despite this, teen culture remained. It was time for a new generation, the infamous 60s. This decade in time has so many faces and images. Not surprisingly, almost every image that is said to exemplify the era is music-orientated. When society changes, youth culture changes. After all, youth culture is just a reformed society, a subculture. Thus, the greater the change in society, the more intense and stronger the subcultures will be.
In fact, more intense and stronger was the 1960s. This decade housed several movements including the feminist movement, the creation of the flower children and hippies, another sexual revolution, anti-war demonstrations, the height of the cold war, civil rights movements and racial unrest, an increased drug culture, political assassinations, and the British invasion. All of these directly or indirectly affected the music of the time. With so many issues consuming society, the youth found their own ways of dealing. They responded just as passionately in many of the problems. By doing so, the 60s also produced several countercultures.
One counterculture dealt with anti-war movements. During this time, heightened feelings on any topic fueled demonstrations and a desire for change. This sparked the drug culture. Often associated with but not exclusive to is the flower children or hippie counterculture. Bands such as the Grateful Dead “defined the behaviors of such psychedelic youth” (Santelli 178). In addition, dramatic, and more often than not dangerous behaviors, went unseen and ignored because of major societal changes the mass culture was undergoing. The Grateful Dead started playing in the mid-sixties in the San Francisco area. They became well known on the Haight-Ashbury streets and became successful. They blatant drug use and drug culture attracted some youth. The music and behaviorisms clearly separated the young adults from the conformity they deliberately strayed from. In the rapidly changing and stressful society, this counterculture did not hide their activities. It served, as most subcultures do, as an escape from reality. The music culture was essential to this movement. It freely allowed the counterculture to express their oppositional views that reflected American ideals of free speech, equality, and the pursuit of happiness. Although noble in their ideas, like any subculture, the youth went to the extreme to shock society. Music was a well used too in this revolution.
At the same time, one of the main music movements in the 60s, the ‘British Invasion’ was occurring. The Beatles started the ‘British Invasion’. The phenomenon of the Invasion was the effect that British bands had on America and the rest of the world in the 1960's. The group consisted of George Harrison, John Winston Lennon, (James) Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey). They were unique for their time, in that the songs they produced were sophisticated, varied, new and fresh and once again appealed to the youth. The Beatles’s were influential in the music and culture of the decade of the 60's and every decade that followed. They became the symbols of rebellion for the youth of the 60's. The older generation was shocked by the way the Beatles looked. Their hair was “extraordinarily, even dangerously long” (Santelli 227). However, their “look” often changed to keep up with the quickly changing fashion and to keep the teenagers’ attention.
However, the band broke up in 1970 giving way to more youth music movements. Disco, punk, rock and other subcultures and countercultures reigned. The next decade provided different, newer, and more shocking music and behavior from youth, each more deviant than the proceeding. Each paved the way for future changes amongst the day’s youth.
If this pattern continues, the youth must search for newer and more inventive ways to distinguish themselves from the older generation. Unfortunately, in their quest for individualism through music, the youth are really just like their parents. The main concepts, ideas and goals are the same and really just expressed with “slight variation” (Fornos 26). Also, ironically, the youth of yesterday are today’s adults. These adults belonged to the many groups that succeeded in separating themselves from their parents. Now there is a role reversal. The youth of today are fighting suppression from the people who should understand the most. Those passion filled youths have grown up and matured. Simultaneously, new forms of popular music and paralleled youth cultures continually appear.
As society changes, it creates the conditions for the creation of new social groups whose members will choose cultural elements, such as music, to define themselves. As one grows older, one must prove “independence from the family unit” (Fornos 53). Most often, this involves straying from parental control and likeness. This need for self-definition is an inherent need amongst teenagers. The necessity to construct an individual identity has been proven through several decades, including but not exclusive to the jazz era, swing music, the 1950s and the infamous psychedelic 60s. Also, the larger the generation gap preceding the decade, the larger the next gap appears to be. However, despite the massive amounts of change, the basic ideas are not lost in the struggle. Music, a wonderfully pervasive medium, can effectively define each generation as needed. Thus, in the future, music will probably sustain its important value. Youth will use it as a tool to define themselves, express themselves and shock their parents and elders. When this cycle will stop cannot be predicted, although, if the future holds its roots in history, one can be sure that this tradition of behavior will continue for some time.