How have subcultures influenced music?

According to the CCCs  there are three theories on how subcultures are formed.
1. The working class and middle class young culture believed the mainstream values are fake. 2. A significant group of people wanted to dress in a manner that reinforced their class origins and displayed their roots.
3. there are counter cultures who need the mainstream values and beliefs as a platform to react against. The resistance is in short an intense burst, before the members re-enter the mainstream. This is also known as Quadrophenia. 


The difference between a subculture and a counter culture is; the subculture depends on the mainstream for something to rebel against while the counter culture desires a revolutionary change.

Mods: 50s Sasha

The Mods were a subculture of the working class late 50s / mid 60s England. They dressed in suits, neat trousers and pointed shoes emulating the middle class generation. Female Mods adopted a boyish image with short hair and dark eyes in order to look more masculine. In the mid 60s there was an employment boom which resulted in teenagers having greater disposable income to spend on weekend away and music. These weekend away were often spent fighting other subcultures such as rockers as this helped both groups reinforce their identities. The film Quadrophenia was a typical interpretation of a Mod lifestyle and the soundtrack music featured such as ‘The Who’ reinforced the Mod values. The music often represented the emotions and feelings which Mod people felt, they rebelled against their parents as they did not want to be like them and so they liked the black culture and music. Consequently dancehall music was popular at soul nights and jazz music was most appreciated by the Mod crowd. Mod fashion was heavily influenced by the European fashion of Italy and France, the band ‘The Who’ wore tailored suits, mohair clothes and thin ties. The revolution of the miniskirt was worn by women for the first time and the big hype behind liberated dressing began.

Hippies: 60s Zara

Hippies were a subcultures derived from the middle class background in Sans Francisco USA. Their ethnic look consisted of head bands, beads, crafty accessories and tie-dye. Their values were more relaxed and casual then other social groups and this was reinforced by their actions of causal sex, taking LSD and smoking weed. Their values often questioned society in an educational manner and had a willingness to conform if they were right, unlike Punk’s they did not necessarily want to attack society.  Although hippies smoked weed, they were oblivious to the negative health implications and instead the hippies used the drug to explore different states of consciousness and alleviate music into a different dimension then it already was within from 50s Elvis Presley era. Music was one of the central means of hippies diverting their values to society and artists such as The Beetles as well as Jimi Hendrix are examples of hippie superstars.  Jimi Hendrix was a black guitarist/singer who performed to the majority Caucasian audiences  and he managed to blend the racist lines through the means of music.

Ravers: 70s Me

Ravers enjoyed having dual lifestyles, one fitted into the mainstream norm while the other was the raving aspect that found blasting a mixture of base and house music entertaining. The raving subculture was derived from the working class homes, and the majority of Ravers found solitude with football. They rebelled against institutions and often had no boundaries to having fun. In the 70s football hooliganism was at its peak and the Raver’s collective identity of loving the passé time of  football resulted with the subculture being involved in the world’s biggest football related riots and fights. Their music is timeless as the Ravers ability to switch between their dual lives will always exist in the world we live in as an alternative to the mainstream is inevitable with varying opinions. In today’s generation the song ‘Flowers’ by Sweet Female Attitude is still hugely enjoyed by Ravers as it was in the 70s.

PUNKS: 70S Zara

The punk culture emerged in the 70s, they were a reaction to the 60s hippies and their physical appearance was to shock and rebel against mainstream society. They achieved this by dyeing their hair bright colours and shaving different parts of the hair and allowing the rest to stand tall and scary. Like many sub-cultures the punk cultures was derived from a poor working-class background. The type of music which they enjoyed listening to were loud, violent music that help put across their values which were often angry and critical of the society they lived in.  In addition to the wild hairstyles they liked to express themselves through cosmetics such as tattoos and piercings. Their nihilistic views of life; doesn’t have to have an objective meaning, often help their artist such as the sex pistols stand out from the crowd. The basic name of ‘sex pistols’ combines the two taboo subject of violence and sex,  and objectifies themselves but in so doing they are in control of empowering themselves.

Goths: 80s Mimz

The Gothic culture was made in 1980s england , it collaborated a mixture of punk, death and Victorian fashion. The values of Goths were spurned by the mainstream perception of normality. They like being ostracised by society and are empowered by the isolation, this is evident through the way they dress in heavy black with platform boots that make them taller and more dominating.  They are a mistaken subculture as many mainstream views of them being sad, unhappy people are often misconceptions as Goths enjoy not being a part of society and are fascinated by the concept of immortality. They are also non-violent pacifist and tolerant people who put up with society’s critique of their elaborate dark clothing  and their music mirrors this. Often the messages sent in their music are deep, dark thought-provoking messages that the Gothic society feel need to be addressed and explored.

Diversity: 00s

Today’s generations has resulted in a number of subcultures growing out as the young generation become the old generation and society’s liberal ways have resulted with very few cultures existing. Inevitably the views of previous subcultures exist, but the desire to rebel against society has died downed because the Youth of today have little worries of being like their parent’s Youth generation. In fact their parent’s Youth generation was far more cooler then the present Youth generation and effectively music has diversified so much that different genre’s are overtly influenced by other musical genres. The Black Eyed Peas an RnB group now make music to cater for the electro fans as well as house fans, this is mainly done through the collaboration of artists such as David Guetta but it also has been done so that music evolves with its time. The Youth of today embrace change and do not like everything being the same as two years previous, but they only like change in small dosage and change that is not extreme. Technological advancements have also helped audiences gain various means of outlets to rebel e.g. Blogging and Facebook allow teens to express their views in a safe environment more easily.