The Death of Disco

What is a Subculture?
A break from a parent culture that resists the 'mainstream' and strives to create new meaning through subversive channels. Subcultures rely on a segmentation from popular culture while simultaneously asking for the scrutiny of the public eye.

Subculture and Commodity:
Drawing from a diverse background of musical styles and ghettoized cultures, Hip-Hop is mainly framed as a youth revolution stemming from the gentrification of the Bronx throughout the late 20th century. Hip-Hop constitutes a subculture or set of subcultures because of its tradition of constructing meaning through marginalized outlets.

An offshoot of rock music which radically revises the message, purpose, and audience that the musician is trying to reach. While Punk music is stylistically shocking and rebellious, it still does not escape the commodification of subcultures or countercultures in general. Above all Punk music is a stylistic outcry; the sound is excessively abrasive and confrontational, while the fashion is eclectic and bizarre drawing from a broad range of signs, ideologies, and novel critiques on society. When Punk as a subculture becomes a commodity, we arrive at the births of Post-Punk, Hardcore, Emo, and a forever continuing re-territorrialization of shared principles.

The image of a punk is one of clear intentionality.  By using visual cues such as pins and torn jeans, the punk image is able to recycle and rejuvenate old artifacts into new ones.  The theme of punk allows for odd clothing objects to be reinterpreted into the realm of punk just because they are deviant or strange. Although punk started as a clear rebellion from the normal mode of dress even for rockers, it was quickly commodified and brought into the mainstream.  Punk started as a way to define oneself as an outcast, but soon became a sought after style for the fashion industry to cash in. Dick Hebdige highlights how stores that once sold items for the flower children were converted to cash in on the punk craze.  Like hip hop, the image and style of punk was quickly ripped from its roots to sell to the masses.  The watered down version of punk and hip hop that is sold to the masses had come a long way from break-dancing on broken glass and punks sporting controversial images like swastikas.

When closely examined, punk and hip-hop share many similarities. First, both genres frequently focus on race. Bands like Minor Threat were essentially conveying the same message as rappers like KRS-ONE or Public Enemy. All these musicians illustrate that race should not be a way to judge a person, nor their music. Another example is the artistic support to both genres through graffiti and other street art. Moshing in punk combines the same sense of bravado and community as that off b-boying in hip hop.  We have already covered the ways graffiti shaped the hip-hop scene, but it also played an important role in the 1980s West Coast punk scene. Black Flag, a quintessential hardcore punk band, relied on spray painting their logo around Los Angeles as a means of publicizing their live performances.

Beastie Boys - Sure Shot (Live at SNL) by spike_a_157
 


Discussion Questions:
Role of Subculture in Society?
What is lost in definition?
What are the selling points of punk and hip hop that make them a commodity?
When an image/culture becomes a commodity does it lose its reputation or does it make the genuine members more valid? (Posers VS Innovators)