Music within subcultures

Music is a key component in any kind of culture and is often used to express some of the ideas and beliefs of the person that has written it. For example, love songs often express the way the song writer feels about another person. The ideas and attitudes that people have towards society can easily be seen through the lyrics in their music. There are so many different types of genres of music. Theres rock, pop, indie, classical, country, dance, jazz, RnB, rave, and many more.

Rock

RnB

Classical

Although music plays a huge role in most parts of society, since at least the 1950's it has been evident that music plays a central role in the process of identity construction of young people. This process includes not only elements of personal identity but also important aspects of national, regional, cultural, ethnic, and gender identity. Many subcultures that emerged in the 1960s onwards have been music-based subcultures. For example, the mods were known for partly how they dressed.. but also for the music genre they listened to. Many youth subcultures are associated with specific music genres, and in some cases music has been the primary characteristic of the group such as with, Punks, Ravers, Metalheads, Goths, Gangsters, Emo and Indie. The punks were known for listening to punk rock, and the Rastafarian’s were known for listening to reggae. Often the music a certain suculture is associated with says a lot about what they are like and what they believe in. for example, punks listen to loud and violent music which would suggest that they are violent angry people that are often deviant.

As you can see from the videos above, people that have the same taste in music often wear the same kind of clothes as one another. In the slipknot live video, most the people that are at the concert are wearing black. This suggests that people that listen to the same music and dress the same are automatically stereotyped into a subculture in which their characteristics fit. Some people conform to stereotype’s because they want to belong, however others may just like the clothing and like the music but may not consider themselves to have any of the same beliefs as other people within that subculture. People always make a first judgement of others when they first see them. What you wear at first, and later change shape people’s perceptions of you after meeting you.

You can also see from the slipknot video that the people that are at the slipknot concert are violently jumping around and swearing. This could suggest that people within the subculture that wear black and listen to rock are often violent and maybe deviant people.

Music does play a part in the emergence of subcultures but not as much anymore as most subcultures nowadays are identified by fashion and dress.