Subcultures

Introduction

You know the feeling. You’re discussing your favorite bands with a couple of your friends when that chick in the tight black slacks, matching jacket and with that damned lock of hair hanging in front of her eyes butts in and blurts something to the effect of: “Yeah, I just love emo bands, I’m going to a concert this Saturday, everyone who’s anyone in the scene is gonna be there…” Or you’re waiting for the bus, dressed in your best baggy jeans, Metallica shirt and army-green combat jacket (complete with chains adorning the reverse) when the bus driver pulls up, informs you that his bus is for football supporters and not for “fucking goths” and drives away. Or even, after you’ve immersed yourself in such terminology and you think you know what you’re talking about when you start differentiating rave from trance, or screamo from hardcore for that matter, and one of your know-it-all, subcultureder-than-thou buddies completely and totally refutes your hard-gleaned knowledge.

Does this sound familiar to you? If so, you’re probably in a similar situation to myself: Mr. Alvin Toffler’s Third Wave of society, having advanced in a rush of cliques and posses, is well above your head and you’re floundering to get a grip. While not necessarily wanting to belong to any of these so-called subcultures, you find yourself wanting to learn more about the groups you see forming around you. Often, this is a matter of sheer self-preservation: to mistakenly label a certain group as one which is mutually exclusive to it is sure to bring down hostility onto one’s head. While this may not pose such a great problem when applied to any of the more peaceful subcultures (hippies come to mind), hostility from, for example, a crowd of jocks is most likely equal to a reasonably savage pummeling. It is for this purpose that I’ve put together this guide, as a sort of reference for when you simply cease to understand. It is by no means comprehensive (by their nature, some subcultures are born and others die, at an almost continual pace), nor is it exhaustive (as I’ve chosen to list only the most common subcultures), but I hope it’ll provide some kind of light in the dark, sometimes frankly insane world of subcultures.

So, what is a subculture exactly, anyway? According to sociology, a subculture is a set of people with a distinct set of behavior and beliefs that differentiate them from the larger culture of which they are a part. We’ve seen subcultures since the fifties, when (according to sociologist David Riesmann) a majority emerged, "which passively accepted commercially provided styles and meanings, and a 'subculture' which actively sought a minority style... and interpreted it in accordance with subversive values". This minority is commonly defined by three things: mannerisms, dialect and fashions (otherwise known as the Walk, the Talk and… well, fashion. Aside from clothing, I’ve taken the latter to include hairstyles and music as well). I’ll keep this division throughout the guide, as it allows for an easy-to-follow structure. And with that said, and no further ado, I think it’s time I moved on to the subcultures…

Emo (“Dear diary, my life is a black abyss”)

This is probably the one you’ve heard the most about. In a way, pop is to rap as punk is to emo: upon a time, the most common way to be different from the masses of pop-listening, designer brand-wearing (I could go on but that might be construed as obstructively cynical) trendy kids was to listen to punk rock. Now, that’s changed: the trendies have become hip-hop homies, and the punks have become emokids.

To get straight to the point: emo is short for emotional. Emo music was originally an offshoot of pre-mainstream punk (that is to say, punk music created before the period of time when it was fashionable to be an anarchist); emo bands moved away from the aggressive lyrics of their parent genre (and indeed the aggressive style of music: most emo songs have a fairly calm tone and melodic singing leading up to an outburst of screamed emotion at the song’s climax, as opposed to thrashingly hard-and-fast pre-mainstream punk) and concentrated on more, well, emotional themes. You’ll find that a lot of emokids are hopeless romantics; often the melodrama of the music’s subject matter appeals to these kinds of personalities. ‘Solitary’ and ‘poetic’ are two more words which accurately describe J. Random Emo; often an emokid will appear depressed and lonely, but will have a few good friends they open up to, as well as a diary or weblog in which they write their thoughts and feelings. They tend to take heartbreak very seriously, more so than most.

Most emo song lyrics, in accordance with this view, tend to