Subculture (music)

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In popular music since 1945, the subculture describes the entirety of the musical life (the underground ) below that advertised by record companies and the media . A subculture, on the other hand, describes the more or less clearly defined musical style of a group of mostly young people with the associated linguistic, social and fashionable labels. Subcultures are catalysts of social and musical life and form new subcultures with new scenes (for example the punk underground of the 80s, etc.).

The term has established itself as a juxtaposition to the term mainstream . While mainstream can only be subsumed under the opposing pair of pop / rock by assigning musical criteria , because style-specific features are missing, musicians in the subcultures define themselves on the basis of musical formulas in which style-specific criteria can be assessed as matches or follow-up actions (e.g. the use of a Space echoes in dub , a guitar distortion in punk , the verse-chorus change in hit songs and so on). The term has been used exponentially since the 1970s when, with the emergence of many small studios, labels and distributors instead of smaller ones (and the associated drop in prices for the production of records), the possibilities for public representation of one's own musical creativity multiplied. There is often a lively social and musical exchange between the subcultures, which can lead to mixed forms and, in turn, the differentiation of new subcultures.

literature

  • Rolf Schwendter: Theory of Subculture , $. Edition, EVA, Hamburg 1993, ISBN 3-434-46210-4
  • Dirk Budde: High ideals and crazy dreams. On the representation of topoi in subcultures and marginal areas of popular music , Berlin 2004

Web links