I’m reading a, interesting book about 1970s gang wars in London between Teddy Boys and punks, in which each side was firmly encamped in the tradition of a particular musical style (strictly 1950s rock & roll for the former and upstart punk music for the latter). This book also details many of the other music-defined subcultures that segregated the British youth of the day, like mods (modern jazz), soulboys (soul and funk), rockers (rock), and skinheads (ironically defined by Jamaican music before becoming more heavily defined by racism and football).
When I grew up in the '90s and early '00s, there were skaters and goths, but the biggest subculture was, by far, hip hop which has since become so prevalent in society that I no longer consider it to be a “subculture” defined by music. At uni, indie (disparagingly equated with “hipster” by its detractors) was the big thing among students, while emo was growing in popularity among kids my brother’s age. A minority of kids were still drawn to goth and skater, as some are today.
This got me thinking about today’s youth. If I go to a park or a school, I can no longer detect communities that are based primarily around music the way they used to be. Is this because young people are now more open-minded and don’t want to silo themselves off musically? Is it because there isn’t anything exciting and rebellious being produced anymore? Or maybe “subcultures” are now lived out online in domains that I simply don’t understand?
Either way, as a music lover, it’s a shame to me that music doesn’t seem to be defining young people’s lives today the way it did mine, my parents’ generation, and even my grandparents’ generation. I’d love to see a new and exciting movement in this long tradition, but I guess that’s probably just a sign of my own age.
I agree with Tempogain, the fact that we now have access to programs/apps such as Spotify or Apple Music there is and endless amount to explore. Social media plays a role in this as well, being able to see what your friends are listening to live allows people to explore their playlists and broaden their horizon. Growing up in Taiwan, throughout school there were never really music “cliques” in school. At most, maybe there were people considered “the edgy kids” that listened to more punk rock or metal music, however they were considered the opposite of cool. Genres that people consider cool now are usually hip hop, pop, and indie. I’d say for the most part people don’t stick together mainly based on their music taste, but rather their interests. Music seems to be more of something that people in my generation at least, are happy to explore and don’t judge someone based off their preferences.
Interesting to hear what it’s like in Taiwan. From my observations, there don’t seem to be many youth “subcultures” in Taiwan the way there are in America and Europe. Maybe that’s because there seems to be more of a “fitting in” mentality there? As you say, there’s a definite heavy metal and punk subculture (both seem to fit in the same group), but it’s more for “outcasts” and “misfits” (at least, that’s how I understand it from my close Taiwanese friends who are part of that subculture).
The one very distinct and sizeable youth subculture in Taiwan I’m aware of is the street dancing movement, which I think is very cool and unique. But it isn’t really a “music” subculture.
There’s a fairly active lo-fi/hip hop community here that’s readily identifiable by what they wear and how they style themselves. Local DJs play little shows here and there.
I think @tempogain makes a good point. Sub cultures of music had a lot to do with accessibility to music from factors such as geographic location. Now that is almost completely gone.
For example for Hip hop/rap, it used to be DJs that would dictate the hot tracks of your area. You couldn’t really listen to east coast rap in the west coast or south. There used to very distinct styles in different areas, it was very easily identifiable. It’s been a while since I heard any mainstream rap where I could really say this is from the dirty south, or it sounds east coast, etc.
There is a rave culture in Taiwan. Also there’s a rock/metal scene.
For goths, i do often see groups of girls in gothic lolita costumes, which is kind of the same thing (but not based on music i guess). Also anime fans/coplayers. Neither of these are based on music but shows there are still youth subcutures.
All types and the fact that it’s all available immediately and free.
When we were DJ’s in the 90’s you only had so much $ to spend at the record store every week so you had to pick and choose. You couldn’t just download every song. That led to diff. DJ’s having different styles, the budgetary limitations and the fact we were using records and going to real record stores to dig.
