Äðóãîå : Slang, youth subcultures and rock music
Slang, youth subcultures and rock music
SLANG,
YOUTH
SUBCULTURES
AND
ROCK
MUSIC
CONTENTS
I.
Introduction
II.
Slang
1.
Definition
2.
Origins
3.
Development of slang
4.
Creators of slang
5.
Sources
6.
Linguistic processes forming slang
7.
Characteristics of slang
8.
Diffusion of slang
9. Uses
of slang
10.
Attitudes toward slang
11.
Formation
12.
Position in the Language
III.
Youth Subcultures
1. The
Concept of Youth Subcultures
2. The
Formation of Youth Subcultures
3. The
Increase of Youth Subculture
4. The
Features of Youth Subcultures
5. The
Types of Youth Subcultures
6. The Variety
of Youth Subcultures
IV.
Rock Music
1. What
is rock?
2. Rock
in the 1950s
3. Rock
in the 1960s
4. Rock
in the 1970s
5. Rock
in the 1980s and '90s
V. Rock subcultures
1. Hippie
2.
Punk
3.
Mod
4.
Skinhead
5.
Goth
6.
Industrial
7.
Hardcore
8.
Straight Edge
9.
Grunge
10.
Alternative
11.
Metal
VI. Dictionary
1.
Dictionary of
youth slang during 1960-70’s
2.
Dictionary of
modern British slang
VII.
Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
My
graduation paper is devoted to the study of the topic “Slang, youth subcultures
and rock music.” This work consists of 5 parts. The first part is about slang.
What is it?
Slang, informal, nonstandard words and phrases, generally shorter lived
than the expressions of ordinary colloquial speech, and typically formed by
creative, often witty juxtapositions of words or images. Slang can be
contrasted with jargon (technical language of occupational or other groups) and
with argot or cant (secret vocabulary of underworld groups), but the
borderlines separating these categories from slang are greatly blurred, and
some writers use the terms cant, argot, and jargon in a general
way to include all the foregoing meanings.
Origins of slang
Slang tends to originate
in subcultures within a society. Occupational groups (for example, loggers,
police, medical professionals, and computer specialists) are prominent
originators of both jargon and slang; other groups creating slang include the
armed forces, teenagers, racial minorities, ghetto residents, labor unions,
citizens-band radiobroadcasters, sports groups, drug addicts, criminals, and
even religious denominations (Episcopalians, for example, produced spike,
a High Church Anglican). Slang expressions often embody attitudes and values of
group members. They may thus contribute to a sense of group identity and may
convey to the listener information about the speaker's background. Before an
apt expression becomes slang, however, it must be widely adopted by members of
the subculture. At this point slang and jargon overlap greatly. If the
subculture has enough contact with the mainstream culture, its figures of
speech become slang expressions known to the whole society. For example, cat
(a sport), cool (aloof, stylish), Mr. Charley (a white man), The
Man (the law), and Uncle Tom (a meek black) all originated in the
predominantly black Harlem district of New York City and have traveled far
since their inception. Slang is thus generally not tied to any geographic
region within a country.
A slang
expression may suddenly become widely used and as quickly dated (23-skiddoo).
It may become accepted as standard speech, either in its original slang meaning
(bus, from omnibus) or with an altered, possibly tamed meaning (jazz,
which originally had sexual connotations). Some expressions have persisted for
centuries as slang (booze for alcoholic beverage). In the 20th century,
mass media and rapid travel have speeded up both the circulation and the demise
of slang terms. Television and novels have turned criminal cant into slang (five
grand for $5000). Changing social circumstances may stimulate the spread of
slang. Drug-related expressions (such as pot and marijuana) were
virtually a secret jargon in the 1940s; in the 1960s they were adopted by
rebellious youth; and in the 1970s and '80s they were widely known.
Uses of slang
In some cases slang may
provide a needed name for an object or action (walkie-talkie, a portable
two-way radio; tailgating, driving too close behind another vehicle), or
it may offer an emotional outlet (buzz off! for go away!) or a satirical
or patronizing reference (smokey, state highway trooper). It may provide
euphemisms (john, head, can, and in Britain, loo, all for toilet,
itself originally a euphemism), and it may allow its user to create a shock
effect by using a pungent slang expression in an unexpected context. Slang has
provided myriad synonyms for parts of the body (bean, head; schnozzle,
nose), for money (moola, bread, scratch), for food (grub, slop,
garbage), and for drunkenness (soused, stewed, plastered).
Formation of slang
Slang expressions are
created by the same processes that affect ordinary speech. Expressions may take
form as metaphors, similes, and other figures of speech (dead as a doornail).
Words may acquire new meanings (cool,cat). A narrow meaning may become
generalized (fink, originally a strikebreaker, later a betrayer or
disappointer) or vice-versa (heap, a run-down car). Words may be
clipped, or abbreviated (mike, microphone), and acronyms may gain
currency (VIP, AWOL, nafu). A foreign suffix may be added (the Yiddish
and Russian -nik in beatnik) and foreign words adopted (baloney,
from Bologna). A change in meaning may make a vulgar word acceptable (jazz)
or an acceptable word vulgar (raspberry, a sound imitating flatus; from raspberry
tart in the rhyming slang of Australia and Cockney London; Sometimes words
are newly coined (oomph, sex appeal, and later, energy or impact).
Position in the Language
Slang is one of the
vehicles through which languages change and become renewed, and its vigor and
color enrich daily speech. Although it has gained respectability in the 20th
century, in the past it was often loudly condemned as vulgar. Nevertheless, Shakespeare
brought into acceptable usage such slang terms as hubbub, to bump, and to
dwindle, and 20th-century writers have used slang brilliantly to convey
character and ambience. Slang appears at all times and in all languages. A
person's head was kapala (dish) in Sanskrit, testa (pot) in
Latin; testa later became the standard Latin word for head. Among
Western languages, English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Yiddish,
Romanian, and Romani (Gypsy) are particularly rich in slang.
The second part of my graduation
paper is about youth subcultures.
"Subcultures
are meaning systems, modes of expression or life styles developed by groups in
subordinate structural positions in response to dominant meaning systems, and
which reflect their attempt to solve structural contradictions rising from the
wider societal context"
The next part is about rock music in the
1950s – ‘90s. What is rock?
Rock Music, group of related music styles that have dominated popular
music in the West since about 1955. Rock music began in the United States, but
it has influenced and in turn been shaped by a broad field of cultures and
musical traditions, including gospel music, the blues, country-and-western
music, classical music, folk music, electronic music, and the popular music of
Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In addition to its use as a broad designation,
the term rock music commonly refers to music styles after 1959 predominantly
influenced by white musicians. Other major rock music styles include rock and
roll the first genre of the music; and rhythm-and-blues music, influenced
mainly by black American musicians. Each of these major genres encompasses a
variety of substyles, such as heavy metal, punk, alternative, and grunge. While
innovations in rock music have often occurred in regional centers—such as New
York City, Kingston, Jamaica, and Liverpool, England—the influence of rock
music is now felt worldwide.
The fourth part is about
different rock subcultures such as hippie, punk, skinhead, goth, hardcore,
grunge, heavy metal and others. I discribed their fashion, style, bands, music,
lyrics, political views.
And the
last part contains two dictionaries. The first dictionary is about youth slang
during 1960 –70’s and the second dictionary consists of modern British slang.
Slang
... an attempt of common humanity to escape from bald literalism, and express
itself illimitably ... the wholesome fermentation or eductation of those
processes eternally active in language, by which froth and specks are thrown
up, mostly to pass away, though occasionally to settle and permanently
crystallise.
Walt Whitman, 1885
I. SLANG
1. Definition
Main Entry:
1slang
Pronunciation: 'sla[ng]
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1756
1 : language peculiar to a particular group: as a : ARGOT
b : JARGON 2
2 : an informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of
coinages, arbitrarily changed words, and extravagant, forced, or facetious
figures of speech
- slang adjective
- slang·i·ly /'sla[ng]-&-lE/
adverb
- slang·i·ness /'sla[ng]-E-n&s/
noun
- slangy /'sla[ng]-E/
adjective
Main Entry:
2slang
Date: 1828
intransitive senses : to use slang or vulgar abuse
transitive senses : to abuse with harsh or coarse language
Main Entry:
rhyming slang
Function: noun
Date: 1859
: slang in which the word intended is replaced by a word or phrase that
rhymes with it (as loaf of bread for head) or the first part of
the phrase (as loaf for head)
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Slang
nonstandard
vocabulary composed of words or senses characterized primarily by connotations
of extreme informality and usually by a currency not limited to a particular
region. It is composed typically of coinages or arbitrarily changed words,
clipped or shortened forms, extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of
speech, or verbal novelties.
Slang
consists of the words and expressions that have escaped from the cant, jargon
and argot (and to a lesser extent from dialectal, nonstandard, and taboo
speech) of specific subgroups of society so that they are known and used by an
appreciable percentage of the general population, even though the words and
expressions often retain some associations with the subgroups that originally
used and popularized them. Thus, slang is a middle ground for words and
expressions that have become too popular to be any longer considered as part of
the more restricted categories, but that are not yet (and may never become)
acceptable or popular enough to be considered informal or standard. (Compare
the slang "hooker" and the standard "prostitute.")
Under the
terms of such a definition, "cant" comprises the restricted,
non-technical words and expressions of any particular group, as an
occupational, age, ethnic, hobby, or special-interest group. (Cool, uptight,
do your thing were youth cant of the late 1960s before they became slang.) "Jargon"
is defined as the restricted, technical, or shoptalk words and expressions of
any particular group, as an occupational, trade, scientific, artistic,
criminal, or other group. (Finals used by printers and by students, Fannie
May by money men, preemie by obstetricians were jargon before they
became slang.) "Argot" is merely the combined cant and jargon
of thieves, criminals, or any other underworld group. (Hit used by armed
robbers; scam by corporate confidence men.)
Slang fills
a necessary niche in all languages, occupying a middle ground between the
standard and informal words accepted by the general public and the special
words and expressions known only to comparatively small social subgroups. It
can serve as a bridge or a barrier, either helping both old and new words that
have been used as "insiders' " terms by a specific group of people to
enter the language of the general public or, on the other hand, preventing them
from doing so. Thus, for many words, slang is a testing ground that finally
proves them to be generally useful, appealing, and acceptable enough to become
standard or informal. For many other words, slang is a testing ground that
shows them to be too restricted in use, not as appealing as standard synonyms,
or unnecessary, frivolous, faddish, or unacceptable for standard or informal
speech. For still a third group of words and expressions, slang becomes not a
final testing ground that either accepts or rejects them for general use but
becomes a vast limbo, a permanent holding ground, an area of speech that a word
never leaves. Thus, during various times in history, American slang has
provided cowboy, blizzard, okay, racketeer, phone, gas, and movie
for standard or informal speech. It has tried and finally rejected conbobberation
(disturbance), krib (room or apartment), lucifer (match), tomato
(girl), and fab (fabulous) from standard or informal speech. It has held
other words such as bones (dice), used since the 14th century, and beat
it (go away), used since the 16th century, in a permanent grasp, neither
passing them on to standard or informal speech nor rejecting them from popular,
long-term use.
Slang words
cannot be distinguished from other words by sound or meaning. Indeed, all slang
words were once cant, jargon, argot, dialect, nonstandard, or taboo. For
example, the American slang to neck (to kiss and caress) was originally
student cant; flattop (an aircraft carrier) was originally navy jargon;
and pineapple (a bomb or hand grenade) was originally criminal argot.
Such words did not, of course, change their sound or meaning when they became
slang. Many slang words, such as blizzard, mob, movie, phone, gas, and
others, have become informal or standard and, of course, did not change in
sound or meaning when they did so. In fact, most slang words are homonyms of
standard words, spelled and pronounced just like their standard counterparts,
as for example (American slang), cabbage (money), cool (relaxed),
and pot (marijuana). Of course, the words cabbage, cool, and pot
sound alike in their ordinary standard use and in their slang use. Each word
sounds just as appealing or unappealing, dull or colourful in its standard as
in its slang use. Also, the meanings of cabbage and money, cool
and relaxed, pot and marijuana are the same, so it cannot be said
that the connotations of slang words are any more colourful or racy than the
meanings of standard words.
All
languages, countries, and periods of history have slang. This is true because
they all have had words with varying degrees of social acceptance and
popularity.
All
segments of society use some slang, including the most educated, cultivated
speakers and writers. In fact, this is part of the definition of slang. For
example, George Washington used redcoat (British soldier); Winston
Churchill used booze (liquor); and Lyndon B. Johnson used cool it
(calm down, shut up).
The same
linguistic processes are used to create and popularize slang as are used to
create and popularize all other words. That is, all words are created and
popularized in the same general ways; they are labeled slang only according to
their current social acceptance, long after creation and popularization.
Slang is
not the language of the underworld, nor does most of it necessarily come from
the underworld. The main sources of slang change from period to period. Thus,
in one period of American slang, frontiersmen, cowboys, hunters, and trappers
may have been the main source; during some parts of the 1920s and '30s the
speech of baseball players and criminals may have been the main source; at
other times, the vocabulary of jazz musicians, soldiers, or college students
may have been the main source.
To fully
understand slang, one must remember that a word's use, popularity, and
acceptability can change. Words can change in social level, moving in any
direction. Thus, some standard words of William Shakespeare's day are found
only in certain modern-day British dialects or in the dialect of the southern
United States. Words that are taboo in one era (e.g., stomach, thigh)
can become accepted, standard words in a later era. Language is dynamic, and at
any given time hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of words and expressions are in
the process of changing from one level to another, of becoming more acceptable
or less acceptable, of becoming more popular or less popular.
2. Origins
Slang tends
to originate in subcultures within a society. Occupational groups (for example,
loggers, police, medical professionals, and computer specialists) are prominent
originators of both jargon and slang; other groups creating slang include the
armed forces, teenagers, racial minorities, ghetto residents, labor unions,
citizens-band radiobroadcasters, sports groups, drug addicts, criminals, and
even religious denominations (Episcopalians, for example, produced spike, a
High Church Anglican). Slang expressions often embody attitudes and values of
group members. They may thus contribute to a sense of group identity and may
convey to the listener information about the speaker’s background. Before an
apt expression becomes slang, however, it must be widely adopted by members of
the subculture. At this point slang and jargon overlap greatly. If the
subculture has enough contact with the mainstream culture, its figures of
speech become slang expressions known to the whole society. For example, cat
(a sport), cool (aloof, stylish), Mr. Charley (a white man), The
Man (the law), and Uncle Tom (a meek black) all originated in the
predominantly black Harlem district of New York City and have traveled far
since their inception. Slang is thus generally not tied to any geographic
region within a country.
A slang
expression may suddenly become widely used and as quickly date (23-skiddoo).
It may become accepted as standard speech, either in its original slang meaning
(bus, from omnibus) or with an altered, possibly tamed meaning (jazz,
which originally had sexual connotations). Some expressions have persisted for
centuries as slang (booze for alcoholic beverage). In the 20th century,
mass media and rapid travel have speeded up both the circulation and the demise
of slang terms. Television and novels have turned criminal cant into slang (five
grand for $5000). Changing social circumstances may stimulate the spread of
slang. Drug-related expressions (such as pot and marijuana) were
virtually a secret jargon in the 1940s; in the 1960s they were adopted by
rebellious youth; and in the 1970s and ’80s they were widely known.
3. Development of
slang
Slang emanates from conflicts in values, sometimes
superficial, often fundamental. When an individual applies language in a new
way to express hostility, ridicule, or contempt, often with sharp wit, he may
be creating slang, but the new expression will perish unless it is picked up by
others. If the speaker is a member of a group that finds that his creation
projects the emotional reaction of its members toward an idea, person, or
social institution, the expression will gain currency according to the
unanimity of attitude within the group. A new slang term is usually widely used
in a subculture before it appears in the dominant culture. Thus slang--e.g.,
"sucker," "honkey," "shave-tail,"
"jerk"--expresses the attitudes, not always derogatory, of one group
or class toward the values of another. Slang sometimes stems from within the
group, satirizing or burlesquing its own values, behaviour, and attitudes; e.g.,
"shotgun wedding," "cake eater," "greasy spoon."
Slang, then, is produced largely by social forces rather than by an individual
speaker or writer who, single-handed (like Horace Walpole, who coined
"serendipity" more than 200 years ago), creates and establishes a
word in the language. This is one reason why it is difficult to determine the
origin of slang terms.
4. Creators of
slang
Civilized society tends to divide into a dominant
culture and various subcultures that flourish within the dominant framework.
The subcultures show specialized linguistic phenomena, varying widely in form
and content, that depend on the nature of the groups and their relation to each
other and to the dominant culture. The shock value of slang stems largely from
the verbal transfer of the values of a subculture to diametrically opposed
values in the dominant culture. Names such as fuzz, pig, fink, bull, and dick
for policemen were not created by officers of the law. (The humorous
"dickless tracy," however, meaning a policewoman, was coined
by male policemen.)
Occupational groups are legion, and while in most
respects they identify with the dominant culture, there is just enough social
and linguistic hostility to maintain group solidarity. Terms such as scab,
strike-breaker, company-man, and goon were highly charged words in the era in
which labour began to organize in the United States; they are not used lightly
even today, though they have been taken into the standard language.
In addition to occupational and professional groups,
there are many other types of subcultures that supply slang. These include
sexual deviants, narcotic addicts, ghetto groups, institutional populations,
agricultural subsocieties, political organizations, the armed forces, Gypsies,
and sports groups of many varieties. Some of the most fruitful sources of slang
are the subcultures of professional criminals who have migrated to the New
World since the 16th century. Old-time thieves still humorously refer to
themselves as FFV--First Families of Virginia.
In criminal subcultures, pressure applied by the dominant
culture intensifies the internal forces already at work, and the argot forming
there emphasizes the values, attitudes, and techniques of the subculture.
Criminal groups seem to evolve about this specialized argot, and both the
subculture and its slang expressions proliferate in response to internal and
external pressures.
5. Sources
Most subcultures tend to draw words and phrases from
the contiguous language (rather than creating many new words) and to give these
established terms new and special meanings; some borrowings from foreign
languages, including the American Indian tongues, are traditional. The more
learned occupations or professions like medicine, law, psychology, sociology,
engineering, and electronics tend to create true neologisms, often based on
Greek or Latin roots, but these are not major sources for slang, though nurses
and medical students adapt some medical terminology to their slang, and air
force personnel and some other branches of the armed services borrow freely
from engineering and electronics.
6. Linguistic processes forming
slang
The processes by which words become slang are the
same as those by which other words in the language change their form or meaning
or both. Some of these are the employment of metaphor, simile, folk etymology,
distortion of sounds in words, generalization, specialization, clipping, the
use of acronyms, elevation and degeneration, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole,
borrowings from foreign languages, and the play of euphemism against taboo. The
English word trip is an example of a term that has undergone both
specialization and generalization. It first became specialized to mean a
psychedelic experience resulting from the drug LSD. Subsequently, it
generalized again to mean any experience on any drug, and beyond that to any
type of "kicks" from anything. Clipping is exemplified by the use of
"grass" from "laughing grass," a term for marijuana.
"Funky," once a very low term for body odour, has undergone elevation
among jazz buffs to signify "the best"; "fanny," on the
other hand, once simply a girl's name, is currently a degenerated term that
refers to the buttocks (in England, it has further degenerated into a taboo
word for the female genitalia). There is also some actual coinage of slang
terms.
7. Characteristics
of slang
Psychologically, most good slang harks back to the
stage in human culture when animism was a worldwide religion. At that time, it
was believed that all objects had two aspects, one external and objective that
could be perceived by the senses, the other imperceptible (except to gifted
individuals) but identical with what we today would call the "real"
object. Human survival depended upon the manipulation of all "real"
aspects of life--hunting, reproduction, warfare, weapons, design of
habitations, nature of clothing or decoration, etc.--through control or
influence upon the animus, or imperceptible phase of reality. This
influence was exerted through many aspects of sympathetic magic, one of the
most potent being the use of language. Words, therefore, had great power,
because they evoked the things to which they referred.
Civilized cultures and their languages retain many
remnants of animism, largely on the unconscious level. In Western languages,
the metaphor owes its power to echoes of sympathetic magic, and slang utilizes
certain attributes of the metaphor to evoke images too close for comfort to
"reality." For example, to refer to a woman as a "broad" is
automatically to increase her girth in an area in which she may fancy herself
as being thin. Her reaction may, thus, be one of anger and resentment, if she
happens to live in a society in which slim hips are considered essential to
feminine beauty. Slang, then, owes much of its power to shock to the
superimposition of images that are incongruous with images (or values) of
others, usually members of the dominant culture. Slang is most popular when its
imagery develops incongruity bordering on social satire. Every slang word, however,
has its own history and reasons for popularity. When conditions change, the
term may change in meaning, be adopted into the standard language, or continue
to be used as slang within certain enclaves of the population. Nothing is
flatter than dead slang. In 1910, for instance, "Oh you kid" and
"23-skiddoo" were quite stylish phrases in the U.S. but they have
gone with the hobble skirt. Children, however, unaware of anachronisms, often
revive old slang under a barrage of older movies rerun on television.
Some slang becomes respectable when it loses its
edge; "spunk," "fizzle," "spent," "hit the
spot," "jazz," "funky," and "p.o.'d," once
thought to be too indecent for feminine ears, are now family words. Other slang
survives for centuries, like "bones" for dice (Chaucer), "beat
it" for run away (Shakespeare), "duds" for clothes, and
"booze" for liquor (Dekker). These words must have been uttered as
slang long before appearing in print, and they have remained slang ever since.
Normally, slang has both a high birth and death rate in the dominant culture,
and excessive use tends to dull the lustre of even the most colourful and
descriptive words and phrases. The rate of turnover in slang words is
undoubtedly encouraged by the mass media, and a term must be increasingly
effective to survive.
While many slang words introduce new concepts, some
of the most effective slang provides new expressions--fresh, satirical,
shocking--for established concepts, often very respectable ones. Sound is
sometimes used as a basis for this type of slang, as, for example, in various
phonetic distortions (e.g., pig Latin terms). It is also used in rhyming
slang, which employs a fortunate combination of both sound and imagery. Thus,
gloves are "turtledoves" (the gloved hands suggesting a pair of
billing doves), a girl is a "twist and twirl" (the movement
suggesting a girl walking), and an insulting imitation of flatus, produced by
blowing air between the tip of the protruded tongue and the upper lip, is the
"raspberry," cut back from "raspberry tart." Most slang,
however, depends upon incongruity of imagery, conveyed by the lively
connotations of a novel term applied to an established concept. Slang is not
all of equal quality, a considerable body of it reflecting a simple need to find
new terms for common ones, such as the hands, feet, head, and other parts of
the body. Food, drink, and sex also involve extensive slang vocabulary.
Strained or synthetically invented slang lacks verve, as can be seen in the
desperate efforts of some sportswriters to avoid mentioning the word baseball--e.g.,
a batter does not hit a baseball but rather "swats the horsehide,"
"plasters the pill," "hefts the old apple over the fence,"
and so on.
The most effective slang operates on a more
sophisticated level and often tells something about the thing named, the person
using the term, and the social matrix against which it is used. Pungency may
increase when full understanding of the term depends on a little inside
information or knowledge of a term already in use, often on the slang side
itself. For example, the term Vatican roulette (for the rhythm system of birth
control) would have little impact if the expression Russian roulette were not
already in wide usage.
8. Diffusion of
slang
Slang invades the dominant culture as it seeps out of
various subcultures. Some words fall dead or lie dormant in the dominant
culture for long periods. Others vividly express an idea already latent in the
dominant culture and these are immediately picked up and used. Before the advent
of mass media, such terms invaded the dominant culture slowly and were
transmitted largely by word of mouth. Thus a term like snafu, its shocking
power softened with the explanation "situation normal, all fouled
up," worked its way gradually from the military in World War II by word of
mouth (because the media largely shunned it) into respectable circles. Today,
however, a sportscaster, news reporter, or comedian may introduce a lively new
word already used by an in-group into millions of homes simultaneously, giving
it almost instant currency. For example, the term uptight was first used
largely by criminal narcotic addicts to indicate the onset of withdrawal
distress when drugs are denied. Later, because of intense journalistic interest
in the drug scene, it became widely used in the dominant culture to mean
anxiety or tension unrelated to drug use. It kept its form but changed its
meaning slightly.
Other terms may change their form or both form and
meaning, like "one for the book" (anything unusual or unbelievable).
Sportswriters in the U.S. borrowed this term around 1920 from the occupational
language of then legal bookmakers, who lined up at racetracks in the morning
("the morning line" is still figuratively used on every sports page)
to take bets on the afternoon races. Newly arrived bookmakers went to the end
of the line, and any bettor requesting unusually long odds was motioned down
the line with the phrase, "That's one for the end book." The general
public dropped the "end" as meaningless, but old-time gamblers still
retain it. Slang spreads through many other channels, such as popular songs,
which, for the initiate, are often rich in double entendre.
When subcultures are structurally tight, little of
their language leaks out. Thus the Mafia, in more than a half-century of
powerful criminal activity in America, has contributed little slang. When
subcultures weaken, contacts with the dominant culture multiply, diffusion
occurs, and their language appears widely as slang. Criminal narcotic addicts,
for example, had a tight subculture and a highly secret argot in the 1940s; now
their terms are used freely by middle-class teenagers, even those with no real
knowledge of drugs.
9. Uses of slang
In some
cases slang may provide a needed name for an object or action (walkie-talkie,
a portable two-way radio; tailgating, driving too close behind
another vehicle), or it may offer an emotional outlet (buzz off! for go
away!) or a satirical or patronizing reference (smokey, state highway
trooper). It may provide euphemisms (john, head, can, and in Britain, loo,
all for toilet, itself originally a euphemism), and it may allow its user
to create a shock effect by using a pungent slang expression in an unexpected
context. Slang has provided myriad synonyms for parts of the body (bean, head;
schnozzle, nose), for money (moola, bread, scratch), for food (grub,
slop, garbage), and for drunkenness (soused, stewed, plastered).
Slang is used for many purposes, but generally it
expresses a certain emotional attitude; the same term may express diametrically
opposed attitudes when used by different people. Many slang terms are primarily
derogatory, though they may also be ambivalent when used in intimacy or
affection. Some crystallize or bolster the self-image or promote identification
with a class or in-group. Others flatter objects, institutions, or persons but
may be used by different people for the opposite effect. "Jesus
freak," originally used as ridicule, was adopted as a title by certain
street evangelists. Slang sometimes insults or shocks when used directly; some
terms euphemize a sensitive concept, though obvious or excessive euphemism may
break the taboo more effectively than a less decorous term. Some slang words
are essential because there are no words in the standard language expressing
exactly the same meaning; e.g., "freak-out,"
"barn-storm," "rubberneck," and the noun "creep."
At the other extreme, multitudes of words, vague in meaning, are used simply as
fads.
There are many other uses to which slang is put, according
to the individual and his place in society. Since most slang is used on the
spoken level, by persons who probably are unaware that it is slang, the choice
of terms naturally follows a multiplicity of unconscious thought patterns. When
used by writers, slang is much more consciously and carefully chosen to achieve
a specific effect. Writers, however, seldom invent slang.
It has been claimed that slang is created by
ingenious individuals to freshen the language, to vitalize it, to make the
language more pungent and picturesque, to increase the store of terse and
striking words, or to provide a vocabulary for new shades of meaning. Most of
the originators and purveyors of slang, however, are probably not conscious of
these noble purposes and do not seem overly concerned about what happens to
their language.
10. Attitudes
toward slang
With the rise of naturalistic writing demanding
realism, slang began to creep into English literature even though the schools
waged warfare against it, the pulpit thundered against it, and many women who
aspired to gentility and refinement banished it from the home. It flourished
underground, however, in such male sanctuaries as lodges, poolrooms,
barbershops, and saloons.
By 1925 a whole new generation of U.S. and European
naturalistic writers was in revolt against the Victorian restraints that had
caused even Mark Twain to complain, and today any writer may use slang freely,
especially in fiction and drama. It has become an indispensable tool in the
hands of master satirists, humorists, and journalists. Slang is now socially
acceptable, not just because it is slang but because, when used with skill and
discrimination, it adds a new and exciting dimension to language. At the same
time, it is being seriously studied by linguists and other social scientists as
a revealing index to the culture that produces and uses it.
11. Formation
Slang
expressions are created by the same processes that affect ordinary speech.
Expressions may take form as metaphors, similes, and other figures of speech (dead
as a doornail). Words may acquire new meanings (cool, cat). A narrow
meaning may become generalized (fink, originally a strikebreaker, later
a betrayer or disappointer) or vice-versa (heap, a run-down car). Words
may be clipped, or abbreviated (mike, microphone), and acronyms may gain
currency (VIP, awol, snafu). A foreign suffix may be added (the Yiddish
and Russian -nik in beatnik) and foreign words adopted (baloney,
from Bologna). A change in meaning may make a vulgar word acceptable (jazz)
or an acceptable word vulgar (raspberry, a sound imitating flatus; from raspberry
tart in the rhyming slang of Australia and Cockney London; Sometimes words
are newly coined (oomph, sex appeal, and later, energy or impact).
12. Position in
the Language
Slang is
one of the vehicles through which languages change and become renewed, and its
vigor and color enrich daily speech. Although it has gained respectability in
the 20th century, in the past it was often loudly condemned as vulgar.
Nevertheless, Shakespeare brought into acceptable usage such slang terms as hubbub,
to bump, and to dwindle, and 20th-century writers have used slang
brilliantly to convey character and ambience. Slang appears at all times and in
all languages. A person’s head was kapala (dish) in Sanskrit, testa (pot)
in Latin; testa later became the standard Latin word for head. Among
Western languages, English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Yiddish,
Romanian, and Romany (Gypsy) are particularly rich in slang.
II. YOUTH SUBCULTURES
Main Entry: sub·cul·ture
Pronunciation: 's&b-"k&l-ch&r
Function: noun
Date: 1886
1 a : a culture (as of bacteria) derived from another culture b
: an act or instance of producing a subculture
2 : an ethnic, regional, economic, or social group exhibiting
characteristic patterns of behavior sufficient to distinguish it from others
within an embracing culture or society <a criminal subculture>
- sub·cul·tur·al /-'k&lch-r&l, -'k&l-ch&-/ adjective
- sub·cul·tur·al·ly adverb
- subculture transitive verb
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
1. The
Concept of Youth Subcultures
The word 'culture' suggests that there is a separate entity within the larger
society with which the larger society must contend. A subculture group is a
social-cultural formation that exists as a sort of island or enclave within the
larger society. One definition of subculture is: "subcultures are
meaning systems, modes of expression or life styles developed by groups in
subordinate structural positions in response to dominant meaning systems, and
which reflect their attempt to solve structural contradictions rising from the
wider societal context" (Michael Brake). For Brake membership of a
subculture necessarily involves membership of a class culture and the
subculture may be an extension of, or in opposition to, the class culture. The
significance of subcultures for their participants is that they offer a
solution to structural dislocations through the establishment of an achieved
identity - the selection of certain elements of style outside of those
associated with the ascribed identity offered by work, home, or school. He
suggests that the majority of youth pass through life without significant
involvement in deviant subcultures. He says that the role of youth culture
involves offering symbolic elements that are used by youth to construct an
identity outside the restraints of class and education.
Snejina
Michailova, in Exploring Subcultural Specificity in Socialist and Postsocialist
Organisations, presents the following definitions of
subculture: (1) Subcultures are distinct clusters of understandings, behaviors,
and cultural forms that identify groups of people in the organization. They
differ noticeably from the common organizational culture in which they are
embedded, either intensifying its understandings and practices or deviating
from them" (Trice and Beyer). (2) Subculture are a "...compromise
solution between two contradictory needs: the need to create and express
autonomy and difference and the need to maintain identifications to the culture
within whose boundaries the subculture develops" (Cohen)." Snejina
adds: "Subcultures posses their own meanings, their own way of coping with
rules, accepted to be valid for the organization, their own values structured
in specific hierarchies, they develop their own categorical language for
classifying events around them, they create their own symbolic order." A
key element in subcultures is sharedness - the sharing of a common set
of perspectives.
The common
elements of a subculture include: (1) relatively unique values and norms, (2) a
special slang not shared with society, (3) separate channels of communication,
(4) unique styles and fads, (5) a sense of primary group belonging seen in the
use of 'us' and 'them', (6) a hierarchy of social patterns that clarify the
criteria for prestige and leadership, (7) receptivity to the charisma of
leaders and (8) gratification of special unmet needs.
To suggest
that there is a youth subculture requires proof that they are a distinct group
with their own set of characteristic. This is true in terms of (1)
aesthetics: youth have a distinct style and taste that is expressed in
their personal appearance and an artistic flair expressed in spontaneity and
creativity. Their values include an emphasis on community, a sense of belonging
and on collectively shared ecstasy. Youth culture also exists as shown in their
distinct (2) morality: there is a strong emphasis on liberation from all
restraints and on a guiltless pursuit of pleasure. In the area of sexuality we
find an aspect of life where the individual is to experience themselves and
others with complete freedom and honesty. There is a combination of both individualism
(youth culture affirms the autonomy of each individual who has the 'right'
to do their own thing) and collectivism (many individuals are fused into
a common experience). The search for identity is at the core.
2. The
Formation of Youth Subcultures
A subculture group forms when the larger culture fails to meet the needs of a
particular group of people. They offer different patterns of living values and
behaviour norms, but there is dependence on the larger culture for general
goals and direction (unlike counter-cultures which seek to destroy or
change the larger culture). Subcultures try to compensate for the failure of
the larger culture to provide adequate status, acceptance and identity. In the
youth subculture, youth find their age-related needs met. It is a way-station
in the life of the individual - it is as if society permits the individual to
'drop out' for a period of years and is even willing to subsidise the phase.
However, for some people the way-station becomes the place of permanent settlement.
This is when a group moves towards becoming a counter-culture.
Industrialisation
and the related social-psychological factors of modern industrial societies
caused the phenomenon of youth subcultures for the following reasons: (1) The
deepening of the division of labour separated the family from the processes of
modern production and administration. Youth is a further extension of the same
process of institutional separation or differentiation. With the industrial
revolution there arose an institutional structure that 'allowed room' for
youth. (2) With this division of labour there came an increasing specialisation
which led to a lengthening of the period of time that the individual needed to
spend in the educational system. Youth were separated from the process of
production by child labour laws. (3) The rise of modern medicine and nutrition
led to the sheer numbers of youth increasing. (4) The sheer complexity of
modern society has meant that different individuals lead vastly different
lives. When adults disappear into a strange world, reappearing for limited
contact with youth, a degree of estrangement results. This trend has caused
youth to become autonomous, establishing norms and patterns of their own that
are independent from the adult world. (5) Socialisation in modern societies is
characterised by high degrees of discontinuity and inconsistency. This produces
individuals who are not well integrated and a period of time is needed where
they can complete the process of socialisation - a time to find themselves,
hence adolescence.
A number of
different theories have been suggested for the formation of youth subcultures:
A. A
Natural Part of the Journey from Childhood to Adulthood
As discussed under the youth culture section, there is a journey from childhood
to adulthood. Youth ban together for support into groups that function as
half-way houses between the world of being a child and the world of being an
adult. Here youth subcultures are about survival in an otherwise hostile world.
B. A
Class Struggle Expressed Through The Use of Style
In the resistance through rituals understanding of culture the members are
always striving against dominant classes; older generations and against those
who conform. They are always trying to find ways to disrupt the ideological and
generational oppression in order to crease spaces for themselves. The
resistance through personal expression is often contrasted against the
conformity of the ‘normals’. In many writings youth are counterposed against
adults - they hate and avoid adults and oppose them because they represent
authority. A dichotomy was created between, for example: Goths and Normals
where Goths avoid and hate adults, oppose adults who represent authority and
are deemed to resist; while Normals relate well to adults, consult adults with
problems and are deemed to conform. Linda Forrester in a web article speaks of youth
generated culture where visual communication is predominant and language is
subservient to visual means of communications. Visual cultures include:
skateboarders; graffiti artists; street dancers and street machiners which
communicate through movement or gesture. These are periphery groups empowered
by the space that they have created through visual representation. Their
cultural production is recognised by mainstream culture and in that recognition
they are given power to speak. The process empowers them and provides identity.
Group control is managed through the visual display of creative talent, ie,
skaters out-skate each other, graffiti artists out-image each other; street
machines out-car each other; street dancers fight each other through art. In
mainstream culture discourse is primarily verbal but in youth generated culture
discourse is primarily visual. It is through style that criticism of
performance and image occurs and it is through criticism that higher forms of
visual representation occur.
C. A
Rebellion Against the Dominant Culture Using Shock Tactics
Young people in creating subcultures are setting out to shock. One of the key
ways in which they shock is through the clothes they wear. Oppositional
subcultures (ie. Punk and Hip-hop subcultures) are movements dedicated to
rebellion against the dominant culture.
D. A
Construction of New Identities Based on Individualisation
The new ideas in youth culture suggest a more positive view of the role of
youth in society. Youth is viewed as an active category - a sociocultural view
of youth is introduced where youth are involved in the development of society
through their creations. Youth must be allowed to exercise the power to bring
change - they do so in their cultural expressions all the time. Youth culture
is about individualism - an expanding degree of separation of individuals from
their traditional ties and restrictions. As people have 'broken free' they feel
a need to look for fixing points - material with which to form a new social and
cultural identity. The motivation behind participating in the activities of a
subculture involves coping with suffering (the sense of loss at being cut off
from the past and hence one’s identity), ie. alienation, loneliness,
meaningless, etc. The motive is to be reinstated into responsive and
responsible relationships. The individualisation has produced post-traditional
communities - because they are focussed on the individual they are looser and
more fluid than traditional communities but they are still settings in which
youth find self-expression and identity. The subculture is an identity-related
substitute for the lost collective world of modernism but with the
disintegration of tradition, subcultures has lost their identity-creating
potential. There is a now a pluralisation of needs and interests that result
from the process of individualisation and culturalisation - so culture ruptures
are normal. Not only do these ruptures affect all social classes, but the
traditional generational gap is also blurred. Alongside individualisation there
is a tendency towards self-organisation - probably the new communities will be
organised around the needs of the individuals and their interests. Douglas
Rushkoff, in Playing the Future, suggests that as the world has become
increasingly complex the children have adapted to its demands, and they have
the ability to navigate it's terrain - adults must learn from them!
A whole new
approach to the field of subculture theory is emerging. It is an approach that
is critical of the subculture theory approach popular since the seventies.
3. The
Increase of Youth Subcultures
A number of factors account for the increase in the number of subculture groups
in society:
A. The
Size of the Society
Charles Kraft in Anthropology for Christian Witness says: "larger
societies will also develop more subgroupings. These subgroupings are usually
referred to as subcultures."
B. The
Rate of Change in the Society
In societies with slow pace of social change the transition to adulthood goes
smoothly and youth are similar to their parents. There is a unity and a
solidarity between the coming generation and the generation of parents. In
societies undergoing rapid social change a smooth transition to adulthood is no
longer possible and there is a strong dissimilarity with parent generations.
Here an individual cannot reply on their parents identity patterns as they no
longer fit into the social context. Because youth realise that they cannot
learn from past experiences, they search for new identities that are relevant.
In fact, the greater the change in a society the more intense and stronger the
subcultures as people identify more with their subculture in order to find
identity and security.
C. The
Globalisation of the Society
The rate at which cultural objects and ideas are transmitted in large parts of
the world today is a significant factor in the number of youth subculture
groups that are identified. Where a society is connected to the global village
through communication technology, they experience simultaneous pressures to
unity and fragmentation.
D. The
Position of Youth in the Society
People who are marginalised or deprived make their sense of loss known as they
resist to the dominant culture. Where youth are connected to the center of the
dominant culture they do not need to rebel or form counter-cultural groups.
E. The
Generational Size in the Society
The size of a generation impacts on youth subcultures because the overall age
structure within a society influences the social, economical and political make
up of age groups. When the number of youth entering the market place drops,
then youth as a portion of the total labour force also falls. This decline in
youth as a market force, both as consumers and producers will significantly
alter the social and political visibility of youth.
4. The
Features of Youth Subcultures
Looking at various writings on youth culture the following features are noted
(some of which may well overlap): style; language, music, class, rebellion,
gender, art, rebellion, relationship to the dominant culture, degree of
openness to outsiders, urban/rural living, etc. The following insights were
gained from class interaction on youth subculture groups:
A. Class
and Youth Subcultures
It was found that within different socio-economic groups subculture groups take
on different characteristics and are based on different factors. Within the
working class communities youth tend to have more interaction with parents and
therefore don’t seem to rebel as much against their parents as youth in middle
to upper classes. Youth subcultures in working class communities will show a
greater among of gang activity, with subculture groups being defined around
gangs in some areas. In middle class areas youth seem to form their subcultures
around interests, such as sports.
B. Music
and Youth Subcultures
Most subculture groups could be identified with a specific music genre and in
some instances music was the defining characteristic around which the group was
formed (such as with the following subcultures: Ravers, Metalheads, Homeboys,
Ethno-hippies, Goths, Technos, Rastas and Punks). In other communities music is
a key feature, but another factor would be the key characteristic, such as with
Bladers, Bikers, Skaters, Surfers, etc.).
C.
Family and Youth Subcultures
In working class families, we noted that families tend to have closer
interaction and youth do not seem so intent on being different to their
parents, whereas in other communities youth may deliberately choose a certain
subculture group to reinforce their independence and even opposition to their
parents. In upper-class communities (or among youth from upper-class homes)
youth are given a lot more disposable income with which to engage in sports,
computers, entertainment, etc. So they are able to engage in a greater
diversity of pursuits - so there are possibly more subculture groups in middle
to upper-class communities.
D. Fashion
and Youth Subcultures
It was noted that fashion plays a role in all subculture groups and that some
are more strongly defined by their fashion, while others take the clothing that
relates to the music or sport to define the subculture group. Working class
youth tend to place greater emphasis on fashion as it is the one way in which
they can show off what they own, whereas middle class youth have other things
to show off, such as homes, smart cars, fancy sound systems, etc.
5. The
Types of Youth Subcultures
Snejina Michailova, in Exploring Subcultural Specificity in Socialist and
Postsocialist Organisations, presents the following
understanding of the types of subcultures based on their internal logic of
development: (a) Stable Subcultures - these are functional and
hierarchical and age-based. (b) Developing Subcultures - here there are
two types, those that are (i) climbing - their role is becoming more
important, and those that are (ii) climbing-down - their significance is
being reduced. (c) Counter Cultures - those that confront and contradict
the official culture, also called oppositional subcultures.
6. The
Variety of Youth Subcultures
Youth workers should, through research and observation, seek to identify the
various subculture groups within the community in which the youth group
operates, to ensure that the group is able to help to meet the needs of the
different groups. In Britain in the 1980s the following groups of youth were
identified: Casuals, Rastas, Sloans, Goths, Punks and Straights. In South
Africa in the 1990s the following youth subculture groups were identified:
Socialite, Striver, Traditionalist, Independent, Uninvolved, Careful and
Acceptor. In 1995 a market research project discovered that within the Black
youth culture there are three main subcultures: the Rappers, Pantsulas and the
Italians. While within the White youth subculture only thirty percent of youth
identify with a subculture and the subcultures are far more numerous:
alternatives, Punks, Goths, Technoids, Metalheads, Homeboys, Yuppies, Hippies
and Grunge.
The
following subculture groups were identified by students studying at the Baptist
Theological College in South Africa: Achievers; Intellectuals; Belongers;
Image-Conscious; Very Poor; Models; Heavy Metal Dudes; Rugby Boys; Metalheads;
Hippies; Mainstream; Average Teenager; Fashion Fanatic; Intellectuals;
Physical; Clubers; Family Centered; Workaholics; Pleasure Seekers; Hobby
Fanatics; Religious Freaks; Head Banger; Punk; Home Boys; Skater; Gothics;
Yuppies; Trendys; Rappers; Club-Hoppers; Metal Heads; Socialites; Independents;
Uninvolved; Carefuls; Socialites - Pantsulas; Mapanga (Punks); Mapantsula;
Strivers; Comrades; Preppy; Outrageous; Sexy; Sporty; Gothic/Satanists; Nerds;
Intellectual Strivers; Socialites; Jokers; Gangsters; Independents;
Traditionalists; Teenyboppers; Trendy Group; Arty Type; Alternative Group; Drug
Culture; Gay Culture; Squatters/Vagrants Culture.
In the
movie, The Breakfast Club, five teenagers are sent to detention
for eight hours on a Saturday at their school (Shermer High School, Illinois).
They are:
* Brian Johnson, a nerdy computer type, an intellectual who belongs to the
Maths club
* Clair Standish, a ‘princess' - wealthy kid who is a popular type
* Andrew Clark - a sporty type who is in the school wrestling team
* Carl - a ‘criminal' type who has had a hard upbringing, a kid with an
attitude
* Alison Reynolds - a strange girl, who is secretive, uncommunicative and
dresses in black
The
teacher, Richard Vernon, says that they have to write an essay that explains
who they are. During the day in detention, these five young people who would
otherwise never together socially begin to find out about each other. They
share about their home, their parents, the things that they are able to do, and
why they are in detention (they even end up sharing a dagga joint). Very soon
they are bonding together. Someone asks the questions about whether they will
still be friends when they see each other on Monday. Some admit that they would
be ashamed to greet the other person if they are with their friends.
They get
Brian to write the essay for the teacher. This is what he writes: Dear Mr
Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in
detention, what we did was wrong, but we think you're crazy to make us write an
essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us, in the
simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found is that each
one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess and a
criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club.
The movie
starts and ends with this letter being read. During the opening sequence the
following quote by David Bowie is written across the screen, while the song by
Simple Minds, Don't You Forget About Me, plays in the background: "And
these children that you spit on as they try to change their world are immune to
your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through."
In the
opening scene where the letter is narrated by Brian, the reading ends with: "That's
how we saw ourselves at 7 o'clock this morning. We were brainwashed."
When social
workers start to research a subculture group they often find that the members
of the subculture group are less that helpful. Consider the following quotes:
"It
is highly unlikely that the members of any of the subcultures described in this
book (Reggae, Hipsters, Beats, Teddy Boys, Mods, Skin Heads and Punks) would
recognize themselves here. They are still less likely to welcome any efforts on
our part to understand them. After all, we the sociologists and interested
straights, threaten to kill with kindness the forms which we seek to
elucidate...we should hardly be surprised to find our 'sympathetic' readings of
subordinate culture are regarded by members of a subculture with just as much
indifference and contempt as the hostile labels imposed by the courts and the
press." From: Subculture:
The Meaning of Style by Dick Hebdige, Routledge, 1967.
A
16-year-old mod from South London said: "You'd really hate an adult to
understand you. That's the only thing you've got over them - the fact that you
can mystify and worry them." From: Generation X by Hamblett and
Deverson, Tandem, 1964.
III. ROCK MUSIC
Main Entry: 1rock
Pronunciation: 'räk
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English rokken, from Old English roccian; akin
to Old High German rucken to cause to move
Date: 12th century
transitive senses
1 a : to move back and forth in or as if in a cradle b :
to wash (placer gravel) in a cradle
2 a : to cause to sway back and forth <a boat rocked by
the waves> b (1) : to cause to shake violently (2) : to
daze with or as if with a vigorous blow <a hard right rocked the
contender> (3) : to astonish or disturb greatly <the scandal rocked
the community>
intransitive senses
1 : to become moved backward and forward under often violent
impact; also : to move gently back and forth
2 : to move forward at a steady pace; also : to
move forward at a high speed <the train rocked through the
countryside>
3 : to sing, dance to, or play rock music
synonym SHAKE
- rock the boat : to do something that disturbs the equilibrium
of a situation
Main Entry: 2rock
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Date: 1823
1 : a rocking movement
2 : popular music usually played on electronically amplified
instruments and characterized by a persistent heavily accented beat, much
repetition of simple phrases, and often country, folk, and blues elements
Main Entry: rock and roll
Function: noun
Date: 1954
: 2ROCK 2
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged
Dictionary
ROCK, also
called ROCK AND ROLL, ROCK ROLL, or ROCK 'N' ROLL form of popular music that
emerged in the 1950s.
It is
certainly arguable that by the end of the 20th century rock was the world's
dominant form of popular music. Originating in the United States in
the 1950s, it spread to English-speaking countries and across Europe in the
'60s, and by the '90s its impact was obvious globally (if in many different
local guises). Rock's commercial importance was by then reflected in the
organization of the multinational recording industry, in the sales racks of
international record retailers, and in the playlist policies of music radio and
television. If other kinds of music--classical, jazz, easy listening, country,
folk, etc.--are marketed as minority interests, rock defines the musical
mainstream. And so over the last half of the 20th century it became the most
inclusive of musical labels--everything can be "rocked"--and in
consequence the hardest to define. To answer the question What is rock? one first
has to understand where it came from and what made it possible. And to
understand rock's cultural significance one has to understand how it works
socially as well as musically.
1. What
is rock?
The
difficulty of definition
Dictionary
definitions of rock are problematic, not least because the term has different
resonance in its British and American usages (the latter is broader in
compass). There is basic agreement that rock "is a form of music with a
strong beat," but it is difficult to be much more explicit. The Collins
Cobuild English Dictionary, based on a vast database of British usage,
suggests that "rock is a kind of music with simple tunes and a very strong
beat that is played and sung, usually loudly, by a small group of people with
electric guitars and drums," but there are so many exceptions to this
description that it is practically useless.
Legislators
seeking to define rock for regulatory purposes have not done much better. The
Canadian government defined "rock and rock-oriented music" as
"characterized by a strong beat, the use of blues forms and the
presence of rock instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, electric
organ or electric piano." This assumes that rock can be marked off from
other sorts of music formally, according to its sounds. In practice, though,
the distinctions that matter for rock fans and musicians have been ideological.
Rock was developed as a term to distinguish certain music-making and
listening practices from those associated with pop; what was at issue was less
a sound than an attitude. In 1990 British legislators defined pop music as
"all kinds of music characterized by a strong rhythmic element and a
reliance on electronic amplification for their performance." This led to
strong objections from the music industry that such a definition failed to
appreciate the clear sociological difference between pop ("instant
singles-based music aimed at teenagers") and rock ("album-based music
for adults"). In pursuit of definitional clarity, the lawmakers
misunderstood what made rock music matter.
Crucial
rock musicians
For
lexicographers and legislators alike, the purpose of definition is to grasp a
meaning, to hold it in place, so that people can use a word correctly--for
example, to assign a track to its proper radio outlet (rock, pop, country,
jazz). The trouble is that the term rock describes an evolving musical
practice informed by a variety of nonmusical arguments (about creativity,
sincerity, commerce, and popularity). It makes more sense, then, to approach
the definition of rock historically, with examples. The following musicians
were crucial to rock's history. What do they have in common?
Elvis Presley, from Memphis, Tennessee, personified a new form of American
popular music in the mid-1950s. Rock and roll was a guitar-based sound with a
strong (if loose) beat that drew equally on African-American and white
traditions from the southern United States, on blues, church
music, and country music. Presley's rapid rise to national stardom
revealed the new cultural and economic power of both teenagers and teen-aimed
media--records, radio, television, and motion pictures.
The Beatles,
from Liverpool, England (via Hamburg, Germany), personified a new form of
British popular music in the 1960s. Mersey beat was a
British take on the black and white musical mix of rock and roll: a basic
lineup of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, and drums (with shared
vocals) provided local live versions of American hit records of all sorts. The
Beatles added to this an artistic self-consciousness, soon writing their own
songs and using the recording studio to develop their own--rather than a
commercial producer's--musical ideas. The group's unprecedented success in the
United States ensured that rock would be an Anglo-American phenomenon.
Bob Dylan, from Hibbing, Minnesota (via New
York City), personified a new form of American music in the mid-1960s. Dylan
brought together the amplified beat of rock and roll, the star imagery of pop,
the historical and political sensibility of folk, and--through the wit,
ambition, and obscurity of his lyrics--the arrogance of urban bohemia. He gave
the emerging rock scene artistic weight (his was album, not Top 40, music) and
a new account of youth as an ideological rather than a demographic category.
Jimi Hendrix, from Seattle, Washington (via
London), personified the emergence of rock as a specific musical genre in the
late 1960s. Learning his trade as a guitarist in rhythm-and-blues bands and possessing
a jazzman's commitment to collective improvisation, he came to fame leading a
trio in London and exploring the possibilities of the amplifier as a musical
instrument in the recording studio and on the concert stage. Hendrix
established versatility and technical skill as a norm for rock musicianship and
gave shape to a new kind of event: the outdoor festival and stadium concert, in
which the noise of the audience became part of the logic of the music.
Bob Marley from Kingston, Jamaica (via
London), personified a new kind of global popular music in the 1970s. Marley
and his group, the Wailers, combined sweet soul vocals inspired by Chicago
groups such as the Impressions with rock guitar, a reggae beat, and Rastafarian
mysticism. Marley's commercial success established Jamaica as a major
source of international talent, leaving a reggae imprint not just on Western
rock but also on local music makers in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Madonna, from suburban Detroit, Michigan
(via New York City), personified a new sort of global teen idol in the 1980s.
She combined the sounds and technical devices of the New York City disco-club
scene New York City disco-club scene with the new sales and image-making
opportunities offered by video promotion--primarily by Music Television (MTV),
the music-based cable television service. As a star Madonna had it both ways:
she was at once a knowing American feminist artist and a global sales icon for
the likes of Pepsi-Cola.
Public Enemy, from New York City, personified a
new sort of African-American music in the late 1980s. Rap, the competitive use
of rhyming lines spoken over an ever-more-challenging rhythmic base, had a long
history in African-American culture; however, it came to musical prominence as
part of the hip-hop movement. Public Enemy used new digital technology
to sample (use excerpts from other recordings) and recast the urban soundscape
from the perspective of African-American youth. This was music that was at once
sharply attuned to local political conditions and resonant internationally. By
the mid-1990s rap had become an expressive medium for minority social groups
around the world.
What does
this version of rock's history--from Presley to Public Enemy--reveal? First,
that rock is so broad a musical category that in practice people organize their
tastes around more focused genre labels: the young Presley was a rockabilly,
the Beatles a pop group, Dylan a folkie, Madonna a disco diva, Marley and the Wailers
a reggae act, and Public Enemy rappers. Even Hendrix, the most straightforward
rock star on this list, also has a place in the histories of rhythm
and blues and jazz. In short, while all these musicians
played a significant part in the development of rock, they did so by using
different musical instruments and textures, different melodic and rhythmic
principles, different approaches to song words and performing conventions.
Musical
eclecticism and the use of technology
Even from a
musicological point of view, any account of rock has to start with its
eclecticism. Beginning with the mix of country and blues that comprised rock and
roll (rock's first incarnation), rock has been essentially a
hybrid form. African-American musics were at the centre of this mix, but rock
resulted from what white musicians, with their own folk histories and pop
conventions, did with African-American music--and with issues of race and race
relations.
Rock's
musical eclecticism reflects (and is reflected in) the geographic mobility of
rock musicians, back and forth across the United States, over the Atlantic
Ocean, and throughout Europe. Presley was unique as a rock star who did not
move away from his roots; Hendrix was more typical in his restlessness. And if
rock and roll had rural origins, the rock audience was from the start urban, an
anonymous crowd seeking an idealized sense of community and sociability in
dance halls and clubs, on radio stations, and in headphones. Rock's central
appeal as a popular music has been its ability to provide globally an intense
experience of belonging, whether to a local scene or a subculture. Rock history
can thus be organized around both the sound of cities (Philadelphia
and Detroit, New York City and San Francisco, Liverpool
and Manchester) and the spread of youth cults (rock and roll, heavy
metal, punk, and grunge).
Rock is
better defined, then, by its eclecticism than by reference to some musical
essence, and it is better understood in terms of its general use of technology
rather than by its use of particular instruments (such as the guitar). Early
rock-and-roll stars such as Presley and Buddy Holly
depended for their sound on engineers' trickery in the recording studio as much
as they did on their own vocal skills, and the guitar became the
central rock instrument because of its amplified rather
than acoustic qualities. Rock's history is tied up with technological shifts in
the storage, retrieval, and transmission of sounds: multitrack tape recording
made possible an experimental composition process that turned the recording
studio into an artist's studio; digital recording made possible a manipulation
of sound that shifted the boundaries between music and noise. Rock musicians
pushed against the technical limits of sound amplification and inspired the
development of new electronic instruments, such as the drum machine. Even
relatively primitive technologies, such as the double-deck turntable, were
tools for new sorts of music making in the hands of the "scratch"
deejay, and one way rock marked itself off from other popular musical forms was
in its constant pursuit of new sounds and new sound devices.
Rock and
youth culture
This
pursuit of the new can be linked to rock's central sociological characteristic,
its association with youth. In the 1950s and early 1960s this was a simple
market equation: rock and roll was played by young musicians for young
audiences and addressed young people's interests (quick sex and puppy love). It
was therefore dismissed by many in the music industry as a passing novelty,
"bubblegum," akin to the yo-yo or the hula hoop. But by the mid-1960s
youth had become an ideological category that referred to a particular
kind of hedonism, individualism, and modernism. Whereas youth once
referred to high-school students, it came to include college students.
Moreover, rock became multifunctional--dance and party music on the one hand, a
matter of serious attention and intimate expression on the other. As rock
spread globally this had different implications in different countries, but in
general it allowed rock to continue to define itself as youthful even as its
performers and listeners grew up and settled down. And it meant that rock's
radical claim--the suggestion that the music remained somehow against the
establishment even as it became part of it--was sustained by an adolescent
irresponsibility, a commitment to the immediate thrills of sex 'n' drugs 'n'
outrage and never mind the consequences. The politics of rock fun has its own
power structure, and it is not, perhaps, surprising that Madonna was the first
woman to make a significant splash in rock history. And she did so by focusing
precisely on rock's sexual assumptions.
Authenticity
and commercialism
Madonna can be described as a rock star
(and not just a disco performer or teen idol) because she
articulated rock culture's defining paradox: the belief that this
music--produced, promoted, and sold by extremely successful and sophisticated
multinational corporations--is nonetheless somehow noncommercial. It is
noncommercial not in its processes of production but in the motivations of its
makers and listeners, in terms of what, in rock, makes a piece of music or a
musician valuable. The defining term in rock ideology is authenticity. Rock is
distinguished from pop as the authentic expression of a performer's or
composer's feelings and the authentic representation of a social situation.
Rock is at once the mainstream of commercial music and a romantic art form, a
voice from the social margins. Presley's first album for RCA in 1956 was just
as carefully packaged to present him as an authentic, street-credible musician
(plucking an acoustic guitar on the album cover) as was Public Enemy's classic It
Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, issued by the CBS-backed Def
JamDef Jam in 1988; Madonna was every bit as concerned with revealing her
artifice as art in the 1980s as Dylan was in the '60s.
Rock, in
summary, is not just an eclectic form musically but also a contradictory form
ideologically. In making sense of its contradictions, two terms are critical.
The first is presence. The effect of rock's musical promiscuity, its use of
technology, and its emphasis on the individual voice is a unique sonic
presence. Rock has the remarkable power both to dominate the soundscape and to
entice the listener into the performers' emotional lives. The second is do-it-yourself
(DIY). The credibility of this commercial music's claim to be noncommercial
depends on the belief that rock is pushed up from the bottom rather than
imposed from the top--hence the importance in rock mythology of independent
record companies, local hustlers, managers, and deejays, fanzines, and pirate
radiopirate radio broadcasters. Even as a multimillion-dollar industry, rock is
believed to be a music and a culture that people make for themselves. The
historical question becomes, What were the circumstances that made such a
belief possible?
2. Rock
in the 1950s
The
development of the new vocal pop star
If rock
music evolved from 1950s rock and roll, then rock and roll itself--which at the
time seemed to spring from nowhere--evolved from developments in American
popular music that followed the marketing of the new technologies of records,
radio, motion pictures, and the electric microphone. By the 1930s their
combined effect was an increasing demand for vocal rather than instrumental
records and for singing stars such as Bing Crosby and Frank
Sinatra. Increasingly, pop songs were written to display a
singer's personality rather than a composer's skill; they had to work emotionally
through the singer's expressiveness rather than formally as a result of the
score (it was Sinatra's feelings that were heard in the songs he sang rather
than their writers'). By the early 1950s it was clear that this new kind of
vocal pop star needed simpler, more directly emotional songs than those
provided by jazz or theatre-based composers, and the big publishers began to
take note of the blues and country numbers issued on small record labels in the
American South. While the major record companies tried to meet the needs of
Hollywood, the national radio networks, and television, a system of independent
record companiesindependent record companies (such as AtlanticAtlantic, SunSun,
and ChessChess), local radio stations, and traveling deejayslocal radio
stations, and traveling deejays emerged to serve the music markets the majors
ignored: African-Americans, Southern whites, and, eventually, youth.
Rural music in urban
settings
Selling
rural American musics (blues, folk, country, and gospel) had always
been the business of small rather than corporate entrepreneurs, but World War
II changed the markets for them--partly because of the hundreds of thousands of
Southerners who migrated north for work, bringing their music with them, and
partly because of the broadening cultural horizons that resulted from military
service. Rural music in urban settings became, necessarily, louder and more
aggressive (the same thing had happened to jazz in the early
1920s). Instruments, notably the guitar, had to be amplified to cut through the
noise, and, as black dance bands got smaller (for straightforward economic
reasons), guitar, bass, and miked-up voice replaced brass and wind sections,
while keyboards and saxophone became rhythm instruments used to swell the beat
punched out by the drums. Country dance bands, emerging from 1940s
jazz-influenced western swing, made similar changes, amplifying guitars and
bass, giving the piano a rhythmic role, and playing up the personality of the
singer.
Such
music--rhythm and blues and honky tonk--was developed in live
performance by traveling musicians who made their living by attracting dancers
to bars, clubs, and halls. By the late 1940s it was being recorded by
independent record companies, always on the lookout for cheap repertoire and
aware of these musicians' local pulling power. As the records were played on
local radio stations, the appeal of this music--its energy, humour, and
suggestiveness--reached white suburban teenagers who otherwise knew nothing
about it. Rhythm-and-blues record retailers, radio stations, and deejays (most
famously Alan Freed) became aware of a new market--partying teenagers--while
the relevant recording studios began to be visited by young white musicians who
wanted to make such music for themselves. The result was rock and
roll, the adoption of these rural-urban, black and white sounds
by an emergent teenage culture that came to international attention with the
success of the film Blackboard Jungle in 1956.
Marketing
rock and roll
Rock and
roll's impact in the 1950s reflected the spending power of young people who, as
a result of the '50s economic boom (and in contrast to the prewar Great
Depression), had unprecedented disposable income. That income was
of interest not just to record companies but to an ever-increasing range of
advertisers keen to pay for time on teen-oriented, Top 40 radio stations and
for the development of teen-aimed television showsteen-aimed television shows
such as American BandstandAmerican Bandstand. For the major record
companies, Presley's success marked less the appeal of do-it-yourself musical
hybrids than the potential of teenage idols: singers with musical material and
visual images that could be marketed on radio and television and in motion
pictures and magazines. The appeal of live rock and roll (and its predominantly
black performers) was subordinated to the manufacture of teenage pop stars (who
were almost exclusively white). Creative attention thus swung from the
performers to the record makers--that is, to the songwriters (such as those
gathered in the Brill BuildingBrill Building in New York City) and producers
(such as Phil Spector) who could guarantee the teen appeal of a
record and ensure that it would stand out on a car radio.
3. Rock
in the 1960s
A black
and white hybrid
Whatever
the commercial forces at play (and despite the continuing industry belief that
this was pop music as transitory novelty), it became
clear that the most successful writers and producers of teenage music were
themselves young and intrigued by musical hybridity and the technological
possibilities of the recording studiotechnological possibilities of the
recording studio. In the early 1960s teenage pop ceased to sound like young
adult pop. Youthful crooners such as Frankie Avalon and
Fabian were replaced in the charts by vocal groups such as the Shirelles.
A new rock-and-roll hybrid of black and white music appeared: Spector derived
the mini-dramas of girl groups such as the Crystals and the
Ronettes from the vocal rhythm-and-blues style of doo-wop, the Beach
Boys rearranged Chuck Berry for barbershop-style
close harmonies, and in Detroit Berry Gordy's Motown
label drew on gospel music (first secularized for the teenage market by Sam
Cooke) for the more rhythmically complex but equally commercial
sounds of the Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas.
For the new generation of record producer, whether Spector, the Beach Boys'
Brian Wilson, or Motown's Smokey Robinson and the team of Holland-Dozier-Holland,
the commercial challenge--to make a record that would be heard through all the
other noises in teenage lives--was also an artistic challenge. Even in this
most commercial of scenes (thanks in part to its emphasis on fashion), success
depended on a creative approach to technological DIY.
The British reaction
Rock
historians tend to arrange rock's past into a recurring pattern of emergence,
appropriation, and decline. Thus, rock and roll emerged in the mid-1950s only
to be appropriated by big business (for example, Presley's move from the
Memphis label Sun to the national corporation RCA) and to decline into teen pop; the Beatles
then emerged in the mid-1960s at the front of a British Invasion that led young Americans back
to rock and roll's roots. But this notion is misleading. One reason for the
Beatles' astonishing popularity by the end of the 1960s was precisely that they
did not distinguish between the "authenticity" of, say, Chuck Berry
and the "artifice" of the Marvelettes.
In Britain,
as in the rest of Europe, rock and roll had an immediate youth appeal--each
country soon had its own Elvis Presley--but it made little impact on national
music media, as broadcasting was still largely under state control. Local rock
and rollers had to make the music onstage rather than on record. In the United
Kingdom musicians followed the skiffle group model of the folk, jazz, and
blues scenes, the only local sources of American music making. The Beatles were
only one of many provincial British groups who from the late 1950s played
American music for their friends, imitating all kinds of hit sounds--from Berry
to the Shirelles, from Carl Perkins to the Isley Brothers--while using the basic skiffle
format of rhythm section, guitar, and shouting to be heard in cheap,
claustrophobic pubs and youth clubs.
In this
context a group's most important instruments were their voices--on the one
hand, individual singers (such as John Lennon and Paul McCartney) developed a
new harshness and attack; on the other hand, group voices (vocal harmonies) had
to do the decorative work provided on the original records by producers in the
studio. Either way, it was through their voices that British beat groups,
covering the same songs with the same lineup of instruments, marked themselves
off from each other, and it was through this emphasis on voice that vocal rhythm and blues made its mark on the tastes
of "mod" culture (the "modernist" style-obsessed,
consumption-driven youth culture that developed in Britain in the 1960s). Soul singers such as Ray Charles and Sam Cooke were the model for
beat group vocals and by the mid-1960s were joined in the British charts by
more intense African-American singers such as Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding. British guitarists were equally
influenced by this expressive ideal, and the loose rhythm guitar playing of
rock and roll and skiffle was gradually replaced by more ornate lead playing on
electric guitar as local musicians such as Eric Clapton sought to emulate blues artists
such as B.B. King. Clapton
took the ideal of authentic performance from the British jazz scene, but his
pursuit of originality--his homage to the blues originals and his search for
his own guitar voice--also reflected his art-school education (Clapton was one
of many British rock stars who engaged in music seriously while in art school).
By the end of the 1960s, it was assumed that British rock groups wrote their
own songs. What had once been a matter of necessity--there was a limit to the
success of bands that played strictly cover versions, and Britain's
professional songwriters had little understanding of these new forms of
music--was now a matter of principle: self-expression onstage and in the studio
was what distinguished these "rock" acts from pop "puppets"
like Cliff Richard.
(Groomed as Britain's Elvis Presley in the 1950s--moving with his band, the Shadows, from skiffle clubsskiffle clubs to
television teen variety shows--Richard was by the end of the 1960s a family
entertainer, his performing style and material hardly even marked by rock and
roll.)
Folk rock, the hippie movement, and "the
rock paradox"
The
peculiarity of Britain's beat boom--in which would-be pop stars such as the
Beatles turned arty while would-be blues musicians such as the Rolling Stones turned pop--had a dramatic
effect in the United States, not only on consumers but also on musicians, on
the generation who had grown up on rock and roll but grown out of it and into
more serious sounds, such as urban folk. The Beatles' success suggested that it
was possible to enjoy the commercial, mass-cultural power of rock and roll
while remaining an artist. The immediate consequence was folk rock. Folk musicians, led by Bob Dylan, went electric, amplified their
instruments, and sharpened their beat. Dylan in particular showed that a pop
song could be both a means of social commentary (protest) and a form of
self-expression (poetry). On both the East and West coasts, bohemia started to
take an interest in youth music again. In San Francisco, for example, folk and
blues musicians, artists, and poets came together in loose collectives (most
prominently the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane) to make acid rock as an
unfolding psychedelic
experience, and rock became the musical soundtrack for a new youth culture, the
hippies.
The hippie
movement of the late 1960s in the United States--tied up with Vietnam War service and anti-Vietnam War
protests, the Civil Rights Movement,
and sexual liberation--fed back into the British rock scene. British beat
groups also defined their music as art, not commerce, and felt themselves to be
constrained by technology rather than markets. The Beatles made the move from
pop to rock on their 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,
symbolically identifying with the new hippie era, while bands such as Pink Floyd and Cream (Clapton's band) set new
standards of musical skill and technical imagination. This was the setting in
which Hendrix became the
rock musician's rock musician. He was a model not just in his virtuosity and
inventiveness as a musician but also in his stardom and his commercial
charisma. By the end of the 1960s the great paradox of rock had become
apparent: rock musicians' commitment to artistic integrity--their disdain for
chart popularity--was bringing them unprecedented wealth. Sales of rock albums
and concert tickets reached levels never before seen in popular music. And, as
the new musical ideology was being articulated in magazinesnew musical ideology
was being articulated in magazines such as Rolling Stone, so it was
being commercially packaged by emergent record companies such as Warner
BrothersWarner Brothers in the United States and IslandIsland in Britain. Rock
fed both off and into hippie rebellion (as celebrated by the Woodstock festival
of 1969), and it fed both off and into a buoyant new music business (also
celebrated by Woodstock). This music and audience were now where the money lay;
the Woodstock musicians seemed to have tapped into an insatiable demand,
whether for "progressive" rock
and formal experiment, heavy metal and a bass-driven blast of high-volume
blues, or singer-songwriters and
sensitive self-exploration.
4. Rock
in the 1970s
Corporate
rock
The 1970s
began as the decade of the rock superstar. Excess became the norm for bands
such as the Rolling Stones, not just in terms of their private wealth and
well-publicized decadence but also in terms of stage and studio effects and
costs. The sheer scale of rock album sales gave musicians--and their
ever-growing entourage of managers, lawyers, and accountants--the upper hand in
negotiations with record companies, and for a moment it seemed that the greater
the artistic self-indulgence the bigger the financial return. By the end of the
decade, though, the 25-year growth in record sales had come to a halt, and a
combination of economic recession and increasing competition for young people's
leisure spending (notably from the makers of video games) brought the music
industry, by this point based on rock, its first real crisis. The
Anglo-American music market was consolidated into a shape that has not changed
much since, while new sales opportunities beyond the established transatlantic
route began to be pursued more intently.
Challenges
to mainstream rock
The 1970s,
in short, was the decade in which a pattern of rock formats and functions was
settled. The excesses of rock superstardom elicited both a return to DIY rock and roll (in the roots sounds of
performers such as Bruce Springsteen and
in the punk movement of
British youth) and a self-consciously camp take on rock stardom itself (in the glam rock of the likes of Roxy Music, David Bowie, and Queen). The continuing needs of dancers were
met by the disco movement
(originally shaped by the twist phenomenon in the 1960s), which was briefly
seized by the music industry as a new pop mainstream following the success of
the film Saturday Night Fever in 1977. By the early 1980s, however,
disco settled back into its own world of clubs, deejays, and recording studios
and its own crosscurrents from African-American, Latin-American, and gay
subcultures. African-American music developed in parallel to rock, drawing on
rock technology sometimes to bridge black and white markets (as with Stevie Wonder) and sometimes to sharpen their
differences (as in the case of funk).
Rock, in
other words, was routinized, as both a moneymaking and a music-making practice.
This had two consequences that were to become clearer in the 1980s. First, the
musical tension between the mainstream and the margins, which had originally
given rock and roll its cultural dynamism, was now contained within rock
itself. The new mainstream was personified by Elton John, who developed a style of soul-inflected rock ballad that over the next two decades became
the dominant sound of global pop music. But the 1970s also gave rise to a
clearly "alternative" rock ideology (most militantly articulated by
British punk musicians), a
music scene self-consciously developed on independent labels using
"underground" media and committed to protecting the
"essence" of rock and roll from commercial degradation. The
alternative-mainstream, authentic-fake distinction crossed all rock genres and
indicated how rock culture had come to be defined by its own contradictions.
Second,
sounds from outside the Anglo-American rock nexus began to make their mark on
it (and in unexpected ways). In the 1970s, for example, Europop began to have an impact on the New
York City dance scene via the clean, catchy Swedish sound of Abba, the
electronic machine music of Kraftwerk, and the American-Italian
collaboration (primarily in West Germany) of Donna Summer and Giorgio MoroderGiorgio
Moroder. At the same time, Marley's success in applying a Jamaican sensibility
to rock conventions meant that reggae became a new tool for rock musicians,
whether established stars such as Clapton and the Rolling Stones' Keith
Richards or young punks like the Clash, and played a significant role (via New
York City's Jamaican sound-system deejays) in the emergence of hip-hop.
5. Rock
in the 1980s and '90s
Digital
technology and alternatives to adult-oriented rock
The music
industry was rescued from its economic crisis by the development in the 1980s
of a new technology, digital recording. Vinyl records were replaced by the compact disc (CD), a technological revolution
that immediately had a conservative effect. By this point the most affluent
record buyers had grown up on rock; they were encouraged to replace their
records, to listen to the same music on a superior sound system. Rock became
adult music; youthful fads continued to appear and disappear, but these were no
longer seen as central to the rock process, and, if rock's 1970s superstars
could no longer match the sales of their old records with their new releases,
they continued to sell out stadium concerts that became nostalgic rituals (most
unexpectedly for the Grateful Dead). For new white acts the industry had to
turn to alternative rock. A
new pattern emerged--most successfully in the 1980s for R.E.M. and in the '90s for Nirvana--in which independent labels, college
radio stationscollege radio stations, and local retailers developed a cult
audience for acts that were then signed and mass-marketed by a major label.
Local record companies became, in effect, research and development divisions of
the multinationals.
The radical
development of digital technology occurred elsewhere, in the new devices for
sampling and manipulating sound, used by dance music engineers who had already
been exploring the rhythmic and sonic possibilities of electronic instruments
and blurring the distinctions between live and recorded music. Over the next
decade the uses of digital equipment pioneered on the dance scene fed into all
forms of rock music making. For a rap act such as Public Enemy, what mattered was not just a new
palette of "pure" sound but also a means of putting reality--the
actual voices of the powerful and powerless--into the music. Rap, as was
quickly understood by young disaffected groups around the world, made it
possible to talk back to the media.
The
global market and fragmentation
The
regeneration of DIY paralleled the
development of new means of global music marketing. The 1985 Live Aid event, in
which live television broadcasts of charity concerts taking place on both sides
of the Atlantic were shown worldwide, not only put on public display the rock
establishment and its variety of sounds but also made clear television's
potential as a marketing tool. MTV, the American cable company that had
adopted the Top 40 radio format and made video clips as vital a promotional tool as
singles, looked to satellite technology to spread its message: "One world,
one music." And the most successful acts of the 1980s, Madonna and Michael Jackson (whose 1982 album, Thriller,
became the best-selling album of all time by crossing rock's internal
divides), were the first video acts, using MTV brilliantly to sell themselves
as stars while being used, in turn, as global icons in the advertising
strategies of companies such as Pepsi-Cola.
The problem
with this pursuit of a single market for a single music was that rock culture
was fragmenting. The 1990s had no unifying stars (the biggest sensation, the
Spice Girls, were never really taken seriously). The attempt to market a global
music was met by the rise of world music, an ever-increasing number of
voices drawing on local traditions and local concerns to absorb rock rather
than be absorbed by it. Tellingly, the biggest corporate star of the 1990s, the
Quebecois Céline Dion,
started out in the French-language market. By the end of the 20th century,
hybridity meant musicians playing up divisions within rock rather than forging
new alliances. In Britain the rave scene (fueled by dance music such as house and techno, which arrived from Chicago and Detroit
via Ibiza, Spainvia Ibiza, Spain) converged with "indie" guitar rock
in a nostalgic pursuit of the rock community past that ultimately was a
fantasy. Although groups like Primal Scream and the Prodigy seemed to contain,
in themselves, 30 years of rock history, they remained on the fringes of most
people's listening. Rock had come to describe too broad a range of sounds and
expectations to be unified by anyone.
Rock as
a reflection of cultural change
How, then,
should rock's contribution to music history be judged? One way to answer this
is to trace rock's influences on other musics; another is to attempt a kind of
cultural audit (What is the ratio of rock masterworks to rock dross?). But such
approaches come up against the problem of definition. Rock does not so much
influence other musics as colonize them, blurring musical boundaries. Any
attempt to establish an objective rock canon is equally doomed to failure--rock
is not this sort of autonomous, rule-bound aesthetic form.
Its
cultural value must be approached from a different perspective. The question is
not How has rock influenced society? but rather How has it reflected society?
From the musician's point of view, for example, the most important change since
the 1950s has been in the division of music-making labour. When Elvis Presley
became a star, there were clear distinctions between the work of the performer,
writer, arranger, session musician, record producer, and sound engineer. By the
time Public Enemy was recording, such
distinctions had broken down from both ends: performers wrote, arranged, and
produced their own material; engineers made as significant a musical
contribution as anyone else to the creation of a recorded sound. Technological
developments--multitrack tape recorders, amplifiers, synthesizers, and digital
equipment--had changed the meaning of musical instruments; there was no longer
a clear distinction between producing a sound and reproducing it.
From a
listener's point of view, too, the distinction between music and noise changed
dramatically in the second half of the 20th century. Music became ubiquitous,
whether in public places (an accompaniment to every sort of activity), in the
home (with a radio, CD player, or cassette player in every room), or in
blurring the distinction between public and private use of music (a Walkman, boom
box, or karaoke machine). The development of the compact disc only accelerated
the process that makes music from any place and any time permanently available.
Listening to music no longer refers to a special place or occasion but, rather,
a special attention--a decision to focus on a given sound at a given moment.
Rock is the
music that has directly addressed these new conditions and kept faith with the
belief that music is a form of human conversation, even as it is mediated by
television and radio and by filmmakers and advertisers. The rock commitment to
access--to doing mass music for oneself--has survived despite the
centralization of production and the ever-increasing costs of manufacture,
promotion, and distribution. Rock remains the most democratic of mass
media--the only one in which voices from the margins of society can still be
heard out loud.
I
V. ROCK SUBCULTURES
1. HIPPIE
Main Entry: hip·pie
Variant(s): or hip·py /'hi-pE/
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural hippies
Etymology: 4hip + -ie
Date: 1965
: a usually young person who rejects the mores of established society
(as by dressing unconventionally or favoring communal living) and advocates a
nonviolent ethic; broadly : a long-haired unconventionally
dressed young person
- hip·pie·dom /-pE-d&m/ noun
- hip·pie·ness or hip·pi·ness /-pE-n&s/ noun
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Hippie, member of a youth movement of the
late 1960s that was characterized by nonviolent anarchy, concern for the
environment, and rejection of Western materialism. Also known as flower power,
the hippie movement originated in San Francisco, California. The hippies formed
a politically outspoken, antiwar, artistically prolific counterculture in North
America and Europe. Their colorful psychedelic style was inspired by drugs such
as the hallucinogen Lysergic Acid Diethylamid (LSD). This style emerged in
fashion, graphic art, and music by bands such as Love, the Grateful Dead,
Jefferson Airplane, and PinkFloyd.
2.
PUNK
Main Entry: 1punk
Pronunciation: 'p&[ng]k
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1596
1 archaic : PROSTITUTE
2 [probably partly from 3punk] : NONSENSE, FOOLISHNESS
3 a : a young inexperienced person : BEGINNER, NOVICE; especially : a young
man b : a usually petty gangster, hoodlum, or ruffian c :
a youth used as a homosexual partner
4 a : PUNK ROCK b
: a punk rock musician c : one who affects punk styles
Main Entry: 2punk
Function: adjective
Date: 1896
1 : very poor : INFERIOR <played a punk game>
2 : being in poor health <said that she was feeling punk>
3 a : of or relating to punk rock b : relating to
or being a style (as of dress or hair) inspired by punk rock
- punk·ish /'p&[ng]-kish/ adjective
Main Entry: 3punk
Function: noun
Etymology: perhaps alteration of spunk
Date: 1687
1 : wood so decayed as to be dry, crumbly, and useful for tinder
2 : a dry spongy substance prepared from fungi (genus Fomes)
and used to ignite fuses especially of fireworks
Main Entry: punk rock
Function: noun
Date: 1971
: rock music marked by extreme and often deliberately offensive
expressions of alienation and social discontent
- punk rocker noun
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
PUNK also known as PUNK ROCK
aggressive form of rock music that coalesced into an international (though
predominantly Anglo-American) movement in 1975-80. Often politicized and full
of vital energy beneath a sarcastic, hostile facade, punk spread as an ideology
and an aesthetic approach, becoming an archetype of teen rebellion and
alienation.
Black
leather jackets adorned with shiny metal spikes and studs, combat boots, spike
multi-colored mohawks (mohawk - a strip of hair left on the top of the
head, running from front to back), slam dancing, and fast 3-chord rock and
roll; all icons of the movement know as “punk”. These are icons that defined
the punk movement in the 70’s and 80’s, from the earliest forms to the later
forms. These are what many have seen when they saw a “punk” walking down the
street.
“Punk” is a word that was originally a term for a prostitute in England, 17
century (you can find it in W. Shakespeare’s play “Measure for measure”), then
it was a jailhouse term for a submissive homosexual, and was slapped on as a
label for a generation of miscreant mid-1960’s U.S. Garage bands that were
experimenting with post-Beatles British influence and early psychedelics . The
term later expanded to include the rest of the “miscreants” that erupted in the
mid 70’s.
The punk movement emerged in the mid 1970’s. Most people disagree to just where
the punk movement started. Some say that it developed in the US in NYC, others
say it was an effort for the British youth to rebel against the current UK
government. There are some who say that it was an art form, then there are some
who believe it was a unorganized, combined effort between the US and the UK,
that eventually developed into a sort of a “punk race”. Despite the controversy
about whether the punk movement started in the US, the UK, or some other place
in the world, it is sure the entire world has felt its force in the emergence
of subcultures and its direct influence on the music styles of today.
If it is asked who the first punk band was, and the
person answering held true to the belief that punk was born in the UK, many
persons would answer that it was the Sex Pistols. SEX PISTOLS – rock group who
created the British punk movement of the late 1970s and who, with the song
"God Save the Queen," became a symbol of the United Kingdom's social
and political turmoil. By the summer of 1976 the Sex Pistols had attracted an
avid fan base and successfully updated the energies of the 1960s mods for the
malignant teenage mood of the '70s. Heavily stylized in their image and music,
media-savvy, and ambitious in their use of lyrics, the Sex Pistols became the
leaders of a new teenage movement - called punk by the British press - in the
autumn of 1976. Their first single, "Anarchy in the U.K.," was both a
call to arms and a state-of-the-nation address. When they used profanity on
live television in December 1976, the group became a national sensation.
I am an
anti-Christ
I am an anarchist,
don't know what I want
but I know how to get it.
I wanna destroy the passers-by
'cos I wanna be anarchy…
The Sex
Pistols released their second single, "God Save the Queen," in June
1977 to coincide with Queen Elizabeth II's
Silver Jubilee (the 25th anniversary of her accession to the throne). Although
banned by the British media, the single rose rapidly to number two on the
charts. As "public enemies number one," the Sex Pistols were
subjected to physical violence and harassment.
God save
the Queen
the fascist regime,
they made you a moron
a potential H-bomb.
God save the Queen
she ain't no human being.
There is no future
in England's dreaming
Don't be told what you want
Don't be told what you need.
There's no future
there's no future
there's no future for you
God save the Queen
'cos tourists are money
and our figurehead
is not what she seems
Oh God save history
God save your mad parade
Oh Lord God have mercy
all crimes are paid.
When there's no future
how can there be sin
we're the flowers
in the dustbin
we're the poison
in your human machine
we're the future
you're future
God save
the Queen
we mean it man
there is no future
in England's dreaming
No future
no future for you
no fufure for me
Punks formed a style to disassociate themselves from
society. They refused to dress conservatively, wearing clothing such as ripped
or torn jeans, t-shirts or button-down shirts with odd and sometimes offensive
remarks labeled on them. This clothing was sometimes held together with band
patches or safety pins, and the clothing rarely matched; such patterns as plaid
and leopard skin was a commonplace. It was not unusual to see a large amount of
body piercing and oddly crafted haircuts. The punks dressed (and still do) like
this to separate themselves from society norms.
Punks believed in separating themselves from society as much as possible; thus
the odd dress and/or rude style. Many times these punks are associated with
anarchy. Although most all punks were about anarchy, They believed that
government was evil, and that a government society could never be perfect; the
government was as far from Utopia as one could get. By the early 1980’s, punk
went underground and underwent many changes. These changes were the formation
of subcultures.
3.
MOD
Main Entry: 2mod
Function: adjective
Etymology: short for modern
Date: 1964
1 : of, relating to, or being the characteristic style of 1960s
British youth culture
2 : HIP, TRENDY
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged
Dictionary
The Mod was a product of working-class British youth of the
mid-sixties. The popular perception of the mod was this: "Mod" meant
effeminate, stuck up, emulating the middle classes, aspiring to be competitive,
snobbish. The old image was one of neatness, of 'coolness'. The music of the
Mod was strictly black in inspiration: rhythm and blues, early soul and Tamla,
Jamaican ska. The closest thing to a Mod group was probably the Who - the music
neatly caught up the 'pilled up'. London nightlife of the mod mythology in a
series of effective anthems: 'My Generation, 'Can't Explain', 'Anyhow,
Anywhere'. The drug use of Mods was of amphetamines ('purple hearts', French
blues', Dexedrine) and pills, uppers and downers, and sleepers. Brake explains
why the Mods existed by writing "for this group there was an attempt to
fill a dreary life with the memories of hedonistic consumption during the
leisure hours...the insignificance of the work day was made up for in the
glamour and fantasy of night life." These were working class teenagers
whose white-collar office work was a drudgery that, for many, would exist for
the rest of their lives. The Mods had their “own” style of life, “own” music
and “own” bands. They were different from another fashion victims not only with
their clothes (suits, severe ties, long scarfs) but they led a secluded life, they
were on bad with the strangers. They spent endless evenings in their “own” bars
and had a great passion for scooters.
4.
SKINHEAD
Main Entry: skin·head
Pronunciation: 'skin-"hed
Function: noun
Date: circa 1953
1 : a person whose hair is cut very short
2 : a usually white male belonging to any of various sometimes
violent youth gangs whose members have close-shaven hair and often espouse
white-supremacist beliefs
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Skinhead
origins begin in Britain in the mid to late 1960's. Out of a youth cult known
as the "Mods," the rougher kids began cutting their hair close, both
to aid their fashion and prevent their hair from hindering them in street
fights. These working class kids adopted the name "Skinheads" to
separate themselves from the more dainty and less violent Mods. Huge groups of
these explosive youths would meet every Saturday at the football grounds to
support their local teams. The die hard support for a group's team often lead
to skirmishes between opposing supporters, leading to Britain's legendary
"football violence." When night swept the island, the skinheads would
dress in the finest clothes they could afford, and hit the dance halls. It was
here they danced to a new sound that was carried to Britain by Jamaican
immigrants. This music went by many names including: the ska, jamacian blues,
blue beat, rocksteady, and reggae. At these gatherings the skinheads would
dance, drink, and laugh with each other and the Jamaican immigrants whom
brought the music to Britian.
During the
1970's, there were many changes in the "typical" skinhead. For some
fashion went from looking smooth in the best clothes you could afford with a
blue-collar job, to looking like you were at home, even when you were out. For
others the disco craze of the seventies hit hard, resulting in feathered hair,
frilly pants, and those ugly seventies shoes. By the late 70's the National
Front, Britain's National Socialist party, had invaded the skinhead movement.
Kids were recruited as street soldiers for NF. Since skinheads were already a
violent breed, the NF decided that if their young recruits adopted the skinhead
appearance, the might benefit from the reputation. It was at this point that
racism permeated the skinhead cult without the consent of its members.
Also by the
mid 70's punk had put the rebellion back in rock-and-roll, opening a new avenue
for street kids to express their frustrations. The shifting mindset brought
kids into the skinhead movement as yet another form of expression. By the late
70's punk had been invaded by the colleges, and record labels, letting down
kids who truly believed in its rebellion. From the streets came a new kind of
punk rock, a type which was meant to be true to the working class and the kids
on the street. This new music was called "Oi!" "Oi!" is
short for "Hoi Palloi", latin for "Working Class", and the
name stuck. Oi! revived the breath of the working class kids. Because of Oi!
music's working class roots, the media scorned its messages unlike they had
done with the first wave of punk. With the change in music came a new kinds of
skinheads, and the gaps between the different types widened. Aside from the
National Front's skinheads, the movement had been simply a working class
struggle, rather than a right-left political struggle. With skinheads forming
their own bands, political lines began to be drawn on the basis of right-left
and even non-political politics. Politically right groups were often associated
with the National Front and had distinct racial messages. Leftist groups looked
at the working class struggle through labor politics. Non-political groups
often shunned both sides simply because they chose to be political. The Oi!
movement consumed most of the 1980's and is still alive today.
Skinheads
have spread to every part of the globe. Each country supports an independent
history of skinhead goals, values, and appearances. The definition of
"skinhead" varies from country to country, which doesn't say too much
since it also varies from city to city.
Starting in the late 80's, through
present day, there has been a large resurgence back to the
"traditional" values and appearance of the 1960's skinhead. This has
occurred in Britain, America, as well as most of Europe. This has lead to even
more tension, this time between "traditional," and
"non-traditional" skins.
Influences
of punk can be found in the skinhead culture. Skinheads were in existence long
before the punk movement came around, and they were in healthy shape. The split
in skinhead culture happened about the same time that the skinheads accepted
punk. On one side was the traditional skinheads, known as “baldies”, and on the
other was the racist skinheads, known as “boneheads”. Even today there is the
negative connotation that skinhead stands for racism, which is hardly the case.
But there is also a group that calls itself SHARPs (SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice; militantly
anti-racist skinheads). Skinheads
went for a clean-cut look, thus the shaved heads, jeans that fit, plain white
t-shirts (sometimes referred to as “wife beaters”), and work boots (“shit
kickers”). Tension between the two skinhead cultures exists still today, and an
ongoing war is still going on between the white supremacist nazi punk skinheads
and the working class anti-racial skinheads.
The names of Oi! bands were sometimes cruel (Dead John Lennons, Millions
of Dead Cops).
5.
GOTH
Main Entry: Goth
Pronunciation: 'gäth
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English Gothes, Gotes (plural), partly from Old
English Gotan (plural); partly from Late Latin Gothi (plural)
Date: 14th century
: a member of a Germanic people that overran the Roman Empire in the
early centuries of the Christian era
Main Entry: Goth
Function: abbreviation
Gothic
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Goth emerged in the late 1970’s, branching off of the
punk scene. A band by the name of Siouxsie and the Banshees are accredited with
the starting of the Goths. Gothic music differs from punk to the effect that it
eliminated the chainsaw sound of punk and replaced it with a droning sound of
guitar, bass, and drums. The Goths also believed that society was too
conservative, but they also felt that no one accepted them, so they viewed
themselves as outcasts of society. Goths are preoccupied with introspection and
melancholia. They are inclined to speak poetically of 'beautiful deaths' and
vampiric sympathies. Theatrical as they are, goths are not (or not only)
play-acting and self-dramatizing. The Goths wear almost nothing but black,
perhaps with a little white or even red. Goth girls have a penchant for nets
and lace and complex sinister jewelry; with their long black hair, black
dresses and pasty complexions, they look positively Victorian. Boys have long
hair and often wear black leather jackets and can at times be mistaken for
heshers. Goths dye their hair black and wear black eyeliner and even black
lipstick. They usually apply white makeup to the rest of their faces. The music
they listen to also carries the name "goth" and seems to have descended
from Joy Division, but typically the vocalist uses
an especially cheesy 50's Count Dracula enunciation pattern.
Unlikely as
it may seem, this movement, fostered at a London nightclub called the Batcave
in 1981, has become one of the longest-enduring youth-culture tribes. The
original Goths, named after the medieval Gothic era, were pale-faced,
black-swathed, hair-sprayed night dwellers, who worshiped imagery religious and
sacrilegious, consumptive poets, and all things spooky. Their bands included
Sex Gang Children, Specimen, and Alien Sex Fiend, post-punk doom merchants who
sang of horror-film imagery and transgressive sex. When Goth returned to the
underground in Britain, it took root in the U.S., particularly in sunny
California, where the desired air of funereal gloom was often at odds with the
participants' natural teen spirit. English bands like Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the
Banshees, and the Sisters of Mercy cast a powerful spell over the imaginations
of American night stalkers, and pop-Goth variants the Cure and Depeche Mode
filled stadiums. Further proof of the movement's mass appeal was the success of
The Crow horror movies (1994, 1996), both of which were suffused with
Goth imagery.
Goth provides a highly stylized, almost glamorous, alternative to punk fashion for suburban rebels, as well as safe androgyny
for boys. The massive popularity of such industrial-Goth artists as Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, and Marilyn Manson has somewhat validated the Goth crowd's
outré modus vivendi, though as industrial rock replaces heavy metal as
the sound of Middle America, Goth's dark appeal is blanched. Goth enjoyed a
spate of media coverage in late 1996 thanks to such peripherally related events
as the Florida "vampire murders"
of November 1996. To this day, the movement continues to replenish itself with
the fresh blood of new bands and fans.
6.
INDUSTRIAL
Music genre
that originated in London in 1976 when confrontational noisemakers Throbbing
Gristle founded the Industrial Records label. Disappointed that punk rock had joined the rock 'n' roll tradition instead of
destroying it, British and American fellow travelers like Leather Nun, Monte
Cazzazza, and Cabaret Voltaire aligned themselves with Industrial Records,
creating a broad church for (usually rhythmic) experiments with noise collage,
found sounds, and extreme lyrical themes. Believing that punk's revolution could
be realized only by severing its roots in traditional rock, industrial bands
deployed noise, electronics, hypnotic machine rhythms, and tape loops. Instead
of rallying youth behind political slogans, industrial artists preferred to
"decondition" the individual listener by confronting taboos. Key
literary influences were J.G. Ballard's
anatomies of aberrant sexuality and the paranoid visions and "cut-up"
collage techniques of William S. Burroughs.The
industrial subculture (touching on transgressive fiction (Contemporary
fiction-writing trend that prowls the psycho-narco-sexual frontiers and
"dysfunctional" relationships of the Marquis de Sade, William
Burroughs, and serial killers.), S/M (sadism and masochism), and piercing) spread worldwide.
7.
HARDCORE
Main Entry:
hard core
Function: noun
Date: 1936
1 : a central or fundamental and usually enduring group or part:
as a : a relatively small enduring core of society marked by
apparent resistance to change or inability to escape a persistent wretched
condition (as poverty or chronic unemployment) b : a militant or
fiercely loyal faction
2 usually hard·core /-"kOr, -"kor/ chiefly
British : hard material in pieces (as broken bricks or stone) used
as a bottom (as in making roads and in foundations)
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Following
the “death” of punk in the late 1970’s was a hard and heavy form of punk known
as Hardcore. Hardcore is faster, louder, and heavier than the punk of the
1970’s, and it gained much popularity over the early and mid 1980’s. Typically
the vocals are screamed and unintelligible, though they frequently give voice
to strong political sentiments, the bass is played with a pick and is clear and
tonal while the guitar forms a dynamic, often atonal, texture of sound. rock
and roll radio. Bands such as Black Flag, D.O.A., Circle Jerks, Fear, Bad
Brains, The Meatmen, Agent Orange and Minor Threat were the major influences in
Hardcore, and the idea of slam dancing was born in the tradition of punks “pogo
dancing”. This slam dancing, or moshing, was done in a mosh pit and was
accompanied by the occasional stage diving or crowd surfing. The main message
of Hardcore was “DIY”, or Do It Yourself.
The DIY movement was purely in the tradition of punk; punk was a form of music
that almost anyone could play, it usually involved only 3-chords and a band
could be put together cheaply. It was a not-so-expensive way for youth to put
out their message.
8. STRAIGHT EDGE
The DIY style of Hardcore gave way to other
subcultures of punk, one in particular is known as sXe, or Straight Edge. Most
of the sXe credit is given to the band Minor Threat after they released their
song “Straight Edge”. The song was an outcry against the effects of drugs, and
fans of Minor Threat started to quit using non-pharmaceutical drugs like
nicotine, alcohol, and marijuana. These Straight Edgers felt that using drugs
was a sign of weakness, and they still dressed as normal punks did, but wore
anti drug messages on their shirts. The symbol of Straight Edgers is a large X,
originally a symbol that clubs would mark on hands if the person was not old
enough to (legally) drink. Eventually Straight Edgers started to put the marks
on by themselves, even if they were over 21, to signify that they were living
drug-free. Other movements that found their way into the Hardcore DIY scene
were Green Peace, the Vegan Movement, concerts raising money for the homeless,
and the Hare Krishnas, as well as other religious groups.
9.
GRUNGE
Main Entry: grunge
Pronunciation: 'gr&nj
Function: noun
Etymology: back-formation from grungy
Date: 1965
1 : one that is grungy
2 : rock music incorporating elements of punk rock and heavy
metal; also : the untidy working-class fashions typical of fans
of grunge.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Grunge, rock music style of the early
1990s, characterized by a thick, abrasive, distorted guitar sound. Grunge
evolved from punk in the Seattle, Washington, area and came to prominence with
the chart success of the band Nirvana in 1991. Grunge is said to have
originated as marriage between Seattle's hesher
and punk
scenes. Characteristic of most of these bands is punk rock drums and vocals,
hesher hair and guitar, and working-class clothing that is rarely washed.
Lyrics frequently confront such uncomfortable subjects as unpopularity,
alienation from divorced parents, disease, the hypocrisy and allure of
religion, heroin, and raw lust. Grunge may or may not be a
useful term to describe a segment of youth delinquency, but with historical
perspective, it is best used to describe a record company phenomenon. Grunge
was a revolution, the revolution where punk rock was decisively injected into mainstream
rock and roll.
Numerous culture makers embarrassed themselves in the
rush to exploit the most vital white youth culture in years. Grunge
"fashion"--the perennial flannel shirt/combat boots/ripped jeans uniform of suburban burnouts
everywhere--was suddenly used as an exotic novelty by designers.
10.
ALTERNATIVE
Main Entry: 1al·ter·na·tive
Pronunciation: ol-'t&r-n&-tiv,
al-
Function: adjective
Date: 1540
1 : ALTERNATE 1
2 : offering or expressing a choice <several alternative
plans>
3 : different from the usual or conventional:as a :
existing or functioning outside the established cultural, social, or economic
system <alternative newspaper> <alternative
lifestyles> b : of, or relating to, or being rock music that
is regarded as an alternative to conventional rock and is typically influenced
by punk rock, hard rock, hip-hop, or folk music
- al·ter·na·tive·ly adverb
- al·ter·na·tive·ness noun
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Nineties term for counterculture, often of a non-oppositional nature. Current
use of "alternative" in the music and youth-culture world originated
in the late '70s and early '80s, when it described the strain of post-punk music cultivated by a growing, informal network of
college radio stations. The word "alternative" already had a meaning
related to culture: commonly associated with the independent, oppositional
press of the late hippie era, this counterculture label also came to denote any
lifestyle outside the mainstream. As college-rock favorites like R.E.M.
and U2 became chart and stadium fixtures in the second half of the
'80s, successive waves of newer, rawer bands inherited the
"alternative" mantle. However, Nirvana's meteoric
rise to the top of the charts in 1991-92 disrupted the ecosystem: suddenly
alternative was a musical category as lucrative as hip-hop or metal, as were its country-associated fashions.
Record companies, radio, and MTV embraced the
"new" form, the Lollapalooza tours
enshrined it, and marketers used it as youth bait to sell everything from cars
to soft drinks to movies. For those who wrangled with the question "what
is alternative?" there was no satisfactory answer-the term was now in the
public domain, and dissent from the mainstream was rewarded within a
fragmenting mass culture. Alternative - at obvious variance with the
mainstream, especially regarding music, lifestyle and clothing. Clothing and
the extent of facial piercings are usually the most apparent manifestations of
underlying alternative sentiments. But like every other term that may have once
had meaning, the term "alternative" has been co-opted by mainstream
commercial culture. It isn't easy to maintain a rebellion when you find
yourself winning every battle. As the name for a musical genré,
alternative is reserved for a type of college radio pop that typically
breaks free of such rock and roll rules as the major/blues scales, the 4/4 rhythm, hi
fidelity, and the need for rhyming lyrics. There is, however, plenty
of "alternative" that is hard to distinguish from classic
rock. These days much of the new rock and roll that mainstream rock
stations play is stuff that would have been considered alternative only a year
or two before.
11. METAL
Main Entry: heavy metal
Function: noun
Date: 1974
: energetic and highly amplified electronic rock music having a hard
beat
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
HEAVY METAL - a typically 80's style of music that features most
of the characteristics of classic rock but with louder, more distorted guitars,
ominous and driving rhythm, and screaming vocals about subjects such as drug
use, war, religion, and problems with girlfriends. Most heavy metal bands also
write sappy love ballads that find their way into mainstream radio play lists.
Heavy metal emerged in the late 60s mostly from bands
such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Such bands tended to be
"hard" in that they succeeded in torturing parents in ways that the
Beatles just couldn't, but in most respects they were very different from one
another. Later, bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden added to the genre as
it expanded into and borrowed from pop. This culminated in the late 80s
diversification of heavy metal into several completely different branches.
There were the blues-based big haired glam metal bands such as Great White and
Motley Crew that sang exclusively about babes, there were the attitude bands
like Guns 'n' Roses who also sang about babes (with an emphasis on how easy
they are to get into bed), there were the dark and mysterious alternative metal
bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden that avoided glamour and sang about angst
and other water sign issues, there were the bands like Living Colour, Fishbone
and Faith No More that were either black or borrowed from rap and soul culture,
and there were the fast bands like Slayer and Metallica that sent many a
parent in search of an exorcist.
Although
the origin of the term heavy metal is widely attributed to novelist William Burroughs, its use actually dates well
back into the 19th century, when it referred to cannon or to power more
generally. It also has been used to classify certain elements or compounds, as
in the phrase heavy metal poisoning. Heavy metal appeared in the
lyrics of Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild" (1968), and by the early
1970s rock critics were using it to refer to a specific style of music. Heavy
metal has historically required one thing of its performers: long hair. Heavy
metal musicians and fans came under severe criticism in the 1980s. Political
and academic groups sprang up to blame the genre and its fans for causing
everything from crime and violence to despondency and suicide. But defenders of
the music pointed out that there was no evidence that heavy metal's exploration
of madness and horror caused, rather than articulated, these social ills. The
genre's lyrics and imagery have long addressed a wide range of topics, and its
music has always been more varied and virtuosic than critics like to admit.
Heavy metal fragmented into subgenres (such as lite
metal, death metal, and even Christian metal) in the 1980s.
SPEED METAL - a
genré of music typified by a continuous double-bass drum roll,
high-speed distorted guitar rhythms, an almost silent bass, and screeched or
groaned vocals concerning war, death, fighting, environmental abuse, brutality,
and (in rare cases) lust. The main problem with most speed metal
bands is that they still see a need to put guitar solos in their
songs, and the guitar solos are always really bad and last entirely too long.
Speed metal seems to be a result of a marriage between punk rock and heavy
metal.
. Examples of speed metal bands: Kreator, Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Megadeth, Prong, Pantera
THRASH METAL - speed metal with an
especially strong punk influence. While in general speed metal
musicians pride themselves on their talent and knowledge of music theory,
thrash musicians laugh at such concepts or else skillfully conceal their
acquaintance with them. Examples of thrash bands: DRI, Tool, some Suicidal Tendencies, and even some Black Flag.
V.
DICTIONARY
1.
Dictionary
of youth slang during 1960-70’s
acid (n) LSD, a narcotic drug popular among hippies. see
psychedelic, bad trip.
afro (n) haircut popular among African-americans during 1960's and
'70's.
aquarian (adj.) we're not sure exactly what this means, but it
has something to do with the "Age of Aquarius" and the musical Hair.
bad scene (n) a bad situation. see scene.
bad trip (n) originally described a bad experience using drugs,
characterized by frightening hallucinations. Can be used to describe any bad
experience.
bag (n) one's main interest or purpose in life.
black light (n) a decorative light, dark blue in color to the human eye,
which makes objects or artwork in flourescent colors appear to glow.
blow your mind (v) to have an enlightening or illuminating experience.
bread (n) money.
bummer (n) bad experience.
bust (v) to arrest someone, (n) an arrest.
cat (n) a person. derived from beatnik language of the 1950's.
chick (n) a girl or woman.
commune (n) an community of people who share possessions, living
accomodations, and work (or lack thereof). Usually encompasses a farm and other
fashionable industries.
crash (v) to sleep, rest, or do nothing.
crash pad (n) a place where one sleeps, rests, or does nothing.
dig (v) like, enjoy, be interested in.
drag (n) an unfavorable situation or state of affairs.
dude (n) person, usually male.
establishment, the (n) traditional business and government institutions,
believed to stand in the way of human progress. see "system, the."
far out (adj) very interesting, good. Also an exclamation.
free love (n) love without expectations or commitment.
fuzz (n) police.
get it on (n) successfully interact with others.
groove (v) enjoy, achieve proficiency at. see "groovy."
groovy (adj) good, interesting, enjoyable.
hang out (v) to be some place, usually doing nothing, with no purpose.
hang-up (n) inhibition, usually due to morals, beliefs, or culture.
happening (adj) exciting, new, good.
heavy (adj) thought-provoking.
hippie (n) [still searching for a definition here]. hip (adj)
knowledgable of, or consistent with, the latest trends and ideas.
Iron Butterfly (n) a rock band which had one popular song, "Inna
Gadda Da Vida."
lava lamp (n) a cylindrical glass container filled a semi-solid viscous
material which breaks apart and forms globules while floating in a clear fluid.
like (?) word used to fill up space in an utterance when the speaker is
unable to think of a suitable adjective to describe something. Use of this word
has also been adopted by adjective-challenged subcultures of more recent generations.
love beads (n) colorful beads worn around the neck to symbolize love.
man (interjection) used as an exclamation to draw attention to one's
utterance. related phrase: "hey, man."
mood ring (n) a ring worn on the finger which contains a large stone,
the color of which is supposed to indicate the wearer's emotional mood. Mood
rings were a fad in the mid-1970's.
oh wow (interjection) exclamation uttered in response to
new, thought-provoking, or exciting information.
out of sight (adj) excellent, outstanding. Often used as an exclamation.
pad (n) living accomodation--house or apartment.
peace (n) absence of war.
psychedelic (adj) of or related to a mental state characterized
by a profound sense of intensified sensory perception, sometimes accompanied by
severe perceptual distortion, hallucinations, or extreme feelings of euphoria
or despair. see acid.
rap (v,n) to talk, conversation. More recently used to name a category
of music where words are spoken, rather than sung.
San Francisco (n) worldwide center of hippie activity and general
weirdness.
scene (n) place, situation, or circumstances.
sock it to me (phrase) let me have it.
spaced out (adj) dazed, not alert.
split (v) to leave, depart.
square (adj) old-fashioned, not aware of new thinking and customs. (n)
one who is square.
system, the (n) the system of laws, governance, and justice. see
"establishment, the".
tie dye (v) a method of coloring clothing where the article of clothing
is tied in knots, then dying it to produce an abstract pattern. (n) an article
of clothing dyed in this manner.
trip (n) an unusual experience. (v) to have an unusual experience.
turn on (v) to become enlightened to new ways of thinking or
experiencing reality.
uptight (adj) concerned about maintaining set ways of thinking and doing
things.
2.
Dictionary
of modern British slang
These phrases are in everyday use
around most of Britain.
Phrase Meaning
---------------------------------------------------------------------
99 a
popular style of ice cream, usually
ordered with a 'flake'
'A' levels
exams taken at age 18
abso-bloody-lutely a
more definite form of 'absolutely'
afters
dessert
aggro
trouble; violence
all broke up
on holiday, usually from school
all of a twitter
very nervous or apprehensive
aluminium aluminum
arse
bottom, or ass
arse bandit a
homosexual
arse over tit
to fall head over heels
arse about
playing around, being silly
e.g. "stop arsing about!"
artic
an articulated lorry; a bick truck
Aussie
an Australian
backhander a
bribe
bag
an unattractive or elderly woman
balderdash
rubbish; nonsense
balls-up a
mess; a confusion
banger
(1) an old car; (2) a sausage
barking mad
crazy
batty
dotty; crazy
beak
magistrate
beehive a
tall hairstyle
bees knees
something really good
beetle crusher a
boot; a foot
behind
bottom; buttocks
berk a
stupid person
e.g. "you silly berk"
bevvy a
drink
bit of fluff a
pretty young single woman
bill, the
police, sometimes called "the old bill"
binge a
drinking bout
bin liner
garbage bag
bin men
garbage collectors
bint a
rough girl
biro a
ballpoint pen
bit of alright
something highly satisfactory
black maria a
police van
black pudding a
sausage like food made from
- pigs blood
- oats
- fat
black sheep of the family a
relative who gets into trouble with the
police
blag a
robbery; to rob
blagger a
robber
Blighty
England
blimey !
an expression of surprise
blob a
contraceptive
blotto
drunk
blower
telephone
blow your own trumpet
to brag; to boast
blubber
to cry
bobby dazzler a
remarkable person or thing
bog a
toilet, a washroom
bollock naked
stark naked
bollocks
testicles
bonce
head
bonk
to copulate
bonnet
hood of a car
bookie
betting shop owner
boot
trunk of a car
boracic
penniless
bosch a
derogative term for germans
bovver
trouble
bovver boot a
heavy boot, possibly with a toe cap and laces
quite often worn by skinheads
bovver boy a
hooligan; a troublemaker
brass monkey weather
cold, taken from the phrase, "it's cold enough
to freeze the balls off a brass monkey"
breakdown van a
tow truck
brickie a
bricklayer
brill !
short form of brilliant, meaning fantastic
brolly
an umbrella
browned off
bored; fed up
Brummy a
native of Birmingham
bubble and squeak
fried cabbage and potatoes
bubbly
champagne
bugger all
nothing; very little
bumf
toilet paper
this led to 'bumf' being used for superfluous
papers, letters etc.
bumming a fag
requesting a cigarette
e.g. "Can I bum a fag from you mate ?"
Note: This has a VERY different meaning
in the U.S.
bunch of fives a
fist
"button it
!" "be quiet !"
caff a
cafe
cake hole a
person's mouth
cardy
abbreviation of cardigan
champers
champagne
char
tea; a domestic worker
cheeky monkey a
rude person
cheesed off
bored; fed up
chin chin a
drinking toast
chippy a
fish and chip shop; a carpenter
chokey
prison
chuffed
very pleased or proud
clapped out
worn out, broken
clappers
to go very fast; to work hard
e.g. That car goes like the clappers !
e.g. I have to work like the clappers
to finish it by lunchtime !
clickety click 66
in bingo calling
clink
prison
clinker
somebody who is outstanding
clobber
clothing
clodhopper a
clumsy person
clogger a
soccer player who tackles heavily
clot a
fool
cloth-ears a
person with a poor sense of hearing
cobblers
testicles; rubbish
cock and bull a
story with very little truth in it
cock up
to ruin something
e.g. "it was a real cock-up"
e.g. "haved you cocked it up ?"
coffin nail a
cigarette
conk
nose
conkers a
childrens game played with horse chestnuts
copper
police man/woman
cough up
to pay
crackers
crazy
cracking
great; fantastic
crackling a
woman who is regarded as a sexual object
crate
an old name for a very old plane
create
to make a fuss or an angry scene
crown jewels
male genitalia
crumbly
an old or senile person
crumpet a
desirable woman
dabs
fingerprints
daft
stupid
dark horse
somebody who suprises others by their actions
des res
Estate agents use this to describe a
"desirable residence"
dial
face
dickie bow a
bow tie
diddicoy a
gipsy
dip a
pickpocket
dishy
good looking
do a runner
to leave quickly avoiding punishment
doddle
easy
dog's bollocks something
really good
dog's breakfast a
mess
donkey's breakfast a
straw hat
doodah
to be in a state of excitement
e.g. "He was all in a doodah !"
doolally
scatter-brained; crazy
doorstep a
thick sandwich
dosh
money
doss house a
cheap lodging house
dosser a
tramp
do the dirty on
to play a mean trick on
dough
money
droopy drawers
an untidy or sloppy person
drop a sprog
have a baby
drum a
house or flat
duffer a
stupid person
dummy a
baby's pacifier
earful
to get a shouting
e.g. "My mum gave me a right earful !"
easy-peasy
something very simple
earner a
lucrative job or task
elevenses
morning tea break
extracting the urine
see "taking the piss"
fab fabulous;
wonderful
face-ache a
miserable looking person
fag
cigarette
fag-end a
cigarette butt
fairy a
homosexual man
family jewels
male genitalia
fanny
female genitalia
fence a
receiver of stolen goods
filth, the
police
fishy about the gills
looking the worse for drink
fizzog
face
flake a
stick that is made up of flaky
pieces of chocolate
flicks, the
the cinema
flog
to sell
footy
football; soccer
fuzz, the
police
gamboll a
somersault done on the ground
gamp
an umbrella
gentleman's gentleman a
valet
Geordie a
native of Newcastle
gift of the gab
being very free with speech
git
an insult
e.g. "You stupid git !"
give it a whirl
try it out
give someone the pip
to get on someone's nerves
gob
mouth
gobsmacked
speechless
goes like stink
very fast
good nick very
good condition
gooseberry a
fifth wheel
goosegog a
gooseberry
go to the dogs
to go to ruin
grass, grasser
an informant
hang about
wait a moment
hell for leather
very fast
hols
holidays
home and dry
to be safe
hush
silence
inexpressibles
trousers
in good fettle
in good health
in the altogether
nude
in the know
to have inside information
in the noddy
nude
jam packed
very full
jar a
drink, usually a pint of beer
jelly
jello
jerry a
chamber pot
jerry builder a
builder of unsubstantial houses
Jock a
scottish person
Jonah a
bringer of bad luck
jumped up
to be conceited
jumper
sweater
keep you hair on please
calm down
kick the bucket
to die
kissed the Blarney Stone a
person who tells tall stories
knackered
tired, worn out
derived from horses being taken to the
'knackers yard'
knockers
breasts
leg it !
quick lets run !
legless
drunk
like a rat out of a
very fast
drainpipe
load of bollocks
you're talking crap
utter nonesense
loo a
toilet; a washroom
Liverpudlian a
native of Liverpool (also see Scouser)
lorry a
truck
man in blue a
policeman
marmite a
spread for sandwiches
me old cock
my old friend
meat and two veg. male
genitalia
mind your P's and Q's
to be careful; to be polite
moggy
cat
mom`s the word
it's a secret between you and me
can be abbreviated to "Keep mom !"
money for jam
an easy job
money for old rope
an easy job
mother's ruin
gin
mucker
mate, friend
mucky pup
someone who has soiled themselves
e.g. "You mucky pup !"
mug
face
mutton chops
side whiskers
nancy boy
an effeminate male
nark a
police informer
nightie a
nightdress
nick
prison; to steal
e.g "Hey, my bike's been nicked !"
nick, the
prison
nincompoop a
fool
nipper a
young or small child
nippy
(1) fast, or (2) cold
e.g. (1) "that car is nippy !"
e.g. (2) "it's nippy out today"
nix
nothing
none too easy
very difficult
e.g. "that exam was none too easy !"
nosey parker
somebody who is nosey
not bad
very good
not so hot
not very good, awful
old man
father
old girl mother
old lady
mother
one in the oven
pregnant, also "a bun in the oven",
"up the plum duff" and "in the pudding club"
on spec
on chance
on the nod
on credit
on the razzle dressed
up and looking for sex
on the tap
looking for sex
on your bike!
go away!
out for a duck
obtained a zero score
Paddy
an Irishman
paralitic
to be drunk
pavement
sidewalk
pictures, the
the cinema
pick-me-up a
tonic
pie eyed
to be drunk
pigs, the
police
pigs breakfast a
mess
pigs ear a
mess
pig in muck
somebody in their element
e.g. "he is as happy as a pig in muck"
pillock
an insult
pinny
apron
pissed
drunk
pissed off
to be annoyed
e.g. "I was pissed off !"
e.g. "He really pissed me off !"
The US replace "pissed off" with "pissed" alone.
piss head
somebody who is drunk quite often
plastered
drunk
e.g. "He's plastered !"
play hookey to
play truant
plimpsolls
childrens non-laced sneakers
plod
police man/woman
plonk
cheap wine
e.g. "This plonk's not bad !"
plonker
(1) penis, (2) fool
e.g. "you silly plonker !"
plus fours
trousers
ponce a
homosexual
pong a
bad smell
pooh pooh
to reject an idea
e.g. "He pooh pooh'd my idea !"
pools, the a
weekly betting game based on the outcome
of soccer matches; run by Vernons and
Littlewoods (and possibly others)
pratt
an insult
e.g. "you stupid pratt !"
preggers
pregnant
pudding
dessert
pull a bird
meet a woman; pick up a girl
quite often shortened to 'pull'
e.g. "Did you pull ?"
pull a fast one
to fool or swindle somebody
pull a pint
hand pump beer into a glass
pull a stroke
to outsmart
pull the other one I
don't believe you
short form of "pull the other one, it has
bells on"
pull your pud
to masterbate
pumps
running shoes
punter a
customer
purse a
ladies wallet
put a sock in it
to be quiet
put the anchors on
to apply the brakes; to slow down
put the boot in
to beat somebody up
put the kibosh on
to put a stop to something
put the wind up
to scare
Queer Street
where you are if you don't have
any money
quiff a
fancy hairstyle
randy
horny
rave up a
good party
readies
cash
ropey
flaky or dodgey
rozzer
policeman
rug a
wig; a toupee
rubbed the wrong way
to upset somebody
salt a
sailor
same to you with brass
usually said in response to a derogatory
knobs on !!
remark
sarnie a
sandwich
scab a
strike breaker
scallywag a
mischevious person
scarper
to run away fast, possibly avoiding
punishment
Scouser a
native of Liverpool (see also Liverpudlian)
scrap a
fight
scrubber a
cheap or loose woman
shag
to copulate
shake a leg to
get a move on
shall I be mother ?
shall I pour the tea ?
sheckels
money
silly arse a
foolish person
skivvy a
domestic servant
slash
to urinate
e.g. "I'm going for a slash."
smalls
underwear
smart alec a
clever person
snifter a
drink of spirit
snog
to kiss
snuff it
to die
sod
derogatory remark, derived from sodomy
soldiers
bread cut into thin strips for dipping into
a
boiled egg
so stick that in your
usually said after a derogatory remark
pipe and smoke it !
sozzled
drunk
spam a
rather tasteless form of tinned meat
spanner a
wrench
sparky
an electrician
splice the main-brace
to drink
spread a
good meal; a feast
sprog a
young child or baby, could also
mean illegitimate
spud a
potato
squiffed
drunk
stewed
drunk
strides
trousers, pants
subway
an underpass
a
pedestrian walkway beneath a road
swag
stolen money; a thief's plunder
swing the lead a
malingerer
swizz a
swindle or cheat
swot
somebody who studies
ta
thankyou
Taffy a
Welshman
ta muchly
thankyou very much
Tandy
Radio Shack
take French leave
to leave without permission
taking the piss
making fun of
tea leaf
thief
terminus
the end of the bus route
the smoke
London
three sheets in the wind
drunk
Tic Tac Man a
bookmakers signaller
ticker
the heart
tights
pantyhose
"Time gentlemen please
!" Usually said as the pub is closing,
so as to request that the patrons
finish their drinks.
tip a
mess
e.g. "Your room is a tip !"
toff a
posh person
tomato sauce
ketchup
Tommy Rot
nonsense
top sad
extremely bad
torch
flashlight
tosser
see wanker
toss pot
one who drinks too much
trainers
running shoes
trollop
not a nice girl
trousers
pants
tube
London Underground
tuck
in schools it means cake, crisps,
sweets etc.
turf accountant
betting shop owner
turn-ups
trouser cuffs
turps
turpentine
under the weather
ill; sick
unmentionables
underwear
vest a
man's undershirt
wag a
joker
wagging it
to play truant
wallflower a
woman who does not dance
wanger
penis
wanker
infers that the subject masturbates
weed a
weak person
welly wanging
the art of throwing wellington boots
white elephant a
valuable, but useless article
willies, the
nerves
willow a
cricket bat
willy
penis
wings
fenders of a car
Winkle Pickers
shoes with pointed toes
wireless a
radio
wishy washy
feeble; stupid
VI.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Charlie
Gillett, The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 2nd ed.,
newly illustrated and expanded (1996),
Chapman,
Robert L. American Slang. HarperPerennial, 1987. Abridged
edition of the New Dictionary of American Slang (Harper, 1986).
The
Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, Third Edition Copyright © 1994, Columbia
University Press.
Dictionary
of contemporary slang - Tony Thorne.
Published by Bloomsbury / London. 1997.
The Encarta
World English Dictionary, published by St. Martin's Press. 1999
Flexner,
Stuart Berg, and Anne H. Soukhanov. Speaking Freely: A Guided Tour of
American English from Plymouth Rock to Silicon Valley. Oxford University
Press, 1997.
Greil
Marcus, Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century
(1989),
Jon Savage,
England's Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock (1991)
Lighter,
Jonathan E.; J. Ball; and J. O'Connor, eds. Random House Historical
Dictionary of American Slang. Random House, 1994 .
Mark Hale, HeadBangers:
The Worldwide Megabook of Heavy Metal Bands (1993)
Mark
Slobin, Subcultural Sounds: Micromusics of the West (1993)
The New
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th Edition © 1985, Britannica Corporation
The
Oxford dictionary of modern slang - John Ayto / John Simpson.Published by
Oxford University Press. 1992.
Partridge,
Eric. Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Macmillan,
1985. A classic, with 7,500 entries; first published in 1937.
Peter van
der Merwe, Origins of the Popular Style (1989, reissued 1992),
Webster's Revised Unabridged
Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc
Wentworth, Harold and Flexner,
Stuart Berg. Dictionary of American Slang. Crowell, 2d ed., 1975.
À.
Êîêàðåâ “Ïàíê-ðîê îò À äî ß”, Ìîñêâà, “Ìóçûêà”, 1992
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