Subculture, Taste Culture and Counterculture Theory - Essay Example

Introduction What does a music scene say about the society in which it exists? This is a complicated question, much more complicated than the surface analysis might portend. There are many examples of music scenes, and these are closely aligned with the theory of subculture. Reggae, grunge, punk, new wave, techno, etc. are all examples of music scenes, and they are also emblematic of subcultures, as they tend to attract a certain type of person to these scenes, and the individuals share an affinity with one another. Why this occurs depends upon a complicated analysis regarding culture, and the objects, rituals and theories that are attendant to any analysis of culture. An analysis of subculture, counterculture and taste culture theories must also be thrown into the mix, for they also help explain music scenes and the impact that scenes have on society, and vice versa. Lastly, a broader view may be taken by examining rock and music from a sociological perspective, as scenes are not just emblematic of their localities but are also a part of a larger societal fabric that encompasses larger groups and people, and it is also helpful to place scenes into a certain time as well. Therefore, this paper aims to explicate each of these topics, as well as present examples of particular musical scenes, to show how and why society is impacted by these scenes. Music Scenes as Cultural Collectives Music scenes, and music in general, must be understood as influential by examining the scene’s role in the larger discussion of culture. “Culture” is a general term for how an individual finds meaning and collectively make sense of his or her world (Cushman, 1996, p. 7). It is how participants interpret events and communication to understand the modern world, and is the outcome of concrete experiences of the individual social actors in their social world. It is through making culture that individual and collective identities are formed (Cushman, 1996, p. 7). Culture has its roots in mans relationship to other men and to nature. (Hall, 1964, p. 318). Culture refers to the form that social existences assume under historical conditions. This is contrasted with the word social, which refers to the content of relationships between men within any social formation, and culture is the form of these relationships. In locating music scenes within the larger context of a society’s culture, it is useful to examine musical scene as reflective of society through its use as a cultural object. Cultural objects are the embodiment of shared significance, the shared significance being emotions, memories, and connotations (Cushman, 1996, p. 89) To understand how musical scenes work as a cultural object, and how they obtain their definition of a cultural object, one must examine Durkheim’s theory of ritual. According to Durkheim, a social group can only possess permanence and solidarity if it has sentiments of attachments in its members minds, and these attachment sentiments must be given collective expression (Durkheim, 1960, p. 98-99). Rituals are at the heart of reproducing culture of the group, community or nation. (Cushman, 1996, p. 187). All collective expression takes on the form of the ritual, and there must be an object, more or less concrete, that is representative of the group. And, any object or event that positively affects the well-being of the collective, or represents or stands for this object or event is the object of the ritual attitude. (Durkheim, 1960, p. 98-99). According to Cushman, rituals "condense and crystallize the sentiments and beliefs of a group and communicate the latter in a meaningful way." (Cushman, 1996, p. 185). The performance of music is considered to be a collective ritual, and is crucial in defining the individual members of the musical community as such. Music was seen as most sacred when it was performed. Therefore, music scenes work to bond the community together due to music’s status as a sacred cultural object. These rituals, in the context of music scenes, can be considered cultural collectives that are formed around music. Rock shows bring together members of an oppositional subculture, such as punkers, and serve as a "ritualistic communal celebration" for the group (Lull, 1987, p. 149). Each of rock music stylistic forms and styles of playing are linked to the concrete social experiences and culture of the fans who consume the music. The fans are heterogeneous, differing from one another in radical ways, even as they consume the same music. Moreover, fans use the music in different ways and have “different boundaries defining not only what they listen to but what is included in the category of rock and roll.” (Wicke, 1987, p. 75). Other types of music is conducive to the same ritual, as concerts bring disparate members of the community together with one commonality, such as the individuals who gather every year in San Francisco for a free classical concert. In this way, the concerts and shows bring about sentiments that cannot necessarily be achieved in a different way (Lull, 1987, p. 149). Moreover, music works to bind a community by sharing individual reflections and states, thus making these individual experiences collective. An individual’s experiences and acts are shaped by his intentional states, and these states are “realized only through participation in the symbolic systems of culture” (Bruner, 1990, p. 33). Music is considered to be a form of cultural mediation, and it is through this cultural mediation, that individual meaning becomes communal and public, as opposed to private. Culture shapes the human mind and life by giving “meaning to action by situating its underlying intentional states in an interpretive system.” (Bruner, 1990, p. 34). There can never be a self that is independent of culture, as the “self rises out of our capacity to reflect upon our own acts, by the operation of ’metacognition.’” (Bruner, 1986, p. 67). Allegiance to certain bands or musicans, not to mention musical genres, speaks volumes about who one is. For instance, Bruce Springsteen is the mouthpiece for the blue-collar, common man, while Elvis Costellos sound is more modern, and might be seen as more intellectual. Allegiance to either of these two musicians says something important about the listener (Cavicchi, 1998, pp. 174-175). While each has similar styles of music, the true-blue followers of each would probably not be associated with the other. Elvis Costellos fans probably see Bruce as boring, while Bruce fans would see Costello fans as being wimpy and new-wave (Lull, 1987, p. 145). The music itself carries a power to shape the individual as well. Styles of dress, acceptable behaviors and modes of social interaction (especially regarding women in the rock and roll culture), dancing or not dancing, and drug/alcohol use may all be influenced by the individual songs or by the overall culture of rock and roll. The power of the music to influence these outward appearances and internal levels of acceptance is firmly grounded in the context of rock and roll; the culture exists as a subset of another culture and has its own rules and norms. It remains a subculture despite and perhaps because of its opposition to the dominant culture. “Its power lies not in what it says or means but in what it does within its culture” (Grossberg, 1983, p. 108). Subculture, Taste Culture and Counterculture Theory A subset of culture is subculture, which is pertinent to this discussion, as musical scenes may be viewed as a form of subculture. Subcultures exist in contrast to the mainstream culture, and have their own rule-governed behaviour patterns that characterize and define the particular group (Wicke, 1987, p. 81). Subcultures are the result of cultural differentiation, and they are common in capitalistic societies and are often the result of experiences of age and class categories of individuals. These class and age related experiences are the basis for subcultures. Despite the criticism that rock music is used by all members of a class in the same way, rock music really caters to these differentiated sub-cultures who share the particular rock band or genre’s values and beliefs. Through the band and the music, members of a particular sub-culture are able to “live out” their experiences (Wicke, 1987, p. 81). Ones membership in a subculture may encompass ones entire identity, or just one aspect of it. Examples of the latter would be a businessman who is into playing in a punk-rock band, and is into the punk rock subculture in this way. Examples of the former is a youth who lives and breathes the punk subcultures lifestyle, from the mode of dress, jewelry, attitude and hairstyle. One is totally immersed in the subculture, the other is straddling between mainstream culture and subculture (Lull, 1987, p. 164). There are two kinds of subcultures - aesthetic would be genres of music that are appreciated for its aesthetic qualities, and does not have an element of politics or collective emotion. Examples of this are classical, jazz and ethnic music, such as salsa, polka and flamenco. The music is on the margins of the main culture, but beloved by its devotees. The groupings might have socioeconomic factors in common, but not politics. The second kind of subculture is organized around politics and is oppositional (Lull, 1987, p. 165). The music of these subcultures have a purpose that transcends the aesthetics, and represents music that resists mainstream social practices and institutions. The music of these subcultures confirm the members political positions, and legitimizes the political and social ideologies of the group by reinforcing the groups alternative actions and values. Related and similar to a subculture is a counterculture. A music scene may also be a form of counterculture. Counterculture is the result of engaging in alternative forms of communication among social actors who are collectively pursuing alternative ways of living (Cushman, 1996, p. 8). The base of knowledge amongst the social actors in the counterculture runs counter to the dominant culture. Rock music counterculture means a group of individuals who are committed to disseminate rock music that is neither overtly nor covertly influenced by the dominant culture. Countercultures are often formed around music, due to music’s ability to communicate and mediate common experiences. An example is the Russian counterculture studied by Cushman – these musicians were considered to be social actors who share the same perceptions, beliefs, values, cultural symbols and cultural codes, all of which were in opposition to the dominant culture of the Soviet society (Cushman, 1996, p. 8). Membership in a counterculture allows individuals to share their innermost experiences and unify into the “we” that is the foundation of all communication and social groups (Cushman, 1996, p. 10). Being a member of a counterculture allows individuals to share their innermost experiences and unify into the “we” that is the foundation of all communication and social groups. An example are the Soviet musicians studied by Thomas Cushman. Cushman’s musicians were studied through the backdrop of Soviet modernity – this was their objective reality. Their music was their way of preserving their inner autonomy and shared consciousness – their subjective selves. The Soviet modernity framed these experiences as their objective world (Cushman, 1996, p. 9). Taste cultures represent another sub-set of culture, and may be another way of viewing music scenes. Taste culture theorists state that individuals are drawn to a certain style of music by choice, as opposed to access. For instance, American punk audiences were drawn to punk not necessarily because of social class, but because they had an interest in contemporary music. The Sex Pistols audience was drawn from a high socioeconomic strata, despite the lower socioeconomic roots of the music itself. This shows that taste cultures form around the interest in the music, not from common socioeconomic backgrounds (Lull, 1987 p. 160). Taste culture theorists state that an audience chooses the cultural materials that they like, and these choices cannot be explained by external factors such as social status. However, music does not just reflect social structure. Lewis theorizes that in a complex society, it is less likely that musical tastes will line up with a particular socioeconomic class, while in societies that are less socially mobile, taste cultures aligning with social class is more likely to be normative (Lewis, 1987, p. 205). Taste cultures in popular music do not just reflect social structure. Studies Regarding Particular Music Scenes To get a better feel for the concepts that have been presented, several studies about how music and music scenes reflect and impact different societies should be examined. For instance, J. Patrick Williams (2003) studied the subculture of the straight-edge, which is a subculture of punk rockers who eschewed drinking or drugs. Williams was particularly interested in the role that music played to this subculture, noting that there are conflicting views on what creates a musical subculture – is it socioeconomic class, or a taste culture? Implicit in the assumptions were that music is the vehicle around which subcultures are based, and music forms the basis for collective identities, which is integral to subcultures; and that music helps individuals locate themselves within the subculture. Williams study focused on the straight-edge subculture in cyberspace, using participant observation and interviewing as the methodologies. In the study, Williams was focused on reading message boards and asking questions of others on-line. The study was over 18 months. He collected data using three strategies – qualitative content analysis, requesting participants to share their stories, and in-depth interviews with selected informants (Williams, 2003, p. 54). What Williams found was that, even though there is a theory that subcultures are no longer applicable in today’s society, due to the fact that society has become so fractured, there is no dominant culture, the punks in straight-edge were still very interested in being a part of a meaningful subculture. The punks studied still located their identities within the parameters of their subculture. Williams also found that the punks did not react against the dominant culture at large, but, rather, aspects of the culture – consumer culture, youth culture, or hardcore punk culture (Williams, 2003, p. 71). Another researcher who was interested in a punk subculture, that of aging punk rock fans, was Andy Bennett (2006). He noted that punk began in 1977, and that many who followed punk rock back then still do today. Noting that most studies of punk focus on the youth culture, Bennett studied 15 male (Bennett could not find any agin female punks to interview) punk fans ages 35 to 53 in the East Kent region of England, focusing on how these aging fans articulated their continuing attachment to the genre, what they thought of new forms of punk, and how they relate to punk’s younger fans. Among Bennett’s findings – older punks did not still dress in the safety pins and torn clothing of their youth, preferring to dress in casual clothes, yet still retaining various punk emblems on their bodies, such as nose rings, multiple earring, and metal studs; the hairstyles tended to be more subtle versions of the hard-core punk styles of their youth – the men favored close-cropped hair, or a slightly longer strip of hair that faintly echoed the mohawk style; and that the men’s perception of themselves of a punk had shifted and toned down (Bennett, 2006, pp. 225-226). These men now had responsibilities, such as a family and a career, so could not necessarily engage in the hard-core look or sensibility of their youths, yet still held the practices and beliefs of a punk. Moreover, while all the men were no longer heavily involved with the local punk scene, each tried to attend at least one punk gig a month. When the older punks did attend gigs, they stood towards the back and out of the mosh pits. The older punks also participated in discursive practice, in which they assumed a critical overseer of the punk scene. They also were kind of ”mentors” to younger punks, regaling them with anecdotes of the original punk scene, and handing down to the younger punks their punk music collection. In return, the younger punks respected and revered their elders, seeing them as valuable for their proximity to the original punk scene and for having gone to concerts by The Sex Pistols (Bennett, 2006, pp. 228-229). Bennett’s conclusion was that the older punks, although not being as into the scene as the younger punks, nevertheless felt a sense of belonging that bonded them together with punks, younger and older alike. The love of punk acted as a ”social glue” during face-to-face interactions. The punks also treated punk festivals as a platform for their collective identities, which was crucial for holding the punk scene together despite the disparateness of punk fans young and old (Bennett, 2006, p. 229-230). Joseph Kotarba (2005) conducted a study on baby boomers and their experiences of rock and roll and the role that this music plays upon their everyday lives. He based his findings on popular music studies conducted over 15 years. The studies that he researched included qualitative methods such as participant observation, analysis of popular music and “the active production of rock n roll events (Kotarba, 2005, p. 1528). Kotarba found through these studies that middle aged rock fans have a self-need to interpret romantic moments. They can do this by reinterpreting music to fit their romantic needs, by viewing existing songs according to a romantic feeling, even if the song is not inherently romantic. Another way is that boomers gravitate towards songs that are inherently romantic, and consuming the plaintive prose of the romantic lyrics to fit situations at hand. Also, couples will have a song that is “their” song, and this makes the person feel like a lover (Kotarba, 2005, p. 1530). Moreover, Kotarba found that the baby boomers tended to share their music with their children, and rock and roll thus integrates families and provides a commonality between parents and children. Fathers who know guitar teach their sons to play, and this is a way of bonding. Mothers share their daughters love of certain artists, and this is the way in to understanding each other (Kotarba, 2005, p. 1532). Boomers also use rock and roll as political statements, such as the rocker Patti Smith who performed an anti-war concert right at the beginning of the Iraq war, and this gave the boomer fans a “relevant and identifiable venue for sharing their overwhelmingly negative feelings about the war” (Kotarba, 2005, p. 1575). Also, rock music is a way to express their political history to their children. For instance, in Houston, Texas a group sponsors a free concert every Memorial Day. Veterans from wars such as Vietnam and the Gulf Wars attend this concert and bring their children, explaining to the children about the songs that are playing and the personal significance of these songs. As the Guess Who performs “American Woman,” which was a 1960s anthem, the fathers explain to their children what this song meant to them, according to their personal history with the song, and this provides the children another avenue into the fathers identity (Kotarba, 2005, p. 1575). The Sociological Study of Music Another way to review music scenes and how they impact and reflect society would be to exam them in the context of music sociology, which would provide a broader framework for the issue at hand. The sociological study of music is a discipline that studies music as a social phenomenon. Sociological study of music is interested in the way that society affects musical creation; musical performance and diffusion; and musical consumption. (Supicic, 1987, p.54). The first aspect, musical creation, is self-explanatory - society affects the way that artists create their music, and the themes and motifs that they use in this music. For instance, an analysis of song lyrics have enabled sociologists to “chart the rise of youth culture, with new attitudes to love and sex and fun, and to document the differences between romance in the 1950s and 1960s. Lyrics in the 1960s reflected the changing mores of the times, stressing “hedonism, movement, freedom and choice,” with the song lyrics speaking of happiness in terms of sex, relationships that do not lead to marriage, and love as a “passing, to-be-seized opportunity.” (Frith, 1988, p. 107). “Musical consumption” refers to the effect on the public at large by society, and how this effect influences how receive, react and demand musical works. (Supicic, 1987, p. 54). For instance, the 1960s were marked by the Vietnam War, which gave birth to the activists and hippies, two examples of 1960s countercultures. The youth of those times, influenced by the Vietnam War and a general feeling of unrest, basically made war on their elders, and this was a world-wide phenomenon, even in the countries where Vietnam was not a factor. The youth just wanted to rebel during those times, no matter the reason. (Gould, 2007, pp. 458-461). These times influenced how society reacted to, received and demanded musical works. The youth became interested in hard-edged rock, listening to angry, slashing, piercing blues of British and American guitar heroes. (Szatmary, 2000, p. 175). The blues became a phenomenon, owing in no small part to the fact that the blues were the music of an oppressed people, and the youth identified with this feeling of oppression. Jimi Hendrix sprung up during this period with his brand of psychedelic blues. Hendrix explained his appeal – “Lots of young people now feel theyre not getting a fair deal. So they revert to something loud, harsh, almost verging on violence; if they didnt go to a concert, they might be going to a riot.” (Szatmary, 2000, p. 176). Other hard-edged blues artists who became popular include Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Jeff Beck, Janis Joplin and Ginger Baker. Still another line of inquiry for the musical social scientists is how societal problems transpose into musical art, and how music deals with these problems. (Supicic, 1987, p. 60). Musical art can be seen as either expressing the problems or opposing them. Subversive music is a good example of music that rises out of a social event. (Supicic, 1987, p. 61). This element the so-called protest element is a fruitful element in the examination of rock and roll. Examples of the musical protest would be Tom Robinsons Glad to Be Gay . This 1978 song was a reaction to the fact that, even though homosexuality had been legalized in Britain for ten years, it was still suitable for prime-time comedians to make fun of gay-bashing, and soon became a rallying cry for the oppressed homosexual minority. (Thompson, 2009, p. 178). The early 90s Seattle music scene was established because the post-baby boom fans felt a certain sense of fear and frustration, and the bands that flourished, such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam, capitalized upon these fears even as they gave voice to them. (Szatmary, 2000, p. 287). Reggae, centered around the charismatic de facto leader Bob Marley, was a reaction to the oppression of the Jamaican underclass, and Marley gave this class a voice by singing songs about equality and a better life through determination and faith. (Cushman, 1995, p. 9; Moriarty, 2003, p. 257). Bruce Springsteens song Born in the USA was a protest against the Vietnam War, and how working class men were compelled to fight this war and returned to nothing. (Frith, 1996, pp. 165-166). These are just a few examples of protest, but this element is vast and would no doubt fill volumes of writings all by itself. Conclusion Musical scenes tell a lot about a society in which they are found. The reason why is because of the nature of culture, and how culture is formed, as well as collectivity. Within the definition of culture, is the definition of subculture, taste culture and counterculture, all of which have implications for musical scenes. Beyond this, the sociological study of rock also helps understand the relationship between musical scenes and society. If one understands these concepts, then the impact of musical scenes on society becomes clear. Bibliography Bennett, A. 2006. Punk’s not dead: The continuing significance of punk rock for an older generation of fans. Sociology, 40: 219-235. Bruner, J. 1990. Acts of Meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bruner, J. 1986. Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cavicchi, D. 1998. Tramps Like Us: Music and Meaning Among Springsteen Fans. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cushman, T. 1995. Notes from Underground: Rock Music Counterculture in Russia. 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