Subculture the meaning of style

SUBCULTURE THE MEANING OF STYLE IN THE SAME SERIES The Empire Writes Back: Theory and practice in postcolonial literatures Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin Translation Studies Susan Bassnett Rewriting English: Cultural politics of gender and class Janet Batsleer, Tony Davies, Rebecca O’Rourke, and Chris Weedon Critical Practice Catherine Belsey Formalism and Marxism Tony Bennett Dialogue and Difference: English for the nineties ed Peter Brooker and Peter Humm Telling Stories: A theoretical analysis of narrative fiction Steven Cohan and Linda M Shires Alternative Shakespeares ed John Drakakis The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama Keir Elam Reading Television John Fiske and John Hartley Linguistics and the Novel Roger Fowler Return of the Reader: Reader-response criticism Elizabeth Freund Making a Difference: Feminist literary criticism ed Gayle Greene and Coppélia Kahn Superstructuralism: The philosophy of structuralism and post-structuralism Richard Harland Structuralism and Semiotics Terence Hawkes Dialogism: Bakhtin and his world Michael Holquist Popular Fictions: Essays in literature and history ed Peter Humm, Paul Stigant, and Peter Widdowson The Politics of Postmodernism Linda Hutcheon Fantasy: The literature of subversion Rosemary Jackson Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist literary theory Toril Moi Deconstruction: Theory and practice Christopher Norris Orality and Literacy: The technologizing of the word Walter J Ong Narrative Fiction: Contemporary poetics Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan Adult Comics: An introduction Roger Sabin Criticism in Society Imre Salusinszky Metafiction: The theory and practice of self-conscious fiction Patricia Waugh Psychoanalytic Criticism: Theory in practice Elizabeth Wright DICK HEBDIGE SUBCULTURE THE MEANING OF STYLE LONDON AND NEW YORK First published in 1979 by Methuen & Co Ltd Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002 © 1979 Dick Hebdige All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data available Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data available ISBN 0–415–03949–5 (Print Edition) ISBN 0-203-13994-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-22092-7 (Glassbook Format) CONTENTS General Editor’s Preface Acknowledgements INTRODUCTION: SUBCULTURE AND STYLE vii ix I ONE From culture to hegemony Part One: Some case studies TWO Holiday in the sun: Mister Rotten makes the grade Boredom in Babylon 23 27 THREE Back to Africa The Rastafarian solution Reggae and Rastafarianism Exodus: A double crossing 30 33 35 39 FOUR Hipsters, beats and teddy boys Home-grown cool: The style of the mods White skins, black masks Glam and glitter rock: Albino camp and other diversions Bleached roots: Punks and white ‘ethnicity’ 46 52 54 59 62 vi CONTENTS Part Two: A reading FIVE The function of subculture Specificity: Two types of teddy boy The sources of style 73 80 84 SIX Subculture: The unnatural break Two forms of incorporation 90 92 SEVEN Style as intentional communication Style as bricolage Style in revolt: Revolting style 100 102 106 EIGHT Style as homology Style as signifying practice 113 117 NINE O.K., it’s Culture, but is it Art? CONCLUSION 128 134 References Bibliography Suggested Further Reading 141 169 178 Index 187 GENERAL EDITOR’S PREFACE I T is easy to see that we are living in a time of rapid and radical social change It is much less easy to grasp the fact that such change will inevitably affect the nature of those disciplines that both reflect our society and help to shape it Yet this is nowhere more apparent than in the central field of what may, in general terms, be called literary studies Here, among large numbers of students at all levels of education, the erosion of the assumptions and presuppositions that support the literary disciplines in their conventional form has proved fundamental Modes and categories inherited from the past no longer seem to fit the reality experienced by a new generation New Accents is intended as a positive response to the initiative offered by such a situation Each volume in the series will seek to encourage rather than resist the process of change, to stretch rather than reinforce the boundaries that currently define literature and its academic study Some important areas of interest immediately present themselves In various parts of the world, new methods of analysis have been developed whose conclusions reveal the limitations of the Anglo-American outlook we inherit New concepts of literary forms and modes have been proposed; viii GENERAL EDITOR’S PREFACE new notions of the nature of literature itself, and of how it communicates are current; new views of literature’s role in relation to society flourish New Accents will aim to expound and comment upon the most notable of these In the broad field of the study of human communication, more and more emphasis has been placed upon the nature and function of the new electronic media New Accents will try to identify and discuss the challenge these offer to our traditional modes of critical response The same interest in communication suggests that the series should also concern itself with those wider anthropological and sociological areas of investigation which have begun to involve scrutiny of the nature of art itself and of its relation to our whole way of life And this will ultimately require attention to be focused on some of those activities which in our society have hitherto been excluded from the prestigious realms of Culture Finally, as its title suggests, one aspect of New Accents will be firmly located in contemporary approaches to language, and a continuing concern of the series will be to examine the extent to which relevant branches of linguistic studies can illuminate specific literary areas The volumes with this particular interest will nevertheless presume no prior technical knowledge on the part of their readers, and will aim to rehearse the linguistics appropriate to the matter in hand, rather than to embark on general theoretical matters Each volume in the series will attempt an objective exposition of significant developments in its field up to the present as well as an account of its author’s own views of the matter Each will culminate in an informative bibliography as a guide to further study And while each will be primarily concerned with matters relevant to its own specific interests, we can hope that a kind of conversation will be heard to develop between them: one whose accents may perhaps suggest the distinctive discourse of the future TERENCE HAWKES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS MANY people have assisted in different ways in the writing of this book I should like in particular to thank Jessica Pickard and Stuart Hall for generously giving up valuable time to read and comment upon the manuscript Thanks also to the staff and students of the University of Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, and to Geoff Hurd of Wolverhampton Polytechnic for keeping me in touch with the relevant debates I should also like to thank Mrs Erica Pickard for devoting so much time and skill to the preparation of this manuscript Finally, thanks to Duffy, Mike, Don and Bridie for living underneath the Law and outside the categories for so many years SUGGESTED FURTHER READING 181 synonomous in the popular mythology Unfortunately, the confusion that follows from this association (about class, violence, etc.) has all too often been reproduced in academic work because, as we have seen, the analysis of subculture grew in large part directly out of the study of delinquent street gangs See D Downes (1966) and P Willmott (1969) for empirically based studies of British working-class youth culture in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s See also P Willis (1978a and b) for participant observation studies of hippies, motor bike boys and cultures of resistance in school P Cohen (1972) reconstructs the post-war history of the East End of London by interpreting the succession of working-class youth styles as a series of creative responses to changing conditions He introduces the notion that style represents a ‘magical resolution’ of experienced contradictions Nik Cohn’s Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom (Paladin, 1970) together with Melly’s Revolt into Style (1972) and Nuttall’s Bomb Culture (1969) still contain the most stimulating and evocative resumées of the first two decades of rock music and the British youth cultures which grew up round it All Tom Wolfe’s work, though confined with a few notable exceptions to the American scene, is well worth reading By adding empathy to observation, Wolfe manages to catch the unique flavour of each subculture – both its exclusive ‘feel’ and the meaning of the rituals, argot and value system through which it is defined See in addition to Wolfe (1966, 1969), Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak-Catchers (Bantam, 1971), an amusing study of the obsessive cultivation by radical intellectuals of deviant acquaintances and outlawed causes Also The Electric KoolAid Acid Test (Bantam, 1969), in which Wolfe follows the trail of Ken Kesey and the Pranksters – a group of perpetually hallucinating anarchists – in a ‘magic bus’ across the America of the hippie era Written in the same spirit, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Hunter S Thompson, 182 SUBCULTURE: THE MEANING OF STYLE Paladin, 1974), though not specifically concerned with subculture, is a brilliantly subversive extension of the Meaningful American Journey (the Quest for the West) undertaken by the author and his lawyer under the influence of a whole range of drugs Thompson’s also produced a participant observation account of an American motor-cycle gang entitled Hell’s Angels (Penguin, 1967) which ends, convincingly enough, with Thompson himself being severely ‘stomped’ by his ‘subjects’ For a brief look at the meaning of British subcultural style, see J Nuttall’s ‘Techniques of Separation’ in Anatomy of Pop (Tony Cash (ed.), B.B.C publication, 1970) Music Simon Frith’s The Sociology of Rock (Constable, 1976) provides the first detailed analysis of the rock music business from the discovery of young talent through the packaging, refinement and promotion of a musical style to the actual production and distribution of the musical product The Story of Pop (Phoenix Press, 1975) and All Our Loving (T Palmer, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1976) are accessibly written and visually stimulating ‘coffee table books’, though Palmer supplies the more idiosyncratic and in places questionable account R Mabey’s The Pop Process (Hutchinson 1969) is a ‘critical exploration’ of the pop music world of the 1960’s though the emphasis on the ‘value’ of the lyrics may seem a little dated now See also D Laing, ‘The Decline and Fall of British Rhythm and Blues’ in the Age of Rock (Eisen (ed.), Random House, 1969) and ‘Musical Developments in Pop’ in Cash (1970) The Encyclopedia of Rock (Laing, D and Hardy, P (eds)) is a useful reference book which contains information on all the major performers, producers and record companies from 1955–1975 For black American soul, see C Gillett (1969), P Garland, The Sound of Soul (Chicago 1969) and ‘A Whiter SUGGESTED FURTHER READING 183 Shade of Black’ in Eisen (ed.) 1969 Also, L Jones, Black Music (Apollo, 1968) Beats and hipsters See Bibliography for A Goldman (1974), R Russell (1972), H Finestone (1964), L Jones (1975), N Hentoff (1964), N Mailer (1968), J Kerouac (1958), H Becker (1963, 1964) In addition, H Gans’ The Urban Villagers (Glencoe, 1963) is a study of the American bohemian scene in the late 1950s, and N Polsky, Hustlers, Beats and Others (Penguin, 1971) as well as containing a fascinating piece of research on pool room hustlers, includes an essay on the role of marijhuana in the world of drifters, beats and drop-outs For the jazz background, see I Gitler’s Jazz Masters of the Forties (MacMillan, 1966), B Green’s The Reluctant Art (Lancer Books, 1967) and A Goldman’s Freakshow (Atheneum, 1971) For the literary background, see William Burrough’s Junkie and The Naked Lunch (Corgi, 1970), and Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums (Panther, 1972) Also Ann Charters’ excellent biography Kerouac (Picador, 1978) Teddy boys See Jefferson (1976) Jefferson sees the teddy boy style as an expression of both the reality and the aspirations of the group T Fyvel’s The Insecure Offenders (Chatto and Windus, 1963) contains a contemporary response to the teddy boy phenomenon H Parker’s View from the Boys (David and Charles, 1974) is an account of the 1953 Clapham Common Murder which did much to establish the teddy boys’ repution for violence See also S Cohen and P Rock (1970), a study of reactions in the media to the teddy boy style, and J Sandilands ‘Whatever happened to the Teddy Boys?’ (in Daily Telegraph Magazine, 29 November 1968) 184 SUBCULTURE: THE MEANING OF STYLE Mods See Bibliography for D Laing (1969), S Cohen (1972), D Hamblett and J Deverson (1964) D Hebdige’s ‘The Style of the Mods’ gives a reading of mod style which stresses both the mods’ symbolic subversion and fetishization of commodities Gary Herman’s study of The Who (Studio Vista, 1971) is one of the first attempts to relate the style and success of a pop group to a particular subculture See also, K Hatton’s ‘The Mods’ in the Sunday Times Colour Magazine, August 1964, a photographic feature with quotations from interviewed mods Since writing the book, there has been a mod revival which attracted the attention of the press when the Who staged a re-enactment of the modrocker confrontations for their film Quadrophenia (see Melody Maker, 24 October 1978) Skinheads J Clarke (1976) interprets the skinhead style as an attempt to resurrect the fading chauvanisms of traditional workingclass culture against the inroads of consumerism and embourgeoisment The Paint House: Words from an East End Gang (S Daniel and P McGuire (eds), 1972) contains transcripts of conversations with a group of London skinheads and builds up a depressingly authentic picture of lives trapped between school, home and unskilled work See also P Fowler’s ‘Skins Rule’ in Rock File (C Gillett (ed.), New English Library, 1970) Hippies A mass of literature was produced in and around the counter-culture during the late 1960s, but two books stand out as representative of the hippie experience: taken together, R Neville’s Playpower (Paladin, 1971) and T Roszack’s The Making of the Counter Culture (Faber, 1971) SUGGESTED FURTHER READING 185 give a reasonably full account of the movement in Great Britain and the U.S See also J Young (1971) and ‘The Hippies: An Essay in the Politics of Leisure’ in I Taylor and L Taylor (eds), (1973) Further reading should include J Rubin’s Do It! Scenarios of the Revolution, an indictment of ‘Amerika’ and a statement of anarchic intent Rubin was a leading spokesman for the yippies (a politically militant off-shoot of the hippies which owed a certain amount to the Paris-based Situationists) The transition from hippie to yippie is best explained by Rubin himself: ‘Yippies are hippies who’ve been hit on the head by policemen’ Reggae, Rastas and rudies For a full account of the early history of the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica and a detailed exposition of the movement’s aims and beliefs, see M G Smith, R Angier and R Nettleford, The Ras Tafarian Movement in Kingston, Jamaica (Institute for Social and Economic Research, U.C.W.I., Kingston, Jamaica) Rex Nettleford’s Mirror, Mirror (William Collins & Sangster, Jamaica, 1970) and L E Barrett’s The Rastafarians (Heinemann, 1977) place the movement in the context of a centuries-old tradition of resistance to colonization in the Caribbean J Owens’ Dread: The Rastafarians (Sangster, 1976) which consists of edited conversations with Rastafarians testifies to the complexity and depth of Rasta religious convictions and to the persuasive use of figurative language made by individual brethren For an analysis of reggae in Jamaica, see Reggae Bloodlines (Davis, S and Simon, P., Ancher 1977) For black youth in Britain, see D Hiro (1972) and D Hebdige (1976) Also C McGlashan, ‘Reggae, reggae, reggae’ in Sunday Times Colour Magazine (4 February 1973) contains interviews with reggae musicians and sound-system men and a description of a Saturday night ‘blues’ party V Hines’ Black Youth and the Survival Game 186 SUBCULTURE: THE MEANING OF STYLE in Britain (Zulu Press, 1973) deals as the title suggests with the day-to-day experience of disadvantage See also Hall et al (1978) Articles on reggae and the cultural background in both Britain and Jamaica appear regularly in the music press See in particular, Black Echoes, Black Music, New Musical Express and Sounds Punk It is still too early to provide any comprehensive or confident evaluation of existing accounts of the punk subculture At the moment of writing, only two studies seem of more than ephemeral interest F and J Vermorel (1978) have provided an adequate account of the early history of the Sex Pistols T Parker and J Burchill’s The Boy Looked at Johnny (Pluto Press, 1978) claims to be an ‘obituary to rock ‘n roll’ Written in an exaggerated ‘scandal-sheet’ style, the book is an exposé of rock’s dubious ethics and dwells in particular upon the disjunction between punk’s aspirations and achievements The authors write with the acidic fervour of the newly disillusioned but the book does give a genuine ‘insider’ account of the punk subculture See also any edition of the New Musical Express from November 1976 to June 1978 INDEX Figures in bold type indicate a main reference Abrams, M., 153n, 154n Alternative T.V., 67 Althusser, L., 12, 14, 84, 102, 132–3, 142n amphetamines: and Northern soul, 30; and mods, 52, 53, 104; and punks, 114 Angier, R., 185 Animals, The, 152n Ants, The, 111 Aragon, L., 128 Archer, T., 75, 153n Asian culture, 58 Aswaad, 30 Back to Africa, 31, 43, 64, (see also Africanization in reggae) Balibar, E., 14, 102 Barker, P., 149n Barrett, L E., 185 Barstow, S., 153n Barthes, R., 8–10, 16, 18, 65, 97, 99, 100–2, 124–5, 126, 136–7, 139–40 Battle(s) on Orange Street’, 37 Battleship Potemkin, 125 Beatlemania, 162n beats, 46, 47–9, 51; and Lenny Bruce, 147–8n; and Newport Jazz Festival, 148n; bibliography, 183 ‘Be Bop a Lula’, 50 Becker, H., 178–9 ‘Belsen was a Gas’, 110 Berger, J., 74 Bible and black consciousness, 32–3, 135, 143n Big Youth, 39, 146n ‘Black Man Time’, 59 blackness: in reggae, 37–9, 40, 42; in jazz, 42; as white myth, 47–8, 53– 4, 64; in soul, 143n; in black West Indian style, 41–3, 58–9; and language, 135–6, 31, 35, 57, 64, 143n, 150n; patois and skinheads, 64 Black Slate, 30 Bland, Bobby, 146n, 152n Blondie, 152n 188 SUBCULTURE: THE MEANING OF STYLE bluebeat, 49 blues, 49, 143n Btythe, R., 52, 149n Bolan, Marc, 62 Bowie, David, 25, 27, 28, 60– 2, 88–9, 116 Braine J., 153n Brecht, B., 15, 110, 118, 163n Breton, A., 65, 105–6, 121, 165n bricolage, 103–4, 106, 114, 123, 165n Brooke, D., 153n Brook-Partridge, B., 158n Brown, James, 53, 54, 146n, 152n Bruce, Lenny, 147–8n Burchill, J., 186 Burroughs, W., 23, 27, 183 Butler Act, 74 Campbell, A., 180 Canvey Island 40s revival, 25 Carib Club, trial, 36, 39, 145n Cari-festa, 144 Cash, D., 182 Chambers, I., 49 Charters, A., 62, 150n Chicago school of deviancy study, 75, 79 Cimarons, the, 30 Clapham Common murder, 183 Clarke, J., 56, 57, 58, 95, 104, 179 Clarke, Tony, 53 Clash, the, 28, 29, 67, 109, 110, 160n class: social, 14, 15; and hegemony, 15–16; and signification, 17; and reggae, 37; alleged disappearance of, 74, 153n, 154n; and punk, 63, 65, 66, 67–8, 108, 111, 115, 121; and teddy boys, 51, 82, 83, 149n; and beats, 48; and hipsters, 48; and mods, 86– 7, 149n; and glam rock, 60– 2, 88–9; and skinheads, 55–8, 75–6, 80, 120–1 C.N.D., 51 Cochrane, Eddy, 84 Cohen, A., 66, 180 Cohen, P., 53–6, 58, 77–9, 122, 139, 181 Cohen, S., 55, 96, 149n, 156n, 177–8, 179, 183 Cohn, N., 181 collage, 105–6, 129, 130 colonialism and black consciousness, 31–4, 135–6 Coltrane, John, 42, 184 common sense, 9, 11, 13 (see also ideology, naturalization) Conrad, J., 168n contemporary cultural studies, 7, 9, 139 Coronation Street, 87 Corrigan, P., 36 Costello, E., 151n Count Basie, 147n counter-culture, 61, 148n (see also hippies, yippies) country and western, 49 Coward, R., 155n ‘crazy baldhead’, 150n Crime, 25 Culler, J., 129 culture, 5–8, 161n; as standard of excellence, 6, 128–9, 141n; as whole way of life, 6, 7, 10, 129; versus nature, 92; and subculture, 5, 129, 136; as ‘idealist’ construct, 155n Culture, 67 cut-ups, 106–7, 130 (see also punk) Dada, 65, 105–6, 110, 159n dandy, 28, 62; fin-de-siecle, 149n INDEX Daniel, S., 184 Davis, Miles, 42 Davis, S., 185 Dean, James, 84 Decker, Desmond, 145n Deverson, J., 54, 167n Diamond Dogs, 27 Dickens, C., 75 disco, 60 Dr Feelgood, 25 ‘Don’t touch I-Man Locks’, 144n Douglas, M., 91 Downes, D., 75, 155n, 181 dread, 26, 39, 63–4, 123, 145n dreadlocks, 34, 36, 43, 63, 66, 143–4n dub, 36, 37, 38, 144n; punk dub, 69, 151n (see also reggae) Duchamp, M., 106 Duke Ellington, 147n Eco, U., 100, 101, 105 Eisenstein, A., 125; and montage, 164n Eliot, T S., 7, 136, 137 Eluard, P., 159n embourgeoisement (see social class, alleged disappearance of) ‘E.M.I.’, 161n ‘Entertainer (I’m the)’, 53 ‘epic’ theatre (see Brecht) ‘ethnicity’, 36, 64; and punk, 62–7 (see also blackness, negritude) Fame, Georgie and the Blue Flames, 152n Fanon, F., 139 fanziness (see punk) Finchley Boys, the, 111 Finestone, H., 146n Finn, E., 153n 189 Fiske, J., 156n flower-power (see counter-culture) folk-devil, 94, 157n (see also moral panic) football hooliganism, 97 Four Aces, the, 38 Fowler, P., 184 Frith, S., 182 Fyvel, T., 183 gang, the juvenile, 180–1 ganja (see marijhuana) Gans, H., 183 Garfinkel, H., 112 Geertz, C., 94 Genet, J., 1–3, 18, 30, 34, 66, 126, 134–6, 137–8, 139, 150n, 166n, 167n Gibson, Harry ‘the Hipster’, 147–8n Gilbert and George, 109, 162n Giles, 51 Gillespie Dizzy, 147n Gillett, C., 146n, 152n, 182 Gitler, I., 183 glam rock, 59–62; and punk, 25, 27, 63, 68; style, 60–2; and ‘crisis’, 61; and gender, 88–9; demise, 62–3 (see also Bowie) Glitter, Gary, 62 glitter rock (see glam rock) Godelier, M., 11 ‘God Save the Queen (No Future)’, 61, 68, 112 Goffman, E., 161n Goldman, A., 48, 52, 147n, 149n, 183 gospel, 49 Gramsci, A., 15, 16, 80 Gray, Dobie, 53 greasers, 44, 130 Green, B., 183 Grosz, G., 106 Grotesque, Paul, 151n 190 SUBCULTURE: THE MEANING OF STYLE Grunwick, 87 Hall, S., 11, 13, 14, 15–16, 29, 56, 80, 85, 91, 94, 97, 114, 122, 148n, 156n, 179, 186 Hamblett, C., 54, 167n Hannertz, U., 143n, 145–6n Happy Days, 82 Hardy, P., 182 Hartley, J., 156n Harvey, S., 163n Hatton, K., 184 Hawkes, T., 8, 104–5 ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, 50 Heartbreakers, the, 25 Heath, S., 125 heavy metal rock, 84, 109, 155n Hebdige, D., 59, 184, 185 hegemony, 15–16; and media, 84–5, 156n Hell, Richard, 25, 27, 62, 63, Hells Angels, 182 Hentoff, N., 146n, 147n, 148n Herder, W., Herman, G., 184 hippies, 55, 96, 109, 122; and dance, 113; and skinheads, 124, 130; and heavy metal, 155n; and festivals, 162n; bibliography, 181, 184–5 hipsters, 46–9; style, 48–9, 147n; relationship with black community, 48–9; and drug use, 146n; background, 147n; bibliography, 184–5 (see also jazz) Hines, V., 186 Hiro, D., 4, 143n ‘homology’, 113–17 100 Club, the, 142n Hussey, Dermott, 144n ideology: ‘anonymous’, 9, 10; and common sense, 11, 13; as world view, 11; as ‘false consciousness’, 11; and Althusser, 12; as system of representation, 12–13, 90; and reproduction, 12, 14, 16–17, 132–3; and signification, 13, 17, 18, 44, 57, 119; dominant and subordinate ideologies, 14–15, 16; ideology-in-general, 14; and ‘ideological effect’ of media, 85, 156n; ideological incorporation of subculture, 96–9 (see also naturalization) ‘If You Don’t Want to Fuck Me, fuck off’, 110 Iggy Pop, 25 immigration: experience of, 40–5; and patterns of employment, 36, 40, 41, 42 ‘In Crowd, The’, 53 I-Roy, 59, 143n ‘I Stupid’, 25 ‘I Wanna be Sick on You’, 110 Jackson, G., 134–5, 166n Jagger, Mick, 28, 152n Jam, the, 151n Jarman, D., 64 Jarry, A., 33, 102 jazz, 8, 30, 68, 40, 42, 44; and miscegenation, 46–8, 49, 50; trad, 51; modern, 44, 51, 68; be-bop, 47–8, 47n; avant-garde, 68; and drugs, 146n, 147n; swing, 46–7, 147n; New York Sound, 147n; Newport Jazz Festival, 148n Jefferson, T., 50, 56, 148n, 149n ‘Johnny Too Bad’, 145n Jones, L., 143n, 146n, 183 INDEX Jones, Steve, 27 Jordan, 28, 64, 111 Jubilee, 64 Ken Kesey and the Pranksters, 181 Kenniston, K., 152n Kerouac, J., 46, 47, 183 Kidel, M., 31 Kristeva, J., 119–20, 124, 126, 129, 164–5n labelling, 94, 139, 179 (see also transactional analysis) Lacan, J., 155n, 165n Lackner, H., 119 Ladywood, 87 Laing, D., 52, 182 ‘langue’, 118 Lautréamont, comte de, 105 Lawrence, T E., 168n leapniks, 108 Leeds Bonfire Trial, 36 Lefebvre, H., 16, 17, 92, 95, 117 Letts, Don, 29 Levi-Strauss, C., 91–2, 103, 110, 113 Lewis, Lew, 25 Lewisham, 87 ‘Lightning Flash (Weak Heart Drop)’, 39 Lipton, M., 158n Livingstone, Dandy, 145n Lockwood, 153n London S.S., 142n Lord Buckley, 147n MacCabe, C., 118 McIntosh, M., 179 McGlashan, C., 185 McGuire, P., 184 ‘Madness’, 53 Mailer, N., 5, 47, 48 191 Malraux, A., 168n Mangrove trial, 36 Manley, M., 35, 144n Marcuse, H., 110, 138 marijhuana: ‘ganja’, 30, 35, 144n; ‘weed’, 36, 40; ‘tea’, 48; and labelling, 179 Mark P., 111 Mark, Sir R., 145n Marley, Bob, 30, 69 Marsh, P., 180 Marx, K., 10, 11, 15, 80, 95, 157n Masson, A., 130 Matias, D., 119 Matumbi, 130 Matza, D., 76–7, 151n, 180 Mayhew, H., 75, 154n Melly, G., 28, 44, 82, 83, 108, 124, 128, 149n, 181 Mepham, J., 90, 116, 161n Michelson, A., 105 Miller, W., 76, 180 Millet, K., 151n, 167n Mills, C Wright, 153n Mink DeVille, 152n Minton’s, 147n Mobey, R., 182 mod: and black style, 44, 52; clothing and style, 52, 104–5; and work, 53, 79, 149n; and drugs, 53; and ‘upward option’, 55, 77, 86–7; and music, 53, 69; ‘hard mods’, 55; and parent culture, 79, 167n; and teds, 81; in media, 93, 99, 123; and moral panic, 93, 156n, 157n; and fashion trade, 95, 99; as conspicuous in groups, 101; originals v ‘scooter-boys’, 122; style as bricolage, 104–5; decline, 54–5; bibliography, 184; and punks, 25, 26, 64, 123, 157n 192 SUBCULTURE: THE MEANING OF STYLE Monk, Thelonius, 147n Montherlant, 168n moral panic, 88, 96–7; and jazz, 47; and punk 142n, 156–7n, 157– 8n; and mods, 93, 156n, 157n (see also transactional analysis) Morrison, A., 75, 154n motor-bike boys, 113, 181, 182 Mungham, G., 108, 162n Murvin, Junior, 38 Nashville Rooms, 142n National Front, 66, 150n naturalization, 12–13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 90–1; and clothing, 100–2; subculture as resistance to, 18, 90–2, 123 (see also common sense, ideology) Navarro, Fats, 146n negritude, 31, 37 (see also ethnicity, blackness) Nettleford, R., 185 Neville, R., 184 Newport Jazz Festival, 148n News at Ten, 24, 97 new wave (see punk) New York Sound, the, 147n Nochlin, L., 149n normalization (see naturalization) northern soul, 25, 84 Nottingham race riot, 40 Notting Hill Carnival, 24–5, 29, 36, 39, 87; and sound systems, 145n Notting Hill race riot, 40 ‘Notty no Jester’, 146n Nuttall, J., 129, 130, 166n, 181–2 ‘Oh Bondage, Up Yours!’, 115 Oval Trial, 36 Owens, J., 185 Palmer, T., 182 ‘Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag’, 53 Parker, Charlie ‘Bird’, 48, 146n, 147n Parker, H., 183 Parker, T., 186 Parkin, F., 153n ‘parole’, 118 participant observation, 75–6, 154n, 161–2n, 165n, 180, 182 Performance, 28 Picconne, P., 115, 121 Picket, Wilson, 152n ‘Pinhead’, 25 ‘Police and (the) Thieves’, 38 Polsky, N., 183 polysemy, 117 Poly Styrene, 115 Pretty Things, the, 152n Prince Buster, 37, 53 problematic, 142n pub rock, 25 punk: as profane culture, 19, 92, 106–12, 114; and ‘crisis’, 23– 5, 27, 64, 65–6, 87–8, 114; influences on and origins of, 25–6; dress, 26, 29, 65, 101, 106–8; and glam rock, 25, 63, 68; and media, 26, 87–8, 93, 97–9, 106–8, 157n; class, 63, 65, 66, 68, 108, 111, 115, 121; and avant-garde art, 27–8, 103–4; and reggae, 25–6, 28– 9, 63–5, 66, 67–9, 132; and black style, 29, 44, 62–9, 95, 151n; ‘blankness’, 18, 28, 34, 36, 63, 65, 69–70, 117, 120–2; and parent culture, 79, 120–1; and Rastafarianism, 66–7; and fashion trade, 95–6, 151n; as ‘noise’, 88, 113, 115, 121; and moral panic, 88, 93, 142n, 156–7n, 158n; as ‘spectacle’, 87, 96–9; and INDEX teddy boys, 67, 81, 84, 116, 123–4, 130, 157n; and skinheads, 120–1, 166n; and swastika, 116–17; dance, 108– 9; music, 25–6, 109–11, 114, 151n, 161n; fanzines, 11–12; graphics and typography, 112; and ‘cut-ups’, 26, 106, 114, 123, 152n; and sexual ‘kinkiness’, 107–8; and ‘modernity’, 115; ‘real’ v ‘safety pin people’, 122; American punk, 25, 27, 152n; derivation of word, 162–3n; analysis of style, 114–17, 120–4, 126–7; and mods, 25, 26, 64, 123, 157n; bibliography, 186 Punk (the film), 29 punk dub (see dub) Quinton Boys, the, 180–1 Rainbow Theatre, 110, 160n Ramones, The, 25 Rastafarianism: origins and relationship with Christian mythology, 33–5, 143–4n; insignia, 34–5, 143–4n; and reggae, 35–9; as style, 36, 43, 143–4n, 146n; and skinheads, 59–60; and punks, 64–6, 29; and soul, 143n; ‘real’ v ‘rasta bandwagon’, 122; bibliography, 185 Read, Sir John, 99, 159–60n realism, 118, 163n Reco, 35 Redding, Otis, 152n Reed, Lou, 62, 116 reggae: relationship with rock, 28–9, 30, 68–70; and Rastafarianism, 35–9; and 193 ‘Africanization’, 31–2, 33, 37–9, 40, 65, 143n; influence of Christian church, 31; and skinheads, 55, 56, 58–9; ‘rockers’, 145n; ‘Humble Lion’, 43, 146n; and Third World, 144n; and politics in Jamaica, 144n; and punk, 26, 27, 28–9, 64, 69, 132, bibliography, 185 (see also, Rastafarianism, rocksteady, ska, dub) Rejects, the, 109 Reverdy, P., 105 Rhodes, Zandra, 96 rhythm ’n blues: British, 25–6, 69, 152n, 182; American, 42, 50, 55, 143n Richman, Jonathan, 154–5n Rimbaud, A., 27 ‘Roadrunner’, 154n Roberts, B., 154n, 179, 180 rock: relationship with reggae, 28–9, 30, 68–70; Rock Establishment and punk, 87; and riot, 162n; ‘acid rock’, 55, 113 Rock against Racism, 61, 66, 116 rockers: v mods, 52, 124, 130; and employment, 149n; and dress, 129–30 ‘rockers’ (see reggae) rock ’n roll, 47, 49, 50, 51 Rock, P., 179, 183 rocksteady, 37, 55, 143n, 145n Rolling Stones, The, 152n Romeo, Max, 38 Roots, 62 Roszack, T., 184–5 Rotten, Johnny, 28–9, 93, 98, 109, 142n, 151n, 161n Roxy Club, The, 29, 67 Roxy Music, 61, 62 194 SUBCULTURE: THE MEANING OF STYLE Rubin, J., 185 ‘Rude Boy’, 145n rude boys, 37, 43, 56, 59, 60, 64, 145n ‘Rudy a Message to You’, 145n ‘Rule Britannia’, 64 Russell, R., 147n Sandilands, J., 183 Sartre, J P., 28, 139, 150–1n, 167n Saunders, Pharoah, 42 Saussure, F de., 8, 141–2n ‘Say it Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)’, 146n Scholte, B., 166n school, counter-culture of, 167n, 181 ‘Seditionaries’, 28 Selassie, Haille, 34 semiotics, 8, 141–30; and ideology, 13; structuralist v post-structuralist, 117– 20; in Kristeva, 164n (see also signification) ‘Sex’, 27, 28 Sex Boys, the, 180 Sex Pistols, The, 27, 61, 64, 90 92, 93, 106, 109, 111, 112, 142n, 156–7n Sham ’69, 166n Shangri-las, The, 152n ‘Shanty Town’, 145n Shepp, Archie, 42 ‘shuffle’, 41, 145–6n ‘signifiance’, 124–6 signification, 13, 16, 17, 133; and sign, 104, 141–2n; signifier and signified, 141–2n; and connotative codes, 13; and class, 17; and ideology, 17, 18, 44; intentional communication, 100–2; signifying practice, 117–19; 164n (see also semiotics) Sillitoe, A., 153n Simon, P., 185 Simpson, Dr George, 151n Siouxsie and the Banshees, 110 situationists, the, 185 ska, 35, 37, 42, 49, 55, 69, 143n skinheads: and black style, 44, 54–9; origins in mod, 55; style, 55–9, 64; and ‘embourgeoisement’, 55, 57, 58; and traditional working class community, 55–8, 79, 120–1; and ‘paki-bashing’, 58; compared to punks, 120–1; antagonism towards punks, 166n; and ‘downward option’, 55, 86–7; versus hippies, 124, 130; and reggae, 55, 56, 58–9, 166n; puritanism, 55; bibliography, 184 Skrewdriver, 166n slavery (see colonialism) Slickers, the, 145n Slits, the, 67 Small Faces, the, 152n Smith, M G., 185 Smith, Patti, 27 Sontag, S., 168n soul, 53, 60, 69, 143n, 146n, 152n, 182–3; ‘soul brother’ style, 42 sound-system, 36, 38–9 (see also ‘talk-over’) spectacle (see subculture) Stardust, Alvin, 62 Steel Pulse, 30 Stranglers, The, 111 style: as refusal, 1–3; as appropriation, 17–19; black styles, 36, 41, 42, 43; and relation to white styles, 43– INDEX 5; and relation to media, 85–9, 142–3 (see also subculture, mod, rocker, skinhead, punk, glam rock, soul brother, hipster, beat, teddy boy, Rastafarian, etc.) subculture, 1–3, 17; and resistance, 18, 19, 43, 165n; and spectacle, 1, 8, 87, 97–8, 130; and youth, 152n; and race relations, 29, 43–5, 55–7 68–70, 131–2; and class, 74–8, 86, 154n; and signifying practice, 86, 118– 27; as ‘noise,’ 90–2, 132–3; as ‘profane’ culture, 91, 92; and media, 84–9, 93–4, 96– 9; and commodities, 44–6, 128–30; ideological incorporation of, 96–9; domestication of, 94, 97–9, 158–9n; as art, 128–31; differences from delinquent gang, 180–1 (see also style) subterranean values, 44, 76–7, 133, 154n, 180 surrealism, 105–6, 110; decline, 130, 161n, 159n ‘talk-over’, 35, 39, 143n, 144n, 145n Taylor, I., 28, 58, 59, 61, 62, 179, 185 Taylor, L., 179, 185 teddy boys: and black styles, 44, 50–1; and Edwardian style, 50, 83, 104; and Notting Hill race riot, 51, 148n; and parent culture, 82, 83; teddy boy revival v originals, 67; 81–4, style, 83–4; versus punks, 81–4, 116, 123–4, 165n; and ‘crisis’, 81, 82–3; puritanism, 82, 83; bibliography, 183 195 Tel Quel group, the, 118–19, 163n Them, 152n Thompson, E P., 10, 153n Thompson, H S., 181–2 Thrasher, F., 75 ‘toast’ (see ‘talk-over’) Today, 93, 156n Tolson, A., 145n transactional analysis, 178–9, 180 Unwanted, The, 109 Vermorel, Fand V., 160n, 186 Vicious, Sid, 11, 151n Vincent, Gene, 50 Volosinov, V N., 13, 17 Wailers, The, 145n Wall, D., 28, 58, 60, 61, 62 Warhol, Andy, 28 ‘War inna Babylon’, 37–8 ‘Watching the Detectives’, 151n Westergaard, J., 153n Westwood, Vivien, 107 White, A., 119, 164n, 165n ‘White Riot’, 29, 110, 160n Whyte, W Foote, 75 Who, The, 28, 151n, 152n Willett, J (see Brecht) Williams, R., 6, 7, 8, 10, 141n Willis, P., 113, 134, 167n, 181 Willmott, P., 75, 77, 153n, 181 Winick, C., 147n, 162n Wolfe, T., 52, 53, 162–3n, 181 Worst, the, 109 Yardbirds, The, 152n yippies (see counter-culture) Young, J., 44, 154n, 179, 185 youth, 28, 56, 73–5, 152n, 154n Zoot Money, 152n [...]... homosexuality to the world, becomes for Genet a kind of guarantee – the sign of a secret grace which was soon to save me from contempt’ The discovery of the vaseline is greeted 2 SUBCULTURE: THE MEANING OF STYLE with laughter in the record-office of the station, and the police ‘smelling of garlic, sweat and oil, but strong in their moral assurance’ subject Genet to a tirade of hostile innuendo The author... and his art the subversive implications of style I shall be returning again and again to Genet’s major themes: the status and meaning of revolt, the idea of style as a form of Refusal, the elevation of crime into art (even though, in our case, the ‘crimes’ are only broken codes) Like Genet, we are interested in subculture – in the expressive forms and rituals of those subordinate groups – the teddy boys... at the hands of the police, Genet finds consolation in the tube of vaseline It becomes a symbol of his ‘triumph’ – ‘I would indeeed rather have shed blood than repudiate that silly object’ (Genet, 1967) The meaning of subculture is, then, always in dispute, and style is the area in which the opposing definitions clash with most dramatic force Much of the available space in this book will therefore be... whole range of controversial issues The ‘quality of life’, the effects in human terms of mechanization, the division of labour and the creation of a mass society have all been discussed within the larger confines of what Raymond Williams has called the ‘Culture and Society’ debate (Williams, 1961) It was through this tradition of dissent and criticism that the dream of the ‘organic society’ – of society... more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relationships grasped as ideas; hence of the relationships which make the one class the ruling class, therefore the ideas of its dominance (Marx and Engels, 1970) This is the basis of Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony which provides the most adequate account of how dominance is sustained in advanced capitalist societies Hegemony: The moving... significance into the loaded surfaces of life The existence of spectacular subcultures continually opens up those surfaces to other potentially subversive readings Jean Genet, the archetype of the ‘unnatural’ deviant, again exemplifies the practice of resistance through style He is as convinced in his own way as is Roland Barthes of the ideological character of cultural signs He is equally oppressed by the seamless... Williams’ definition of the theory of culture as ‘a theory of relations between elements in a whole way of life’ with his own more rigorously Marxist formulation: the study of relationships in a whole way of conflict’ A more analytical framework was required; a new vocabulary had to be learned As part of this process of theorization, the word ‘ideology’ came to acquire a much wider range of meanings than... 1973) 14 SUBCULTURE: THE MEANING OF STYLE To uncover the ideological dimension of signs we must first try to disentangle the codes through which meaning is organized ‘Connotative’ codes are particularly important As Stuart Hall has argued, they’ cover the face of social life and render it classifiable, intelligible, meaningful’ (Hall, 1977) He goes on to describe these codes as ‘maps of meaning ... are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e the class which is the ruling material force of society is at the same time its ruling intellectual force The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it The ruling ideas... calls graffiti – ‘Your presence on their Presence hanging your alias on their scene’ (Mailer, 1974)) In this book I shall attempt to decipher the graffiti, 4 SUBCULTURE: THE MEANING OF STYLE to tease out the meanings embedded in the various postwar youth styles But before we can proceed to individual subcultures, we must first define the basic terms The word subculture is loaded down with mystery ... art the subversive implications of style I shall be returning again and again to Genet’s major themes: the status and meaning of revolt, the idea of style as a form of Refusal, the elevation of. .. to the world, becomes for Genet a kind of guarantee – the sign of a secret grace which was soon to save me from contempt’ The discovery of the vaseline is greeted SUBCULTURE: THE MEANING OF STYLE. .. found reflected in the surfaces of subculture – in the INTRODUCTION: SUBCULTURE AND STYLE styles made up of mundane objects which have a double meaning On the one hand, they warn the ‘straight’ world