tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/music-subcultures-10901/articlesMusic subcultures – The Conversation2023-10-23T14:55:58Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2149062023-10-23T14:55:58Z2023-10-23T14:55:58ZA brief history of goth fashion – from all-black to pastels<p>Goth is the subculture that never died – or more precisely, perhaps, remains undead. The persistence of the subculture’s style is due to the remarkable richness of the cultural tradition on which it draws, and its malleability – its striking ability to absorb new influences into a recognisably coherent aesthetic. </p>
<p>Goth’s visual style has left as vivid a legacy as its music, one that continues to inspire designers, creatives and today’s teenagers far beyond its initial invention.</p>
<p>Early goth fashion shared many of the same reference points as punk. Many of its early icons, such as <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/dave-vanian-the-damned-style-fashion-birthday">The Damned’s singer Dave Vanian</a> and <a href="https://tinyurl.com/36fft7nk">Siouxsie Sioux</a> of Siouxsie and the Banshees, straddled both scenes. </p>
<p>In late 1970s and early 1980s Britain, subcultural style was very much a DIY affair. In the economic recession of the late 1970s, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-19999-0_2">an improvised approach to style</a> became a necessity for many young people. As the economy boomed later in the 1980s, this remained a form of resistance to a mainstream culture that fetishised wealth. In the ongoing spirit of punk, those pursuing “alternative” style would raid jumble sales and charity shops, recycle army surplus, customise high street fashion and make their own clothes and accessories. </p>
<p>This creative approach to style has been the key to the subculture’s longevity. Goth has always been about mixing things up and adapting what you find to fit your own aesthetic.</p>
<p>The goth aesthetic distinguished itself from punk through its preoccupation with imagery of death and decadence. As such, it seemed to articulate the underlying mood of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain – a culture in which pervasive images of wealth and success were underpinned by policies facilitating <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/13/world/thatcher-s-goal-a-changed-britain.html">the disintegration of the social fabric</a>. The earliest goth ensembles, like those associated with <a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/09610-the-bat-cave-alien-sex-fiend-goth">London’s Batcave club</a>, were characterised by ripped fishnet stockings, repurposed bondage gear, deathly makeup and improvised chain jewellery. Towering, backcombed, dyed black hairstyles were a crucial element of the look. </p>
<p>As the 1980s wore on, however, goth style diversified, absorbing looks from other subcultures such as metal, rockabilly and even hippy psychedelia in the model of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kate-Bush">Kate Bush</a> or <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/stevie-nicks-birthday-boho-style-fashion-influence">Stevie Nicks</a>.</p>
<h2>Diversification of goth style</h2>
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<span class="caption">A cyber goth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fluffy_steve/3633729268">Fluffy_Steve/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Although the goth music scene began to lose impetus in the early 1990s, versions of goth style began to appear on the catwalks. </p>
<p>This was most prominent in the work of British designer <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/alexander-mcqueen-an-introduction">Alexander McQueen</a>. His uncompromising collections experimented with the macabre in ways that thrilled the alternative scene and high fashion insiders alike. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, goth style became more available to mainstream consumers through high street versions of designer trends. In the US, the Hot Topic chain, founded in 1989, sold alternative style to teenagers through regional mall outlets. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.southparkstudios.co.uk/video-clips/sb581o/south-park-burning-down-hot-topic">For some</a>, this commercialisation diluted goth’s countercultural charge. In contrast to the DIY culture of the 1970s and 80s, a desirable Goth look became became increasingly expensive to acquire. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the subculture proved resilient, expanding to incorporate new influences. By the later 1990s, hybridisation with dance music culture produced <a href="http://subcultureslist.com/cyber-goth/">cybergoth</a>. Ensembles combining colossal platform boots, neon hair extensions and tech accessories like masks and goggles evoked a dystopian, posthuman future.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gothic-vision-at-the-heart-of-alexander-mcqueens-savage-beauty-38544">The gothic vision at the heart of Alexander McQueen's savage beauty</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551776/original/file-20231003-17-bnmvy4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman dressed in the Gothic Lolita style." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551776/original/file-20231003-17-bnmvy4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551776/original/file-20231003-17-bnmvy4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=907&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551776/original/file-20231003-17-bnmvy4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=907&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551776/original/file-20231003-17-bnmvy4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=907&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551776/original/file-20231003-17-bnmvy4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551776/original/file-20231003-17-bnmvy4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551776/original/file-20231003-17-bnmvy4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A woman dressed in the Gothic Lolita style.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_school_gothic_lolita_fashion.jpg">Wikicommons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>The international spread of the subculture generated new styles, too. <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/lolita-fashion-japanese-street-style#slideshow=63778258&slide=0">Japanese Gothic Lolita style</a> aimed to refashion its wearer in the image of a Victorian doll.</p>
<p>Exported internationally in the early 2000s via manga and anime, Gothic Lolita became a major influence on western goth style. It indirectly inspired “cute” gothic looks like “<a href="https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Pastel_Goth">pastel goth</a>” – goth style in the sweet, childish colours the subculture once rejected.</p>
<p>At the same time, many goths cultivated a passion for authentic recreations of historic costume, harking back to period styles inspired by the literary and cinematic tradition of the gothic. At the twice-annual <a href="https://www.whitbygothweekend.co.uk/">Whitby Goth Weekend</a>, founded in 1994, many participants pay tribute to Dracula author Bram Stoker by parading the sea front of the town where the author found his inspiration for the novel in meticulously crafted Victorian ensembles.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">40 years of goth style (in under four minutes).</span></figcaption>
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<p>For members of the subculture, one particular style might define their personal image, or they might choose to wear different looks for different occasions. </p>
<p>The “<a href="https://www.killstar.com/blogs/journal/mastering-a-corporate-goth-style">corp goth</a>” even adapts their look for the corporate environment, wearing office-friendly versions of the style. But crucially, by 2023, there are many ways of being a goth.</p>
<h2>The secrets of goth’s endurance</h2>
<p>Goth style has its controversies. Subcultures are, understandably, <a href="https://theblogginggoth.com/2022/01/15/dark-wash-recycle-gothcore-and-high-fashion/">resistant to the appropriation</a> of their style by outsiders. There is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22026044">endless debate</a> about whether offshoots and associated aesthetics such as emo or <a href="https://research.stmarys.ac.uk/id/eprint/549/">steampunk</a> can be counted as goth or not.</p>
<p>While the finer points of these debates can be difficult to resolve, this very diversity is the key to goth’s longevity. Goth is not one look, one style – it is a rich, complex aesthetic drawing on many influences across literature, art and culture. This makes it remarkably resilient to cultural change, as it is able to shift to meet new demands.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CAgpy5gH4h1","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Goth is not static, but a living tradition. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2011.01364.x">Research shows</a> that many goths remain active in the subculture long past youth. Moreover, new generations of goths continue to seize the subculture and make it their own. </p>
<p>One of the most dynamic developments of recent years is the mobilisation of goths of colour, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/939mb3/theres-nothing-more-goth-than-being-black">sometimes known as Afrogoths</a>, who resist the presumed association between goth and pale skin and draw music and fashion inspiration from black culture.</p>
<p>It is important that we recognise these new ways of being a goth, even if some of them find connection through visual rather than musical culture. In them, lies the subculture’s lively (undead) future.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Spooner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Goth has always been about mixing things up and adapting what you find to fit your own aesthetic.Catherine Spooner, Professor of Literature and Culture, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1963292022-12-13T14:59:44Z2022-12-13T14:59:44Z25 Years of Garage review – music documentary falls prey to the same mistakes that killed the scene<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500073/original/file-20221209-35151-hhz31u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C35%2C1922%2C1118&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Promotional artwork for 25 Years of Garage.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Platinum Pictures</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A host of veterans from the heyday of the UK’s garage scene (including <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi89tXv7uz7AhWDoFwKHfPsBloQFnoECB8QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheartlesscrew.com%2F&usg=AOvVaw0UvQ1LMEx7uDMzMafmQ3kQ">Heartless Crew</a>, <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiL5Kn87uz7AhXClFwKHar-Bo4QFnoECGYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fdanebowers%2F%3Fhl%3Den&usg=AOvVaw3R2DlsTzHv9dVc7tmTsHvp">Dane Bowers</a> and members of <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiQkMqG7-z7AhWBY8AKHQp2CT8QFnoFCIUBEAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fofficialsosolid%2F%3Fhl%3Den&usg=AOvVaw07W1vQ4jFZWpetxU16OjXS">So Solid Crew</a>) star in <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi8_Kmg7-z7AhUKbsAKHXPYAskQFnoECB8QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt15612416%2F&usg=AOvVaw0DDMZud8sYPI49-Q_hPt26">25 Years of Garage</a>, a new documentary co-directed by former promoter Terry Stone.</p>
<p>As an academic who specialises in Black music and advocates for its serious intellectual study, I find it encouraging to see active members of the garage scene documenting the culture.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500076/original/file-20221209-40753-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Terry Stone wears a navy blue polo shirt and sits on a green couch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500076/original/file-20221209-40753-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500076/original/file-20221209-40753-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500076/original/file-20221209-40753-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500076/original/file-20221209-40753-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500076/original/file-20221209-40753-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500076/original/file-20221209-40753-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500076/original/file-20221209-40753-4pofku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Co-director Terry Stone is a former garage promoter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Platinum Pictures</span></span>
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<p>UK garage was a genre of electronic dance music, which peaked between the late 1990s and early 2000s. Incorporating elements of R&B, jungle and pop, its sound was marked by pitch-shifted vocal samples and a distinctive percussive rhythm.</p>
<p>In 25 Years Of Garage, stars remember the garage scene that emerged in the early 1990s, tracing its expansion from small rooms in Ministry of Sound to its own branded club nights. The focus is largely on Stone’s former business, Garage Nation, which ran successful club nights and events in the UK and abroad. </p>
<h2>A brief history of garage</h2>
<p>This trip down memory lane highlights garage’s ideology of <a href="https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/veblen-the-theory-of-the-leisure-class-an-economic-study-of-institutions">conspicuous consumption</a> and <a href="https://angl.winter-verlag.de/journal/ANGL">“bling culture”</a>. </p>
<p>There’s the champagne lifestyle – Moët as standard. The designer “garms” (clothing) which were colourful and flamboyant, especially for men (think Moschino, Versace, Iceberg Jeans). And the jet setting to Ayia Napa (always with budget airlines) for clubbing at infamous venues such as Pzazz and Insomnia, which at their peak attracted ravers from all over the UK.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for 25 Years of Garage.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Archive footage is included to showcase the “vibe” during the height of the scene, both home and away. These are dispersed with more recent recordings from a post-COVID restrictions event in south London. </p>
<p>Personal accounts recall the scene’s transition from fun, luxurious and carefree to dangerous and disorderly. In London, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870601006579">police intervention</a> through 696 risk assessment forms (advanced notice of events which required organisers to share the names, stage names, private addresses, and phone numbers of all performers) <a href="http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/92164/">decimated the scene</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile in Ayia Napa, Cypriot locals resented the dominance of tourists and their disorderly behaviour in what was once a sleepy fishing village. Media coverage began <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2631401.stm">labelling garage</a> as dangerous, with incidents of shootings and stabbings reported both at home and away.</p>
<h2>Sidelining the issues</h2>
<p>Despite acknowledging negative press around guns, violence and killings in the garage scene, the racialised element of press attitudes is not explored in 25 Years of Garage. Garage is presented as a multicultural scene – and in many ways it was. However, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691830802364809?journalCode=cjms20">reflection</a> on the impact of racism and policing in criminalising the scene is lacking.</p>
<p>The way the documentary responds to racialised narratives of garage, race and violence, almost reinforces them through <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/for-2016-0009/html?lang=en">dog whistling</a> (using words understood by a particular group of people) and the use of the <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315164601/new-ethnicities-urban-culture-back-les-les-back-goldsmiths-college-university-london">racially coded words</a> like “grime” and “yardie” to insinuate that perpetrators of violence were Black.</p>
<p>Throughout however, the documentary suggests that for promoters of various racial backgrounds “a gangster’s game” was needed, “a certain mentality and attitude” to be in and survive in this industry. For Stone himself, who is white, this included the need to wear protective vests from weaponry. </p>
<p>There’s also reference to the ever presence of cocaine presented in a matter of fact, deracialised way. The challenges around violence, crime and drugs were not the result of “grime” or “yardies”, but an issue for the scene as a whole.</p>
<p>Gendered issues also remain unaddressed. In 25 Years of Garage, women are a footnote. Very few are given the platform to share their stories, despite women being highly visible in both the historical and recent footage included in the documentary.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500072/original/file-20221209-35075-3zmp4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Ms Dynamite wears her hair in a punky braid, and stands one leg on an amp as she performs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500072/original/file-20221209-35075-3zmp4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500072/original/file-20221209-35075-3zmp4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500072/original/file-20221209-35075-3zmp4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500072/original/file-20221209-35075-3zmp4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500072/original/file-20221209-35075-3zmp4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500072/original/file-20221209-35075-3zmp4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500072/original/file-20221209-35075-3zmp4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">London’s Ms Dynamite was a major player in the garage scene.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/novi-sad-serbia-july-10-ms-57688723">Nikola Spasenoski</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Women in the scene are referred to almost as mere entertainment in the lives of the men. This is despite featuring clips of <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiK0v729ez7AhVSZ8AKHY3DDHUQFnoECB4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fmcbushkin%2F%3Fhl%3Den&usg=AOvVaw3_VH7ouA4V9K2U0PHvxCqB">MC Bushkin</a> noting that girls left jungle and drum and bass scenes for garage and <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiC8O6B9uz7AhWMRMAKHTR4B_kQFnoECA4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fra.co%2Fdj%2Fmcckp%2Fbiography&usg=AOvVaw3tvHI4fxdo3CIB5gXZyioV">MC CKP</a> stating wherever the girls were, the guys would follow.</p>
<p>The documentary positions women as passive and largely voiceless in the scene, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/black-music-in-britain-in-the-21st-century-9781802078404?cc=us&lang=en&#">which was not the case</a>. </p>
<p>Women are essential in the survival of participatory music cultures such as garage (where everyone present at a music event is actively participating through playing an instrument, singing, chanting or dancing) in both visible (MCs, professional dancers, administrators) and invisible roles (fans).</p>
<p>This lack of reflection inadvertently erases women from the genre’s history.</p>
<h2>Is there a future for the garage scene?</h2>
<p>What caused garage’s decline? In 25 Years of Garage, DJ Majestic (once one of London’s most popular garage MCs) offers some insight. </p>
<p>He considers the then smaller role of the internet, which later did so much to cement the international success of grime. He also debates the limiting insistence of the UK element of “UK garage”, and the consequences of gatekeeping. <a href="http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/92164/">Not “letting the youngsters through”</a> meant that musicians including <a href="https://www.popmatters.com/031024-dizzeerascal-2496102558.html">Dizzee Rascal</a> and <a href="https://genius.com/Wiley-wot-do-u-call-it-lyrics">Wiley</a> declared that they did not make, nor care about, garage when they built their own sound.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500085/original/file-20221209-29206-95s4o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rapper Wiley performing on stage in a black tshirt, rapping into a microphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500085/original/file-20221209-29206-95s4o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500085/original/file-20221209-29206-95s4o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500085/original/file-20221209-29206-95s4o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500085/original/file-20221209-29206-95s4o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500085/original/file-20221209-29206-95s4o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500085/original/file-20221209-29206-95s4o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500085/original/file-20221209-29206-95s4o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wiley’s Wot Do U Call It makes his feelings about garage explicit, rapping, ‘Garage? I don’t care about garage.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0_Wiley1.jpg">Faisal</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Associations with criminality and violence in the mainstream also decimated the scene’s chances of longevity. Its demise, meanwhile <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KZAkAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Sounds+Like+London:+100+Years+of+Black+Music+in+the+Capital&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQ3-u_yOr7AhVUkFwKHYK_ARAQ6AF6BAgIEAI">opened up a plethora of other genres</a> such as bassline and dubstep.</p>
<p>Without an overarching narrative curating this documentary, it becomes an echo chamber. While it’s important to platform those essential to garage, all these personal accounts do is speak to other people from within the scene. </p>
<p>To push the genre forward, it needed to make the historical, sociological and cultural connections that would render garage accessible to outsiders.</p>
<p>In this way, 25 Years of Garage unintentionally demonstrates and reinforces the role gatekeeping – originally intended to protect the scene – eventually played in stifling it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196329/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monique Charles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>25 Years of Garage has good intentions, but this scene-documenting film makes some familiar mistakes.Monique Charles, Assistant Professor, Chapman UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1959582022-12-08T16:00:39Z2022-12-08T16:00:39ZEmo revival: why 2022 was the perfect time to bring the genre back from the dead<p><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/my-chemical-romance-plays-reunion-show-in-new-york-city-1234590431/">My Chemical Romance</a> – mainstay <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-artists-dont-just-make-hip-hop-why-recognition-of-metal-punk-rock-and-emo-by-mobo-is-long-overdue-195583">alternative band</a> of the Noughties – made a triumphant return in 2022 with new music and a reunion world tour.</p>
<p>There was also the blockbuster <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/25/hella-mega-tour-review-green-day-fall-out-boy-weezer">Hella Mega Tour</a> with Fall Out Boy, Weezer and Green Day filling stadiums across the US and UK. And promises of <a href="https://inews.co.uk/culture/music/blink-182-reunion-new-music-edging-tour-2023-ageing-emos-1907540">more emo reunions</a> to come abound for 2023, most recently with the announcement of an extensive <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2022/11/paramore-2023-tour-this-is-why.html">Paramore comeback tour</a> (front woman Hayley Williams also hosted the podcast <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0c24w4z">Everything Is Emo</a> for BBC Sounds earlier this year).</p>
<p>Little wonder, then, that <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/paulinewoodley/gen-z-bringing-emo-back">several</a> <a href="https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/emo-music-tiktok-gen-z-its-not-a-phase-its-a-lifestyle">music</a> <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/55282/1/welcome-to-the-rawring-20s-the-rise-and-return-of-emo">outlets</a> decided to hail 2022 an “<a href="https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/pkbakz/emo-pop-punk-comeback-olivia-rodrigo">emo revival</a>”.</p>
<p>Cue a chorus of internet commenters rushing to explain that My Chemical Romance <a href="https://www.washedupemo.com/news/2015/4/the-day-i-realized-my-chemical-romance-wasnt-emo-op-ed">are not emo</a>, that emo is dead, that emo only ever lived in a handful of Washington DC basements in the late 1980s, and that anything in music that has happened since is merely <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Real%20Emo">corporate degeneracy</a> consumed by 13-year-old girls who have never even heard of <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/The+Promise+Ring">The Promise Ring</a>.</p>
<p>As an expert in media and cultural studies, I have explored this tension in my book <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv179h22p">Emo: How Fans Defined a Subculture</a>, which argues that musical genres are culturally created constructs, forever in struggle and flux. This has been obscured by musicology’s (the study of music) relatively late engagement with cultural studies perspectives, as opposed to say English literature or the visual arts.</p>
<p>When musicologist <a href="https://case.edu/artsci/music/about/people/faculty/susan-mcclary">Susan McClary</a> published <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiF3qC9q-L7AhXUPsAKHX1DD2kQFnoECA8QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F10.5749%2Fj.ctttt886&usg=AOvVaw2SKSZftUcSfiQ5mqlXmolD">Feminine Endings</a> in 1991, the idea that music was constructive, not reflective, of gender was still groundbreaking work in the field of music, even though cultural theorists like <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9781315087467-16/towards-aesthetic-popular-music-simon-frith">Simon Frith</a> and <a href="https://paas.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/McRobbie-postfeminism.pdf">Angela McRobbie</a> had been writing on the topic since the 70s. The artificial boundaries between academic disciplines enabled this.</p>
<p>So, this article comes with a disclaimer. In speaking of an emo “revival” here, I am by no means claiming a set definition of “real emo”, because it doesn’t have one. <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/music">Nor does “music”, incidentally</a>.</p>
<h2>What do I mean by “emo”?</h2>
<p>By “emo”, I am referring to a specific style of melodic instrumentation over a relatively hard, driving beat, which first gathered mainstream popularity in the early 2000s.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498955/original/file-20221205-15-xipbp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An 'emo boy' takes a selfie holding a pink rose. His dyed black hair is swept across his face, and he wears black eyeliner." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498955/original/file-20221205-15-xipbp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498955/original/file-20221205-15-xipbp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498955/original/file-20221205-15-xipbp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498955/original/file-20221205-15-xipbp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498955/original/file-20221205-15-xipbp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498955/original/file-20221205-15-xipbp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498955/original/file-20221205-15-xipbp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Emo styles preferred long black fringes, swept over the face, paired with dark eyeliner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emo_hair3.jpg">Jezebel Parker</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The movement that came, somewhat retrospectively, to also be called emo, was varied both in style and composition, but did feature certain sonic and visual hallmarks. This included highly wrought confessional lyrics, long polysyllabic song titles, and the conjunction of hard, even <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiqsuDHy-L7AhUQgP0HHQSYAPQQFnoECDQQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.musicradar.com%2Fnews%2Fguitars%2Fa-history-of-thrash-metal-249162&usg=AOvVaw36JHP3YEL8tP7JsStLJeRE">thrash-derived</a> sounds like a screamed chorus with much softer instrumental passages.</p>
<p>Emo tended to be more complex than <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/popular-music/article/cheer-up-emo-kid-rethinking-the-crisis-of-masculinity-in-emo/887CF98F4985E8FBDD3BDA46C317F947">the reliance on I, IV V power chords</a> common to punk. Researchers <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/popular-music/article/cheer-up-emo-kid-rethinking-the-crisis-of-masculinity-in-emo/887CF98F4985E8FBDD3BDA46C317F947">Sam de Boise</a> and <a href="https://www.academia.edu/190502/Oh_Boy_Masculinities_and_Popular_Music">Sarah Williams</a> have also called attention to a distinct “emo voice” – a slightly nasal tenor with a diaphragmatic push.</p>
<p>Visually, <a href="https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1466&context=etd">the style favoured</a> straightened black hair, skinny jeans, band t-shirts and Converse trainers. It owed something to goth and something to punk and skater culture, with luminous pops of colour adding more than a hint of self-conscious kitsch.</p>
<h2>What has brought about the “emo revival”?</h2>
<p>If there is an emo revival, I think that two of the same key factors which were at work <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv179h22p">to popularise it in the early 2000s</a> are once again the cause: technology and nostalgia.</p>
<p>Partly, that is the nostalgia of thirty-somethings like myself. In the face of an increasingly perilous economic and ecological adulthood, we’re repopulating our <a href="https://theconversation.com/spotify-wrapped-apple-music-replay-and-instafest-what-do-end-of-year-music-wrap-ups-say-about-our-listening-habits-195556">Spotify playlists</a> with the music of our early teens. One of the new emo festivals is literally called <a href="https://www.whenwewereyoungfestival.com/">When We Were Young</a>. A bit on the nose there.</p>
<p>Equally, the revival is benefiting from the <a href="https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2021/03/31/complex-generation-how-gen-z-live-the-past-define-the-future">nostalgia of generation Z</a> (people born after 1996) for a youth they didn’t experience. This is happening in the same way that early 2000s emo harked back nostalgically to a 1980s punk-basement adolescence I and my contemporaries never experienced.</p>
<p>Emo is a nostalgic genre, and hard times bring about nostalgia both real and artificial. <a href="https://ijrar.org/papers/IJRAR2001815.pdf">Nostalgia is an easy sell</a> in a tough economy.</p>
<p>Just as new digital norms for music creation, consumption and distribution were a factor in the early 2000s mainstreaming of emo, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/spotify-wrapped-apple-music-replay-and-instafest-what-do-end-of-year-music-wrap-ups-say-about-our-listening-habits-195556">dominance of digital algorithms</a> in how we consume and share music today should be considered.</p>
<p>Gen Z has instant access to the entire back catalogues of emo artists who are returning to prominence. Simultaneously, the fusion phenomenon of emo rap and <a href="https://www.skiddle.com/news/all/SadBoys-of-Soundcloud-8211-an-introduction-to-the-world-of-emo-rap/54217/">SoundCloud emo</a> (where emergent artists are taking elements of the genre in new directions), are being displayed to listeners via streaming service recommendation features.</p>
<p>As I write this, I anticipate again the objections that rap is not emo; that emo is dead; that whatever happens on SoundCloud is not emo – that emo requires guitars.</p>
<p>At an instinctive level, I share them. This is not my emo, not the emo I grew up with. But as I came to conclude in writing my book, attempts at gate keeping always lead us to incoherence.</p>
<p>Genres are constantly redefined by their audiences, in a process of negotiation with the music industry. My generation can adjust, and learn to listen to new sounds. Or, thanks to streaming services, we can keep the same six or seven albums from 2001-2009 on repeat for the rest of our crisis bedevilled lives. Spotify is good for that kind of nostalgia – so long as you’re paying for Premium. </p>
<p>Emo is dead; long live emo.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195958/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Judith Fathallah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With tours from emo mainstays My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and Paramore, this year has heralded new life for a genre fans thought had died out.Judith Fathallah, Outreach and Research Associate, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/681922016-11-09T15:31:16Z2016-11-09T15:31:16ZGoth, steampunk and the state of subculture today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145271/original/image-20161109-19085-1f5iwob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Whitby Goth Weekend / http://www.paulmbaxter.com/</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a global environment in which blandness seems to rule and people are more connected – and therefore arguably more homogenised – than ever, subcultures might seem to be on the decline. But this is far from the case. Subcultures encompass a broader range of people than just today’s youth, as Paul Hodkinson’s <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2011.01364.x/abstract">research</a> on goth and ageing has shown.</p>
<p>Twice a year each year, a curious event occurs in a small seaside town: <a href="http://www.whitbygothweekend.co.uk/">Whitby Goth Weekend</a>. Originally organised as a goth gathering in 1994, the festival is now one of the larger events in the European goth calendar. The festival, the most recent of which occurred over the first weekend of November, no longer attracts only goths – many steampunk enthusiasts, among others, have started to attend, too. So what does this say about subculture today?</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145105/original/image-20161108-16733-1n21onz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145105/original/image-20161108-16733-1n21onz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145105/original/image-20161108-16733-1n21onz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145105/original/image-20161108-16733-1n21onz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145105/original/image-20161108-16733-1n21onz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1429&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145105/original/image-20161108-16733-1n21onz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145105/original/image-20161108-16733-1n21onz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1429&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brigitte, an iconic figure on the scene.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source"> http://www.paulmbaxter.com/</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Goth emerged in the late 1970s, and is often associated with the popularity of The Sisters of Mercy (although the lead singer, Andrew Eldritch, rejects any association), as well as The Damned, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The March Violets. The music is diverse, but is often characterised by a heavy drum beat (on a drum machine), rock guitars, low register male vocals, and as a counterpoint, a high register female voice. But it isn’t simply a music culture. For many, goth is a lifestyle choice. </p>
<p>Goth is characterised most famously by the notion of a dark aesthetic, so that sartorial choice is often influenced by a melancholic sensibility (black clothes, piercings, tattoos). This is not to say the culture is miserable, as Catherine Spooner’s <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Post-millennial-Gothic-Comedy-Romance-Happy/dp/1441101217/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=">forthcoming book</a> carefully notes. Indeed, Whitby Goth Weekend’s wryly humorous side is obvious if we look at the festival’s <a href="http://www.realgothicfc.co.uk/">annual football event</a>, featuring black clad footie supporters, and players with improbably long, dark hair.</p>
<h2>Dracula’s backyard</h2>
<p>While the foundations of Whitby Goth Weekend relate to a very specific subcultural and musical affiliation, in recent years this has somewhat diversified. Whitby now attracts many attendees who might not identify as goths. They celebrate the spectacle of fashion and the photographic opportunities. Many of these people are drawn to the literary legacy of the Abbey and St Mary’s Church, which featured in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula. This has prompted much chagrin from some attendees, who see it as a detraction from the subculture itself.</p>
<p>There are, of course, long standing debates in theories of subculture about the nature of authenticity and boundary marking, including Sara Thornton’s idea of “<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Club-Cultures-Music-Subcultural-Capital/dp/0745614434">subcultural capital</a>” (1995), which she maintains is linked to an assertion of distinctiveness, and a claim to subcultural authority. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7268025-goths-gamers-and-grrrls">Ross Haenfler</a> notes that while individuality, tolerance and creative free play are often vaunted as markers of subculture, in practice, there are always “battles over hierarchy”. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YGmTKVDM--U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>But the festival, as much as the subculture, does not stand still: recent appearances by synth-rock outfit <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/william-control/id291894039">William Control</a>, and the London-based dark wave band, Cold in Berlin, testify to a new type of sound, and a different generation of attendees.</p>
<p>Such diversification also includes other genres, such as steampunk. In 2007, James Richardson-Brown (Captain Sydeian) organised the first steampunk meet-up in Whitby, to coincide with the festival. Since that time, steampunks have congregated alongside the traditional community in a series of fringe events hosted at <a href="http://whitbysteampunk.yolasite.com">The Rifle Club</a>. This is not to say that there isn’t an overlap in these subcultures: one of the most preeminent steampunk bands, <a href="http://www.abneypark.com/2015site/">Abney Park</a>, have headlined at the main event three times. Such a shift indicates a fluidity within both subcultures. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145254/original/image-20161109-19060-44msc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145254/original/image-20161109-19060-44msc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145254/original/image-20161109-19060-44msc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145254/original/image-20161109-19060-44msc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145254/original/image-20161109-19060-44msc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145254/original/image-20161109-19060-44msc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145254/original/image-20161109-19060-44msc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Down another route.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ledgard/6315093787/in/photolist-aC3vnn-hec8up-9tHhrr-9tHcSx-eewQW2-hcjYfG-hcjSZR-hcjRPp-dqj4qN-eeMNtB-eeTtcS-9trrpt-hebCGp-eeTw5J-hck7Ho-dqzoLc-eeCBcL-7W8vXc-oXeTqY-pBG799-pBXQit-oXeW31-hckdzJ-7W8wrt-hck8NY-hcmSw2-heaFWV-9tLfBN-dqj55W-eeCBRJ-eeTwNA-dqiYk8-noQozM-dqj6sh-eeCzLA-dqzp7n-eewTVM-hcjUWL-dqzvfH-hck3Vy-eeMKzV-dqj3E5-hcmaU8-heaVZW-9tHdsX-hck2S9-aCkks6-aCkjSv-nn7piw-dqj46B">ledgard/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘I love a girl in goggles’</h2>
<p>The author KW Jeter is usually credited with coining the word “steampunk”, which he later identified as “a taste for brass and copper and the ticking, hissing mesh-&-grind of Victorian technology”. He characterises steampunk as an aesthetic resistance to the smooth surfaces of contemporary mass production. Many steampunk participants also embrace this aspect of retro-technology in their attire. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145099/original/image-20161108-20183-xhwit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145099/original/image-20161108-20183-xhwit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145099/original/image-20161108-20183-xhwit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145099/original/image-20161108-20183-xhwit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145099/original/image-20161108-20183-xhwit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145099/original/image-20161108-20183-xhwit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145099/original/image-20161108-20183-xhwit4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unwoman.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Notably, unlike goth, steampunk originated from literary rather than music culture: it embraces anachronism and science fiction, with reference points including figures such as H G Wells, Mary Shelley, and Jules Verne. Steampunk at its best is avowedly political: <a href="http://www.steampunkmagazine.com/">The Steampunk Magazine</a> represents a repository of radical politics, including debates around gender, activism and anti-capitalism. </p>
<p>A performer such as Unwoman, whose stage name is tellingly derived from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), engages with many of these themes in her 2012 album <a href="https://unwoman.bandcamp.com/album/the-fires-i-started">The Fires I Started</a>. At the same time, <a href="http://www.blamedfornothing.com/">The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing</a> emphasise the “-punk” aspect of the genre, castigating the inequalities of the Victorian age in songs like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DtboPlQ4dbg">Third Class Coffin</a>.</p>
<p>Steampunk is synonymous with sepia tones, alongside a nostalgic but not uncritical approach to the Victorian period. It encompasses technology, and arts and crafts practice, but there is a much darker side, too, which Captain Sydeian and others have characterised as <a href="http://www.sydeiancreations.com/Blog/">Steamgoth</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145103/original/image-20161108-16721-jyiy67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145103/original/image-20161108-16721-jyiy67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145103/original/image-20161108-16721-jyiy67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145103/original/image-20161108-16721-jyiy67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145103/original/image-20161108-16721-jyiy67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145103/original/image-20161108-16721-jyiy67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/145103/original/image-20161108-16721-jyiy67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dr Geof.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The artist <a href="http://doctorgeof.tumblr.com/post/98077898590/dont-fear-the-doctor-pin-up-style">Dr Geof</a> perhaps represents this steampunk/goth overlap most effectively. His art combines historical anachronism, whimsy, subcultures, fetish, and gentle satire: indeed, he might usefully be situated in broader debates around <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neo-Victorianism-Victorians-Twenty-First-Century-1999-2009/dp/0230241131">Neo-Victorianism</a>. </p>
<p>So where are UK subcultures headed from here? The idea of synthesis between subcultures does not necessarily spell their end – indeed, ideas of what Hodkinson calls a “pick-and-mix” approach characterise contemporary debate around these identities. For Whitby attendees, it’s possible any resentments might be tempered in future. The steampunk community has secured its own weekend in Whitby (February 2017), as well as having several other events dedicated to their particular strand of subculture (The Lincoln <a href="http://www.asylumsteampunk.co.uk/">Asylum</a> being the most obvious of these). Even in the era of globalisation, it seems the idea of a localised belonging is very important.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68192/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Nally receives funding from Arts Council England, The Arts and Humanities Research Council, and The Leverhulme Trust. She is the guest co-curator for Fabricating Histories, hosted by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums - <a href="https://discoverymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/fabricating-histories">https://discoverymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/fabricating-histories</a> </span></em></p>Subculture is on the decline, according to many pundits. But a trip to Whitby on certain weekends would demonstrate otherwise.Claire Nally, Senior Lecturer in Twentieth-Century English Literature, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/653822016-09-19T14:18:19Z2016-09-19T14:18:19ZLondon sees nightclubs as drug dens – Berlin considers them high culture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138265/original/image-20160919-11120-jezmbo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/patricksavalle/17231167002/in/photolist-sfEeCf-riP2JE-rYeGkC-rj1ejR-rYeABJ-sfE5do-sfLcdc-sfNQVM-ivapWL-fg3VAW-nHnQXC-sfL6KZ-d9NbsB-d9NaYd-d9NWUN-d9NYxb-d9NY3u-ce5Bkm-sfLgFk-rYdKeU-rYmGxr-rj1kQr-cdZuFQ-sfLiXe-rj1yYR-iMiZLW-rYeSnS-sfPfuv-riNJ2q-rj1zfn-bWCa1e-fTzMQ6-sdw3gj-riNVmj-sfEmBW-rYdB1j-sfL91k-rj1vsc-dD7VYB-rYmXVR-rj1vLZ-rYmKsK-rWtPdB-k7Ax76-rYdXn1-riNEDy-riNRBf-sfL5Fe-riNSaQ-o8bLNN">patricksavalle/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nightclubs across London recently turned off their music and observed a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37378138/the-night-the-clubs-fell-silent-for-a-minute">moment of silence</a> in protest against club closures. Since the the legendary London club Fabric closed earlier this month after having <a href="https://theconversation.com/loss-of-fabric-nightclub-is-latest-blow-to-londons-cultural-capital-65065">its licence revoked</a>, concerns about the future of London’s nightlife are rife. On the very same day, a German court ruled that Berlin nightclub Berghain, infamous for its techno, is to pay a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/12/berlins-berghain-nightclub-classed-as-culturally-significant-venue">lower tax rate</a>. The reason: what goes on in the former power plant is considered high culture. </p>
<p>How is it that these two cities have a nightlife policy that is so polarised?</p>
<p>Fabric’s licence was revoked because Islington Council felt that not enough was done by the club to prevent drug taking. For anybody who followed the the council’s hearing from the balcony or via live tweets, it was remarkable to see that the “culture of drugs” was almost exclusively cited as a reason to revoke the licence. It appears that nightclubs are held responsible for drug-related deaths in the UK, regardless of whether people are intoxicating themselves before they go out (which is evidenced by a <a href="https://mmu.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/lapsed-clubber-online-survey">recent study</a> I conducted on club culture in Manchester) or not. One is reminded of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HTpt1nFPkc%E2%80%8Bhttp://example.com/">moral panics of the early 90s</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138260/original/image-20160919-11134-l5wx3r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138260/original/image-20160919-11134-l5wx3r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138260/original/image-20160919-11134-l5wx3r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138260/original/image-20160919-11134-l5wx3r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138260/original/image-20160919-11134-l5wx3r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138260/original/image-20160919-11134-l5wx3r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138260/original/image-20160919-11134-l5wx3r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flowers outside Fabric.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Josephine Lethbridge</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Switch over to a court hearing in Germany, and the focus is a bit different. Back in 2008, Berlin’s finance ministry ruled that nightclubs should be taxed regularly (they had previously received the same tax breaks as other cultural institutions). Berghain appealed, and its defence lawyer, Peter Raue, succeeded in convincing a fiscal court that the events at the club could indeed be compared to classical concerts or plays.</p>
<p>Raue <a href="https://raue.com/en/2016/09/13/raue-llp-secures-victory-for-berghain-before-fiscal-court/">argued</a> that what happens at Berghain can be classed as high culture. Raue also spoke about intoxication, but of a different sort, comparing the intoxicating effect a DJ set could have to that of people immersing themselves in a performance of a Mahler symphony. Raue did not deny that many in attendance consume drinks and drugs in order to immerse themselves in music – far from it. His elision of drug or drink-fuelled intoxication with intoxication by performance was certainly intended. </p>
<p>The focus of discussion in Berlin was not centred on drug consumption, but the production of culture – be it high or low – while acknowledging that intoxication may have a part to play in this. Drugs or no, Berghain is seen to enrich Berlin’s cultural life, and is therefore something to be supported rather than fought. Fabric, on the other hand, is apparently considered a danger to London’s cultural life – due to drugs. In order to understand how these two infamous clubs have gone such separate ways, it is worth looking at the cultural differences between German and British society.</p>
<h2>Culture – or drug culture?</h2>
<p>There are poor people and rich people in Germany. And there are some people in the middle. Not so different from Britain, you’d say? Indeed, social classes exist in both countries. But the obsession with class in Britain is second to none. Neighbourhoods, schools, jobs, accents, or education are predominantly viewed through the lens of social class. And all too often, culture is also seen through this lens. This very clear distinction has led to club culture and electronic dance music culture being identified as low culture (essentially made for the working classes) or popular culture. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/12/berlins-berghain-nightclub-classed-as-culturally-significant-venue">British headlines</a> about Berghain’s new lower tax rate refer to that perceived contradiction of a techno nightclub providing high culture. And indeed, by allowing Berghain to pay a lower tax rate, the German court put the performances at Berghain on par with plays at theatres, or symphonies played in concert halls. But Berliners simply do not see this as a contradiction at all. And what’s more, Berliners know that Berghain has long become a versatile venue, hosting exhibitions, book readings, fashion shows and much more. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138261/original/image-20160919-11134-1mi2wx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138261/original/image-20160919-11134-1mi2wx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138261/original/image-20160919-11134-1mi2wx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138261/original/image-20160919-11134-1mi2wx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138261/original/image-20160919-11134-1mi2wx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138261/original/image-20160919-11134-1mi2wx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138261/original/image-20160919-11134-1mi2wx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Berghain at night.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mlaiacker/145505359/in/photolist-FBNyC-iUqNae-dRKF6-88x8up-81qwTZ-4E6sMT-4VVVGn-4VVVQt-7t9ZKo-5inhMT-cWyfLY-6FZ4vF-2Rqdav-dkh5m1-3PQNUx-4TZwci-8JA5VH-8ZBgyg-j64b1X-4VVVUH-69hFoD-7Ho8oF-4qaE3N-6SqNMU-7GqN9f-FBNz5-abvnpV-4co9rL-4cjaxZ-6igqfa-kRZrc-af8iLr-5wQXf4-boc51i-6dYECX-FuLH3s-7gZH9P-EF3qhD-fihoC3-tHXnev-4co9Hs-4A5k7W-dLEDqB-4cjaN8-fi384n-4mBCKo-fi38m2-hHe2kt-fihnLs-74JTS1">mlaiacker/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Left to the market</h2>
<p>Gentrification is increasingly blamed for London’s changing club culture, particularly in the wake of Fabric’s closure. Many have accused Islington Council of sacrificing the club in order to benefit from the amped up real estate value of the Farringdon property. Another famous London club, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/passing-clouds-made-dalston-culturally-rich-and-now-it-s-being-forced-to-close-for-property-a7312021.html">Passing Clouds</a>, also recently fell foul of increasing Dalston rents in east London.</p>
<p>But gentrification is changing neighbourhoods in Berlin too. And not all venues survive the process that results in increased rents or leases. The original <a href="https://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=6176">Tresor</a> nightclub and the art squat <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/sep/05/closure-tacheles-berlin-sad-alternative-art">Tacheles</a>, in Berlin’s Mitte district, fell victim to this process. But as a city, Berlin is doing more than London to counteract the cultural effects of gentrification. </p>
<p>The Senate of Berlin – the executive body governing the city – is regularly involved in negotiations about rental costs with developers and artists as a result of gentrification. For example, the senate had planned to build on the land that was previously Tempelhof Airport. But as a result <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/mar/05/how-berliners-refused-to-give-tempelhof-airport-over-to-developers">of a referendum</a>, it decided to turn the field into free space that can be used by all people. The Postgebaeude in the Friedrichshain dictrict is another case where the senate stepped in to mediate between artists and developers. And <a href="http://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/germany-law-restricting-airbnb-and-other-vacation-rentals-takes-effect-in-berlin/">a new law</a> restricts vacation rentals in Berlin, aiming to slow down gentrification and the related explosion of rental prices. </p>
<p>These examples show that the city of Berlin appears to be supportive of mainstream and fringe culture, and the success of Berghain’s appeal demonstrates above all else that the city treasures subcultures of all kinds. The city has become a haven for artists, and its cultural life is rich and diverse. London, in contrast, is much more prepared to have venues closed either if they do not fit the developers’ ideas or because of worries about drug taking.</p>
<p>London prides itself on being Europe’s financial centre. Berlin, on the other hand is bankrupt – financially. But it is very solvent culturally. And in the years to come, we shall see which is more important – I know where my money is.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65382/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beate Peter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On the same day that London’s legendary Fabric closed permanently, Berlin’s infamous techno club Berghain was granted a tax break.Beate Peter, Lecturer in German, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/468462015-09-24T09:41:31Z2015-09-24T09:41:31ZDrake, Meek Mill and beef’s prime place in rap culture<p>In popular culture, even vegans like a little “beef” from time to time. </p>
<p>From the playful jabs of Bo Diddley’s Say Man, to The Beatles’ riffing the sound of The Beach Boys on Back in the USSR, many revel in a little bad blood between artists.</p>
<p>But rap is one of the few places in popular culture where beef plays a central role. It’s a quintessential characteristic of the genre, and its consequences can dictate the rise and fall of rappers.</p>
<p>Since June, the rappers Drake and Meek Mill have been engaged in the rap ritual of beef. While the way this beef has played out is a testament to the expansion of rap’s boundaries, it also reveals some of the pitfalls that rappers face in the age of social media.</p>
<h2>Where’s the beef?</h2>
<p>For those unfamiliar with the controversy, here’s a refresher.</p>
<p>Upset that Drake (who was, at the time, an ally and collaborator) didn’t publicly support his new album, Meek Mill accused Drake of committing one of rap’s cardinal sins: <a href="https://twitter.com/MeekMill/status/623700698509758464">not writing his own lyrics</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"623700698509758464"}"></div></p>
<p>Soon, this beef would extend beyond the networked walls of the Twitterverse. </p>
<p>Following rap’s rules of engagement, Drake released the diss record <a href="https://soundcloud.com/octobersveryown/drake-charged-up">Charged Up</a> on July 25. Conveying subdued annoyance and bravado, its lyrics are spoken sleepily over a dreamy backdrop of synth swirls, belying its title. </p>
<p>In the track, Drake directly addresses Meek Mill: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Done doing favors for people / ‘cause it ain’t like I need the money I make off a feature. / I see you niggas having trouble going gold, turning into some so-and-sos that no one knows / But so it go </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Usually, one trades barbs when beefing – goes blow for blow, tit for tat. </p>
<p>In this case, Meek Mill merely tweeted a response. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"625101719836434433"}"></div></p>
<p>A few days later, Drake released another diss track titled <a href="https://soundcloud.com/octobersveryown/drake-back-to-back-freestyle">Back to Back</a>. </p>
<p>With lyrics that refer to Meek Mill’s subordinate position to his (much more) significant other, the rapper Nicki Minaj, it was a spicy, meme-inducing <a href="http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/twitter-reacts-to-drakes-second-meek-mill-diss-back-to-back-news.16760.html?image=1&gallery=0">crowd pleaser</a>.</p>
<p>Meek Mill finally countered with a song of his own. <a href="https://soundcloud.com/djfunkflexapp/meek-mill-feat-quentin-miller-wanna-know-prod-by-jahlil-beats-swizz-beatz">Wanna Know</a> samples the entrance song of the professional wrestler The Undertaker, with its characteristic funeral tolls seeming to signify that this beef will be laid to rest. </p>
<p>But the reaction from fans was tepid. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkhvI6S5gB8">They expected more</a>. And after Meek Mill’s weak <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvjrmEJeLo4">on-stage apology</a> during his stint on Nicki Minaj’s world tour, it was clear that there was still beef, but it had lost its sizzle. </p>
<h2>The many flavors of beef</h2>
<p>In broader terms, a beef refers to a conflict between two people. But there’s a difference between beef on the street and the kind that takes its place in music. </p>
<p>Notorious BIG described the former in his 1997 track <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/song/whats-beef-mt0000137254">What’s Beef?</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Beef is when you need two gats to go to sleep / beef is when your moms ain’t safe up in the streets / beef is when I see you, guaranteed to be in ICU. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Given that Biggie’s much-publicized beef with Tupac Shakur set the stage for both of their (actual) deaths, it’s understandable to interpret his lyrics literally, rather than figuratively. </p>
<p>But literally interpreting these lyrics requires looking at them in the context of inequality: through the street ethics of survival forged in the harsh winters of poverty and meager opportunity. </p>
<p>It’s the type of beef that led <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/song/beef-mt0014686379">Mos Def</a> to observe: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Beef is when a gangster ain’t doing it right, another gangster then decided what to do with his life / beef is not what these famous niggas do on the mic, beef is what George Bush would do in a fight </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But beef takes on an entirely different meaning in the world of hip-hop culture and rap music. Here, its meaning is rooted more deeply in the tradition of <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1167136?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">the dozens</a> – or an organized exchange of insults, with a winner and a loser – than in shootouts. </p>
<h2>Sweet beef is made of this</h2>
<p>Whether it happens through freestyle battles or diss records, beef is fundamental to the genre, as it simultaneously defines and is defined by the boundaries of the rap world. </p>
<p>These boundaries can have actual geographic limits. We saw this with the now-classic beef between South Bronx’s Boogie Down Productions and Queenbridge’s Juice Crew. And we later saw it with the rivalry between Bad Boy Records (East Coast) and Death Row Records (West Coast). </p>
<p>These beefs were nonetheless more symbolic than material. The former concerned the claim to the birthplace of rap music. The latter was about stylistic dominance. In both cases, beef was about staking a claim in the rap world, a declaration of who owns the block.</p>
<p>More often, though, beef is about “juice” – or asserting one’s self as one to be reckoned with in the rap world. </p>
<p>Similar to the <a href="http://siouxcityjournal.com/weekender/music/joe-louis-walker-says-it-is-easy-to-dismiss-blues/article_5e1a2d02-2b8a-568b-bbdd-328f5f26ff11.html">blues tradition</a> of “paying dues,” MCs can gain juice (or credibility) by engaging with – whether through provocation or collaboration – the best. Once MCs show their mettle, they gain or lose the respect of the rap world. </p>
<p>Usually, if a beef is prominent enough to make the pop culture headlines, it means that at least one of the MCs involved are well-respected, or have juice. These are MCs who comprise the core of the rap world – and they’re the ones who are capable of inviting in those MCs lingering in the periphery. </p>
<p>In the case of Drake and Meek Mill, both are a part of the rap world. Meek Mill, however, is far less established, so his situation is more tenuous: defeat in battle could sever the very ties that pulled him closer to the core in the first place. While the tie Meek Mill has to his partner, Nicki Minaj, should keep Meek Mill orbiting close to the core, other MCs without such strong ties aren’t so lucky. </p>
<p>Take, for example, 2002’s Ja Rule-50 Cent beef, in which 50 Cent – then a peripheral MC with ties to Dr Dre and Eminem – effectively ended the career of the more established Ja Rule via a number of diss tracks, including what’s commonly considered the final blow: Back Down. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mtoq5vhKSCk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">50 Cent’s Back Down, a diss track directed at Ja Rule.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In principle, a rap battle allows for an up-and-comer to take down a more established MC. But rap battles don’t take place on one-way streets. It can also allow prominent rappers to slap fear into the hearts of their less established counterparts, putting them in their place. </p>
<p>Ultimately, beef in rap music is a longing for meritocracy. It’s a way to show that status or money doesn’t supersede skill. It’s an ideal – that once you put on the gloves and step in the ring, nobody (not your friends, not your family, not business associates, not God) can help.</p>
<h2>Meek Mill’s beef turns to pink slime</h2>
<p>Taking a lyrical swing at another rapper is part and parcel of rap. But Meek Mill accused Drake of ghostwriting, which rap music outsiders may find unconscionable. The rap world took notice. And it wasn’t happy.</p>
<p>In leveling this accusation at one of the genre’s biggest stars, Meek Mill could potentially smear the genre as a whole; ghostwriting is simply not a “good look.” </p>
<p>The role of social media in the unfolding of the Drake and Meek Mill beef is undeniable. Twitter, in its capacity to connect various and previously unrelated worlds, opens the boundaries of rap to the possibility of being overrun by that which lurks outside of it. </p>
<p>This openness has its merits: it allows for the significant participation of younger people, along with <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/01/06/african-americans-and-technology-use/">black communities</a>, which may not – <a href="http://nms.sagepub.com/content/13/5/824.full.pdf+html">for various socioeconomic and cultural reasons</a> – be possible through other mediums. </p>
<p>That being said, Twitter can also, under certain circumstances, be the ugliest gossip mill and sheep farm this side of Facebook. </p>
<p>Tweeting, of course, isn’t particular to rap music. And accusing someone of, in essence, cheating isn’t either. But by tweeting the accusation of ghostwriting, Meek Mill was grandstanding, which elicits the responses of those outside the rap world. </p>
<p>That this accusation was met with such surprise is an indicator of this phenomenon: most rappers understand that ghostwriting is <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2015/07/lupe-fiasco-ghostwriting-the-haunting-instagram.html">a musical convention</a> of sorts within this genre (as well as others). </p>
<p>Rappers of all stripes perform the songs of others, often borrowing from their peers; in fact, a fundamental technique of rap music – sampling – involves taking someone else’s music and repurposing it. Some of rap’s best verses have appeared on unofficial remixes on bootlegged mixtapes. </p>
<p>Seen in this light, Meek Mill’s accusations aren’t intended to elicit the thoughtful responses of rap devotees; they’re appeals for hot takes from Tweeters and internet trolls, who have little understanding of the rap music industry. And once these outsiders start banging on the gates of rap, the insiders are forced to act. Like politicians who appear surprised by graft, the shocked people of the rap world are simply posturing. </p>
<p>What a “rap god” doesn’t do is whine on Twitter, or attempt to promote oneself through PR tactics. By airing out dirty laundry over Twitter, the whole city (not just the neighborhood of rap) knows something stinks; so when people from all around the city come by to see what the stink is about – well, it better be a heap of something big. </p>
<p>It’s no surprise, then, that people of and beyond the rap world <a href="https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-internet-killed-meek-mill-not-drake-7b984024060d">went after Meek Mill</a> – a rebuke that could only be described as a hailstorm of expletive-filled Tweets, suggestive Instagram images (GIFs of Nicki Minaj lapdancing for Drake are especially popular) and other forms of user-generated comeuppance.</p>
<p>How fitting, then, that Meek Mill ended up ranting at the very tweeters he’d courted:</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"624685889776697344"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46846/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ahrum Lee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Taking a lyrical swing at another rapper is part and parcel of the genre. So why the profound backlash when Meek Mill accused Drake of not writing his own lyrics?Ahrum Lee, Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology, Bucknell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/466392015-09-03T04:42:45Z2015-09-03T04:42:45ZWhy culture, not race, determines tastes in music<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93049/original/image-20150826-15415-xgples.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Music is culturally - and not racially - ingrained. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Andrew Winning</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One frequently hears questions such as: Why do different races generally listen to specific genres of music? Why do music genres have a huge racial divide?</p>
<p>In societies obsessed with and manipulated by the notion of race, these questions are understandable. But it is also understandable that, for many forward-thinking people, they are highly troubling.</p>
<p>It says a lot about our state of mind that we have become used to linking matters to race even if they don’t have a racial basis. Our preferences for specific musical genres do not have a basis in our genetic makeup, if one regards race as a genetically determined phenomenon. We should take delight because in respect of music, there is only one race: the human race. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93284/original/image-20150828-11535-ca609d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93284/original/image-20150828-11535-ca609d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93284/original/image-20150828-11535-ca609d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93284/original/image-20150828-11535-ca609d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93284/original/image-20150828-11535-ca609d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93284/original/image-20150828-11535-ca609d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93284/original/image-20150828-11535-ca609d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Metallica performs in South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation/Nikita Ramkissoon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It has to come as a tremendously liberating realisation that music is one of the attributes that makes humans human. By engaging in music, humans articulate their humanness and – even more so – their humanity. They have done so since the dawn of humankind in Africa.</p>
<p>If that is so, how are we to understand the undeniable existence of different musical genres? As humans dispersed out of Africa and across the world, they took their culture with them. As they dispersed, they lost contact with their respective cultures. And since the new environments they encountered differed vastly from one another, a great diversity of cultures developed in response – and continue to develop all the time. </p>
<p>So, the existence of different genres has to be regarded as a manifestation of our cultural diversity and not of our racial makeup. Even if it so happens that cultural diversity is, or has been, coincidental with the various human “races” as they evolved, musical diversity has to be seen as culture-specific, not race-specific.</p>
<h2>What makes a music genre</h2>
<p>In music, as in other arts, the word “genre” is not used consistently. In literature, the term can be used to distinguish between poetry, a novel or a play. In painting, between a landscape and a portrait, or between oil and water colour. For that reason, medium, style and form are additional terms that can help us to distinguish between different kinds of art. </p>
<p>Jazz, rock or classical are terms frequently used to distinguish between different “genres” of music. But they could also be described as different “styles”. In that sense, “style” would denote the more general and “genre” the more specific characteristics of the music concerned. Be that as it may, it is helpful to regard “genre” as a description of the social function of music. </p>
<p>For example, a hit song may be in the same style as a musical, but the two have different functions. Similarly, a symphony fulfils a different function than an opera.</p>
<p>It is also important to understand that when one likes a piece of music, when it becomes meaningful to a particular person, some of the meaning of that song will inhere in the style or genre in which it is composed or performed. If I am into jazz and loathe heavy metal then that preference will make me reject a particular song in the genre of heavy metal regardless of whether it is a good song or not. </p>
<p>So, a good deal of the meaning that comes across when I listen to music lies in its style or genre. It is like the <a href="http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/mcluhan.mediummessage.pdf">saying</a>: The medium is the message.</p>
<p>The flipside is that there are kinds of music where I don’t understand the stylistic conventions or the “vocabulary”. Therefore, music in that style will be meaningless to me, even if an individual number in that style is highly popular among its followers. </p>
<p>It is like being able or unable to understand a particular language. If I don’t know French I will be unable to distinguish between a joke and an insult directed at me in that language.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93050/original/image-20150826-15407-3kemts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93050/original/image-20150826-15407-3kemts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93050/original/image-20150826-15407-3kemts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93050/original/image-20150826-15407-3kemts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93050/original/image-20150826-15407-3kemts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93050/original/image-20150826-15407-3kemts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93050/original/image-20150826-15407-3kemts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the Russian Red Army Choir perform in Algiers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Louafi Larbi</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Where divides in music taste come from</h2>
<p>Music is a less neutral form of communication than language. Consequently, different kinds of music seem to represent different kinds of value. </p>
<p>Rock music may represent the values of youth rebellion against what is perceived as the narrow-minded and materialistic value system of an older generation, while traditional folk music may be representative of an uncorrupted rural idyll. Such value systems are not fixed but can be rooted in the mind of the perceiver. For some classical music expresses the most profound sentiments of which humans are capable. For others it is elitist, imperialist, boring or simply uncool. </p>
<p>Comprehensibility and value, then, are the reasons why there are cultural – not racial – divides between adherents of different kinds of music.</p>
<p>Where do these divides come from? They are the result of any number of contributing factors, including upbringing in the parent culture, education, peer-group interaction, expression of a person’s individual identity, even a marker of territory. </p>
<p>For example, religious groups tend to articulate their identity and mark their territory with very specific kinds of music, even if their aim is to give expression to their religious aspirations. And in many cases the music that people listen to is determined by their mood. In this case they will even be prepared to switch between different genres, as long as the music is felt to act as a stimulant or to soothe the nerves.</p>
<p>In societies plagued by strong cultural divisions, music can be a very significant vehicle for reconciliation. Music is not a universal language, but it holds a special significance and meaning for all of us. We all articulate our humanity by means of music. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93283/original/image-20150828-11538-iqj3yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93283/original/image-20150828-11538-iqj3yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93283/original/image-20150828-11538-iqj3yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93283/original/image-20150828-11538-iqj3yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93283/original/image-20150828-11538-iqj3yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93283/original/image-20150828-11538-iqj3yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93283/original/image-20150828-11538-iqj3yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lady Gaga performs at South Africa’s FNB Stadium.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation/Nikita Ramkissoon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By learning to respect the significance and meaning that a particular kind of music has for my fellow human beings, even if I don’t subscribe to its value system, I will be able to recognise their human dignity in their music. This is regardless of whether that person is a vagrant singing his evening song, a child singing a nursery rhyme, a worshipper praising in song or a sports fan supporting his favourite team. </p>
<p>It would be even better if we could start talking to each other about what makes a particular kind of music meaningful and special to the other person. Who knows, we might even begin to practise musical multilingualism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46639/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Winfried Lüdemann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It seems that different races listen to different music, but it is actually culture and value that determines this, not skin colour.Winfried Lüdemann, Professor of Musicology, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/448762015-08-19T10:04:58Z2015-08-19T10:04:58ZThe fate of the metalheads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92185/original/image-20150817-5117-r4mfri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fans cheer on the heavy metal band Motörhead.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brandi666/4024619966/in/photolist-78Deiq-78DecY-78De4o-78DdUN-78DdLG-5wcBdr-5iBgf4-5iBfmn-5iBf5x-5iFvBJ-5iFv1C-5iBdAg-5iBd5H-5j9Bat-xGasL-6V4jLe-6V4jLn-6V4jKR-aeHxWU-4yehAU-9k6Dkh-9k3vy6-4yefRE-8XpUP8-aeEJb4-6poog9-2kyMBv-5mH6e8-5mMbtm-5iBP3x-aJ3Ydz-aJ3XWr-qbXw8-5mMjoQ-nYHaB-5mMrD3-5mMiXj-5mH1PB-5mMsPE-5mH4AM-5mH34R-nnSRni-7nf5c2-Jbkh7-dBk4F3-dBeAUv-dBk4kj-aJ3YvK-aJ3YsH-aJ3YpT">brandi/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Adults often worry about adolescents who identify with fringe-style cultures, whether it’s emo, hip hop or <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/see-freaky-fiery-photos-from-the-2015-gathering-of-the-juggalos-20150727">juggalos</a>.</p>
<p>But every generation has its own set of musical cliques that draw millions of teenage fans. In the 1980s, heavy metal – a style of music characterized by blistering guitar solos and soaring vocals – was, <a href="http://metal.mit.edu/brief-history-metal">by some measures</a>, the most popular musical genre. </p>
<p>Adults were up in arms. There were <a href="http://www.csicop.org/si/show/scientific_consensus_and_expert_testimony">congressional hearings</a> about heavy metal’s inherent “dangers.” Parents (and their elected representatives) feared that their kids, in identifying with the subculture, might be lured into devil worship, sex or drugs. Tipper Gore and the Parents’ Music Resource Council (PMRC) <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/04/arts/tipper-gore-widens-war-on-rock.html">sought to ban recordings</a>, while artists like Judas Priest were <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/17/arts/2-families-sue-heavy-metal-band-as-having-driven-sons-to-suicide.html">put on trial</a>, blamed for the suicides of two teenagers. </p>
<p>Growing up as a heavy metal groupie in Hollywood in the 1980s, I was certainly exposed to a lot of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. But I was also part of a community of like-minded peers who loved the music and lyrics. My friends and I donned micro-mini skirts, leather jackets over lace bras and stiletto heels. We gave the hypocritical “establishment” the middle finger.</p>
<p>Cut to the present day: I’m a psychology professor and two-time Fulbright Scholar. Did metal affect me? I believe it did. I believe it helped me cope with a very difficult and dysfunctional home life. I found friends and boyfriends and an aggressive style of music that helped me safely vent my anger over my lot in life. </p>
<p>But a few years ago, while I was writing a memoir, I began to wonder: what happened to the metalheads I’d known in the 1980s? I may have emerged relatively unscathed, but had the others become drug-addicted and destitute, like so many parents predicted? </p>
<p>My mentor, social psychologist Howard Friedman, suggested I conduct a study to find out. </p>
<p>Early 1980s research on teenage metalheads suggested that they were more aggressive, more emotionally disturbed and less well-adjusted than non-metal fans. However, <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=144462">other research</a> suggested they were more intelligent or that it was really family dysfunction that led to their poor adjustment. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, no one followed these kids over time; no one had examined what became of them as they reached adulthood. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298868.2015.1036918?journalCode=psai20#.VdNLbkuJluY">In our study</a>, we used social media networks to recruit people between the ages of 35 and 60 to answer questions about their adolescent years during the 1980s. We reached out to metal groups on Facebook and used “snowball sampling,” in which we had individuals ask their friends to participate, who then asked their friends and so on. (This is a typical method for recruiting specialized or hard-to-find populations.) </p>
<p>We ended up with a sample of 377 people, which included two comparison groups: middle-aged folks who did not like metal in the 1980s and current college students. We needed to be sure that anything we found about the metal group was not also true of other people who grew up in the 1980s or of youth in general. </p>
<p>In the first question, we asked participants what their favorite music was in the 1980s. Those who picked anything but metal (like pop or new wave) were put into a comparison group, as were students. Those who chose metal (like Metallica or Guns-N-Roses) were then asked whether they were groupies, paid musicians or simply fans. Groupies self-identified as sleeping with rock stars and doing anything possible to get backstage. Musicians were not in garage bands but were paid to play.</p>
<p>Then we developed an 85-page questionnaire asking them about personality traits, education, income, marital status, childhood trauma and abuse, past and current sexual behavior, how happy they were as kids and how happy they are now, in addition to a number of other variables.</p>
<p>We expected that the metal groups would be similar to the other middle-aged adults. But we never expected how much <em>better</em> they fared in important ways. </p>
<p>First, some of the stereotypes from the 1980s ended up being generally true of metalheads in their youth. Metal fans took a lot more drugs and engaged in a lot more sex than either comparison group. </p>
<p>In fact, groupies reported some serious drug problems in the 1980s. Groupies also experienced more childhood trauma than other groups. On the whole, the metal group had more adverse childhood experiences and engaged in more risky behaviors than the other two groups. On the other hand, many of the metalheads reported that they found a sense of belonging and acceptance in their musical clique.</p>
<p>What was fascinating, however, was that metalheads also reported being significantly happier in their youth compared to the other two groups. They also reported having significantly fewer regrets about anything they did in their youth. The comparison groups were more impulsive, more likely to experience manic symptoms like hyperactivity and sleeplessness, and were more likely to seek psychological counseling for emotional problems. </p>
<p>And despite politicians’ fears about metalheads not amounting to anything, they ended up, on the whole, not differing on education attained, income, marital status or on any personality traits measured, such as neuroticism. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92184/original/image-20150817-5088-101w699.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92184/original/image-20150817-5088-101w699.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92184/original/image-20150817-5088-101w699.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92184/original/image-20150817-5088-101w699.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=881&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92184/original/image-20150817-5088-101w699.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1107&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92184/original/image-20150817-5088-101w699.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1107&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92184/original/image-20150817-5088-101w699.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1107&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Associating with subcultures can offer emotional support and a sense of belonging.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Young_punk_US-c1984.jpg">Tim Schapker/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In response to open-ended questions, the metalheads discussed feeling like they were part of an important social movement, rebelling against the status quo. They were living in the moment, enjoying a hedonistic lifestyle and feeling connected to like-minded peers. They loved the lyrics, the complexity and the intensity of heavy metal music. They felt a sense of freedom and social support as part of the metal clan.</p>
<p>It appears that “fringe” style cultures may actually act as a protective salve for youth: metal, with its ready-made set of beliefs, styles and behaviors, acted as a path to identity formation for many of our subjects. </p>
<p>We hypothesize that this is true for all youth cultures: <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=7YiaFKc2NnIC&oi=fnd&pg=PA123&dq=Spencer,+Fegley,+%26+Harpalani,+2003&ots=419B66wOia&sig=rtLkZZhaT_FRO5zguvMjdpeT1Po#v=onepage&q&f=false">all youth need a sense of belonging</a> to a group that is different from that of their parents, that is their own, one that speaks their own language and <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.83">convinces them that they matter</a>.</p>
<p>This is especially true for kids like the 1980s metalheads, many of whom had dysfunctional families at home. Social support for the developing adolescent identity is perhaps the most important function any group can provide.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44876/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tasha R. Howe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Parents and politicians once feared heavy metal music would inspire devil worship, reckless sex and rampant drug use. A new study investigates what became of young metal fans.Tasha R. Howe, Professor of Psychology, Humboldt State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/317222014-09-25T05:29:27Z2014-09-25T05:29:27ZNorthern soul trademark win shows music subcultures belong to fans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59905/original/252bkx45-1411556950.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wigan was home to a thriving soul scene in the 1970s.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtarvainen/5274332795">mtarvainen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some good news for soul music lovers from an unlikely source: a recent <a href="http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-os/t-find/t-challenge-decision-results/o35814.pdf">trademark decision</a> by the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) sent a strong message that the iconography of the “northern soul” scene belongs not to any corporation, promoter or trader, but to its fans.</p>
<p>Northern soul developed out of the “mod” scene in the north of England in the late 1960s when DJs began playing obscure, up-tempo American soul records. Soon it was a thriving subculture, and clubs such as the Wigan Casino became famous for their all-night parties throughout the 1970s.</p>
<p>To promote events and demonstrate their love for this re-appropriated sound, northern soul fans used the phrase “Keep the faith” and adopted a clenched fist logo which first appeared in the Black Power movement in the US. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59907/original/t3dysvtf-1411557964.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59907/original/t3dysvtf-1411557964.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59907/original/t3dysvtf-1411557964.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59907/original/t3dysvtf-1411557964.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59907/original/t3dysvtf-1411557964.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59907/original/t3dysvtf-1411557964.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59907/original/t3dysvtf-1411557964.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Various takes on a classic icon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.google.com/#safe=active&q=northern+soul+keep+the+faith">Google images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Late last year a retro bag shop in Manchester applied to register the logo as a trademark for use on its bags, handbags, wallets and other products. Other traders who were part of the mod and northern soul scene during the 60s and 70s opposed the move and set up a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NorthernSoulOfficial/posts/10151730133016569">campaign</a>, encouraging northern soul fans, old and new, to write to the IPO to object.</p>
<p>The trademark application has been recently refused. In <a href="http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-os/t-find/t-challenge-decision-results/o35814.pdf">its decision</a> last month, the IPO said usage of the motto and logo had become customary among other bag and accessory traders in the scene. These traders, rivals of the original applicant, saw the logo “solely as a generic badge of allegiance to the northern soul movement.”</p>
<p>This is fairly standard in the world of trademarking: a word that is widely used in the course of trade cannot be registered and therefore monopolised by anyone. “Leader” is a good example of this – if anyone tried to trademark “company leader in the IT sector” they would be turned down.</p>
<p>But, interestingly, this case wasn’t just about what manufacturers who used it on bags, shirts and so on thought. The IPO considered usage by ordinary people to be relevant. </p>
<p>And indeed it is. The logo was commonly used in the scene, and in particular on posters advertising northern soul nights in English towns such as Wigan, Manchester and Stoke, as well as by ordinary people attending those events. People used to take along bowling bags, clothing and scooters adorned with patches with the logo to show loyalty to this music movement. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59906/original/q37zbqt9-1411557596.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59906/original/q37zbqt9-1411557596.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59906/original/q37zbqt9-1411557596.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59906/original/q37zbqt9-1411557596.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59906/original/q37zbqt9-1411557596.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59906/original/q37zbqt9-1411557596.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59906/original/q37zbqt9-1411557596.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Keeping the faith at a local cricket club.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffedoe/3100404637">Jeff</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The words and logo, therefore, could not be said to be owned by any one person or company, but by the many lovers of this music genre and subculture as a symbol.</p>
<p>There has been a resurgence in interest in northern soul in recent years. The journalist Paul Mason, once a Wigan Casino regular, made a documentary on the scene for the BBC titled <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bs488">Keep the Faith</a> and a new film, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/11010589/Northern-Soul-first-pictures-of-new-British-film.html">Northern Soul</a>, is released in October. Events are also on the increase, not only in the UK but also in countries such as Japan and the US. </p>
<p>This growing popularity has encouraged mainstream accessory and apparel manufacturers to use names, logos and images associated with the old scene of the 70s and 80s. But it also means that it has becomes harder for any one person or business to claim ownership of northern soul symbolism.</p>
<p>The moral of this story? Mottos and logos are owned by people who have been involved with a particular scene and not by manufacturers or traders who try to profit from exploiting iconic sub-cultures, expressions and ideas which they have not contributed to creating.</p>
<p>It seems that one official body at least is now recognising this, which is welcome news for everyone concerned with protecting subcultures from the blandness of corporate takeover.</p>
<p>So keep the faith! Northern soul is not dead and its mottos and logos, developed by and within the scene, will not be monopolised by anyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Enrico Bonadio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some good news for soul music lovers from an unlikely source: a recent trademark decision by the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) sent a strong message that the iconography of the “northern soul…Enrico Bonadio, Senior Lecturer in Law, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/277242014-06-06T08:57:55Z2014-06-06T08:57:55ZBanning heavy metal fans from pubs isn’t just unfair - it’s simply inaccurate<p>The headline says it all. The Chronicle, which reports all the news that is fit to print in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in England notes that “<a href="http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/city-tavern-newcastle-rock-fans-7176377">Rock Fans Were Kicked Out Of A Newcastle Pub Because Of Their Outfits</a>”. The seven giants of rock were booted out of the City Tavern solely for wearing the standard metal uniform. Prior to a refurb, the bar ran regular rock nights and still has no dress code; 93% of respondents to the newspaper’s own poll disagree with the move, which is simply the latest in a long history of bizarre acts of censorship aimed at music fans.</p>
<p>Eric Nuzum’s book, Parental Advisory, and <a href="https://www.aclu.org/free-speech/brief-timeline-censored-music">The American Civil Liberties Union</a> website both provide some other wonderful examples of this nonsense. The ACLU report, for instance, that in 2000 a Louisiana judge ordered officials to return music to a skating rink owner, which had been confiscated in the belief that it had caused a car park fight: the fact that the music included some Britney Spears and even Disney’s Tarzan soundtrack might make this measure seem heavy-handed to some. The site similarly reports that attending a Backstreet Boys concert was sufficient to cause school students to be suspended in Texas (and not on grounds of their poor musical taste either), and that wearing a Korn t-shirt that simply features the band’s name has similarly been enough to get you suspended from school in Michigan.</p>
<p>The academic literature similarly details the pervasiveness of the stereotypes of musical subcultures. One study showed that simply presenting a criminal defendant as an author of rap lyrics cause him to be perceived as more likely to be guilty; and whereas rap fans are portrayed as a threat to others, heavy rock fans are stereotyped as more likely to self-harm. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, clear differences do actually exist in the personality and lifestyles of the people who like different musical styles. Rock fans score higher than most on measures of having a personality that is sensation-seeking and open to new experiences, and I have also found evidence that fans of 35 different musical styles differ on such wide-ranging variables as political beliefs, number of holidays taken, whether they would like more friends, frequency of taking a bath, and the types of alcoholic drinks they consume.</p>
<p>So given that real differences exist, it is possible to some extent to understand why certain groups of fans get picked upon. However, the problem is that the stereotypes are so often inaccurate. The manager of the City Tavern might like to know that my data shows that the fans who apparently take least care of their appearance are those who like opera, as they take the fewest baths and wash their hair least frequently. </p>
<p>The fans most likely to be a real danger to themselves are not metal-heads, but instead those who like blues, as they smoke more than others. Perhaps most importantly for a publican, I should also point that, with the exception of those who go to nightclubs a lot, fans of jazz drink the most. Given all this, I would imagine that the Newcastle Seven are much more desirable customers than the boss of the City Tavern seems to think. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27724/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The headline says it all. The Chronicle, which reports all the news that is fit to print in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in England notes that “Rock Fans Were Kicked Out Of A Newcastle Pub Because Of Their Outfits…Adrian North, Head of School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.