This thesis aims to portray to the reader the complexities of authenticity within a music subculture and they way in which subculture is signified and represented to create meaning. The use of the music video as a form of mediation to society offers great insight into the understanding and comprehension of the subculture of skate punk, its ability to inform further ideological discourses within society, and it’s impact on sociological and cultural understanding.
The scholarship focuses upon more recent understandings of subculture, moving away from the philosophy of Adorno and the Frankfurt school and utilising the findings that originate from the Birmingham School of Communication and Cultural Studies. Whilst Adorno is briefly referred to in relation to his influence on scholars such as Grossberg and Frith, his perspective on authenticity is challenged in light of new theoretical enquiry.
Giddens theoretical representation of authenticity is the focus of this thesis. His text, Modernity and Self-identity : Self and Society in the Late Modern Age (1991), expresses that in post modern society we are forced to create our own narratives and must not be constrained by societal hegemonic discourse. This is a common theme in Suicidal Tendencies lyrical content, which depicts self autonomy through thinking for oneself and rebelling against perceived societal norms. This ideology is discussed and informs notions of authenticity throughout the thesis.
SUBCULTURAL THEORISTS
There are several sociological theorists that have made a deep impact on the epistemology and ontology of subcultures. Dick Hebdige’s seminal work, Subculture – the meaning of style (1979) was
the first book that dealt with punk music amongst other music subcultures in a relevant and sophisticated manner. This book is essential for utilising traditional theoretical discourses to comprehend and analyse subcultures in music within a sociological framework. It was groundbreaking in creating an understanding and meaning of how youth subcultures were developed in post war Britain, most specifically in regards to the creation of punk music through negotiated meanings of style (both material and musical) of the working-class youth. Hebdige, also a member of the Birmingham school, gave a comprehensive and theoretical account that incorporated Marxism, structuralist techniques, Barthes semiotics and Gramscian concepts of hegemony to generate new ideas in the way in which youth musical subcultures could be perceived and understood. As described by Shawn Pitre in his essay, ‘Cultural Studies & Hebdige’s Subculture: The Meaning of Style’, Hebdige approaches youth subcultures as “authentic bastions of counter-hegemony and resistance to the social injustices of the working class world…Hebdige thus considers style to be the most semiotically impregnated domain of subcultures and the arena for the negotiation of identity and power relations.” This understanding was revolutionary for its time, influencing the way in which many scholars understood the importance and role of style, music and youth subcultures within a cultural and sociological realm. Over thirty years on, Hebdige’s seminal text still continues to be a powerful influence within a range of academic fields including sociology and cultural studies. This thesis will focus upon Hebdige’s proclamation that youth subcultures resist hegemony through style.
Ken Gelder’s extensive work on Subcultures within society, including his book Subcultures: Cultural Histories and Social Practice (2007) enhances knowledge and understanding of the importance and expression of subcultures within popular cultural realms. Gelder’s expression of the six ways in which subcultures are generally understood (2007) will be examined within this context to display the manner in which skate punk bands create identity and meaning.
MUSICOLOGISTS
Frith has focused upon the influence and effect of rock music (including punk) on western society both in Britain and America in his definitive text The Sociology of Rock (1978). This book was greatly revised by Frith and released as Sound Effects: Youth, leisure, and the politics of rock in 1983. It was based
on the premise that “society is best studied through music rather than vice versa…” (Rock Critics, 2002) It expressed the importance of rock ideology within society through notions of authenticity, and argues how the success and power of the rock industry is a serious study of cultural economy. Simon Frith incorporates Marxism, Barthes semiotics, structuralist techniques, and Gramscian concepts of hegemony to generate new ideas in the way in which youth musical subcultures could be perceived and understood. There is a strong material culture and political economy associated with music, and Frith’s examination of production and consumption; the text and the context; along with the producers, consumers, audiences and youth subculture have contributed significantly to societal understanding of the importance of music.
Lawrence Grossberg is an American cultural, political and popular contemporary studies scholar who is attributed with bringing cultural studies to the United States. (Sterne, 2005) His intellectual contributions influenced my research into skate punk, the politics of authenticity, and its influence on youth subculture and society as a whole. His work on popular music and postmodern society further informs my understanding of authenticity within the skate punk band scene, in particular Suicidal Tendencies, the band that is a focus of my study. How this Southern Californian skate punk band contributes to and influences the possibilities and limitations of youth subculture in wider society is a focus of this thesis.
Grossberg’s 1992 book, We Gotta Get Out of this Place: Popular Conservatism and Postmodern Culture, solidifies an understanding of American society within the context that skate punk was founded and proliferated during the 1980s. Grossberg also includes Gramsci’s theory of hegemony to articulate central arguments regarding neoconservatism that were perpetuated by powerful political entities such as Ronald Reagan and Tipper Core.
SKATEBOARDING, PUNK AND SKATE PUNK THEORISTS
Emily Chivers Yochim’s book, Skate Life: re-imagining white masculinity (2010) comprehensively critiques and argues that rather than the traditional understanding of skateboarding as an alternative and rebellious counter-culture, it should be defined as a “corresponding culture”, a term that she coined. This term aligns itself with Pierre Bourdieu’s conceptualisation of fields as an analytical tool in considering the relationships of individuals through certain social spheres. (Chivers Yochim, 2010, p22). Chivers Yochim expresses that skateboarding was not about “class culture” but rather that masculinity was “consistently the salient identity around which skateboarders were organized” (Chivers Yochim, 2010, p21). Through introducing the notion of “corresponding cultures” she was able to discuss the multiple ways in which skateboarders interact with various media forms and their many inflections of young white masculinity.” (Chivers Yochim, 2010, p21). Whilst the majority of her book was based on in-depth ethnographic analysis of skateboarders in a small Michigan town, her portrayal of a new understanding which she termed as “corresponding culture” was most useful for my research.
Konstantin Butz is said to have written the first academic book length analysis on the subculture of skate punk, Grinding California (2012). This was only released in November 2012, ironically after I had chosen my thesis topic. Much of this book directly pertains to many similar ideas and theories that I have regarding skate punk. Where Butz focuses upon skate punk as being mainly an expression of suburban white middle class males, I feel that there is also a distinct influence of Latino culture and representations found in Southern Californian skate punk music. Butz analysis is of great importance due to his focus upon Southern California as a nexus for the proliferation of the skate punk movement, especially during the early 1980s. Butz discusses the history of the subculture and it’s relation to sociological thought processes. I will be using Butz as a reference point to contest certain assumptions regarding the subculture of skate punk and to further examine the way in which he critically questions the ideological discourses relevant to this topic that inform the practices of every day life.
David Ensminger’s book, A Visual Vitriol – The Street Art and Subcultures of the Punk and Hardcore Generation (2011) gave a brilliant account of punk subculture with a section on the amalgamation and proliferation of the skate punk subculture. Ensminger’s illustration of the D.I.Y. ethos was very helpful
in illustrating its importance in ensuring control and self determination within expression of subculture. His cultural theory and the differing manifestations of punk culture throughout American society were invaluable for this thesis.
Iain Borden was one of the first academics to comprehensively explore skateboarding and its relationship with society. His work Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body (2001) discusses the
relationship of skateboarding, space, time and the social body and provided one of the first theoretical and academic portrayals of the cultural and social impact of skateboarding upon society. His focus on the appropriation of urban and city landscapes through the performative function of skateboarding could be translated to the suburban white middle class skateboarders of Southern California who used their own distinct landscape as a means of corporeal and personal pleasure.
References
Borden, I (2001) Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the
Body, Berg: Oxford
Butz K. (2012) Grinding California: Culture and Corporeality in American
Skate punk, Transaction Publishers: New Jersey
Chivers Yochim, E. A. (2009) Skate Life- Reimagining white masculinity,
University of Michigan Press: Michigan
Ensminger, David. (2010) A Visual Vitriol – The Street Art and Subcultures of
the Punk and Hardcore Generation, University Press of
Mississippi/Jackson:USA
Frith, S (1981) Sound Effects: youth, leisure and the politics of rock n roll,
Pantheon Books: New York
Gelder, K. (2007) Subcultures: Cultural Histories and Social Practice,
Routledge: New York
Giddens, A (1991) Modernity and Self-identity : Self and Society in the Late
Modern Age, Stanford University Press: California
Grossberg, L (1992) We Gotta Get Out of This Place: Popular Conservatism
and Popular Culture, Routledge: New York
Hebdige, D (1979) Subculture – The meaning of style, Routledge: New York
Pitre, Shawn (2003) ‘Cultural Studies & Hebdige’s Subculture and the
Meaning of Style’, retrieved from
http://www.tagg.org/students/Montreal/Tendances/PitreHebdige.html
(Accessed 1 June 2013)
Sterne, J (2005) “Being Young Sucks”: An Interview with Lawrence Grossberg
– An interview with Lawrence Grossberg about the American right’s war on
kids, the struggle for the future, and the role of the intellectual.”
http://bad.eserver.org/issues/2006/74/grossberg.html (Accessed 1 June
2013)
[This is an excerpt from my Bachelor of Arts (Sociology) Honours Thesis, submitted to the University of Wollongong Arts Faculty in 2013. I am publishing excerpts from this thesis in multiple posts. The thesis aimed to explore the youth subculture of skate punk, how its expression perpetuated authenticity through the aesthetic form of the music video, and how this was reflexive of society at a deeper social level].
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