Speaking of subcultures, most often young people are meant. This is due to the psychology of human development. A teenager, as he grows up and separates from his family, feels the need to fill the emerging void. He wants to be part of something common, while opposing the bulk of the “misunderstood”. Passing the time of rebellion, the young man looks for “tribesmen” who are ready to support him in a difficult moment.

Starting its path from a particular cut of the jacket and passing through a rigid installation of appearance, worldview, musical preferences, subcultures have become a special lifestyle, with its own rules, ideology and philosophy. Where did the history of subcultures in the United States begin?

The first kinds of subcultures were “black”. They grew out of an acute problem between blacks and whites in America. And it all began as a quiet challenge to the established standards of society.

The emergence of subcultural movements in the United States: The 1940s and 1950s.

“Zooties” – the silent street revolution
The desire to attract attention was realized in a rather unusual way for that time – by wearing a provocative suit called the Zoot Suit. It consisted of narrow pants and an elongated striped jacket. It was quite difficult to buy such a suit, especially for the oppressed African-Americans: it was sewn to order at an obscenely high price. The owners of such an outfit became known as “Zooties.

The significance of this subculture was great. The costume became a kind of symbol of ethnic pride and rebellion against white society. It was the Zutiz who later formed the first organized black street gangs.

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When everyone had become accustomed to the fact that the new movements were the work of whites, the blacks of New York’s ghettos reminded us of themselves. Hip-hop as a movement emerged on the streets of the Bronx among African-American youth from working-class families. The main thing becomes a confrontation against the authorities, the police, and injustice.

Hip-hop as a subculture includes several types of trends:

• musical: rap, hip-hop (hip – moving parts of the body; hop – movement);
• dance: break dance;
• Visual: graffiti.

The members of this counterculture were called B-boys (b from the word “beat” – beat, rhythm) and flygirls. The distinctive features of the style were caps, bandanas, baggy clothes, simple T-shirts, sports shoes and a lot of massive jewelry: chains, rings and bracelets.

The Sugarhill Gang introduced ghetto music to a wider U.S. audience in 1979 with their single Rapper’s Delight. This was followed by Run DMC, Mantronix, Beastie Boys, MC Hammer, Kris Kross and others.

Hip-hop began to divide itself into different streams and still holds the lion’s share of the music market.

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This movement absorbed elements of many other subcultures in the U.S.: the simplicity of clothing and moneyless beatniks, hairstyles “Swinging London,” pugnacious jeans and heavy boots punks. After My bloody Valentine, The Smiths and Joy Division flooded the American music market, the youth in the US picked up the new trend, twisting it in their own way.

This is how the grunge subculture was born in Seattle. The musical sound was quite unusual: a mixture of American rock and English punk; the lyrics were gloomy, apathetic and lonely.

The bands Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam became popular. Soon grunge happened to the same story as with punk – the subculture becomes mainstream and loses its relevance among the revolutionary youth. After the introduction to mass culture, the global popularity of grunge grows, but loses its true adherents.

The history of the following American subculture is quite unusual. Its origins go back to the 80s of the last century, but it gained its popularity only in the noughties. We are talking, of course, about emo (from emotional).

The abundance of violence and hardcore punk gave rise to a musical counterpart: lyrical, romantic, sometimes tearful themes of songs put to rock music. But this kind of emotional scene did not last long.

The unusual for the underground music theme was recalled only in the late 90s with the arrival of such artists as My Chemical Romance, Jimmy Eat World and others. The peak of the popularity of emo music came in the 2000s. Since that time, we can talk about the emerged emo subculture.

Adherents of this flow are called emo-boy, emo-girl or emo-kids (kids). Emo romanticize depression, melancholy, death, love suffering. In a crowd of participants of this subculture can be distinguished by their special style: tight jeans and colorful tight shirts, black oblique bangs, badges, shoulder bags, colorful locks of hair, piercings, etc. Some representatives can be found to this day.

No matter what kind of music or subculture you prefer to listen to, American Butler can organize a memorable holiday: visiting rock concerts, grunge festivals, hip-hop battles and many others.

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The current was originally formed from young people who had returned home after the war. But this house turned out not to be at all friendly to its heroes. People who had taken an active part in military operations, accustomed to a constant adrenaline rush, wanted to be uniformly dressed, put in standard American Dream houses, arranged for monotonous low-paying jobs, such as cashier in a store… Of course, this provoked a protest.

The ex-soldiers found their adrenaline in motorcycle races and anti-social movements. The subculture also became very popular because of its rough, masculine and untidy style of dress. Bikers, in their heavy army boots and black leather jackets, stood out against the majority who wanted to look better, more sophisticated.

A phrase from the movie “Hell’s Angels on Wheels” perfectly symbolizes the current: “Better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven.” It contains all the opposition of bikers to the norms and morals of the rest of society.

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“Hipsters” defined “their own” by their special speech, their own jargon – “jive”. In those years, there was even a “Hipster’s Dictionary”, which helped to master the language of hip-cats.

A hipster could be anyone who put himself against the fuzzy “them”. Against the system, against society, against the normal way of life. The movement had its own sophisticated and improvisational music – b-bop. The hipster could also be distinguished by his special style of dress: black sweaters with a high collar, black glasses, scarves, berets.

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The beatnik movement has its origins in “black culture”: music, passion, protest. Beatniks aspired to freedom of expression, travel, renewed the literary tradition of describing their own lives, and were distinguished by their affinity for psychotropic substances. Literary centrism added such names as Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs to the world’s classics.

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In addition, hippies promoted an image of simple rural life in the commune, enjoying their existence and being in harmony with nature. They could be distinguished by their bright clothes, long hair, and positive attitude toward life. And painted minivans are still firmly associated with the “children of flowers.

Of course, there were many more iconic types of subcultures in the United States, but the purpose of this article is to introduce only the historically first established currents.

American Butler believes that studying the subcultural mentality will help you better understand the spirit of the United States and the cultural values of a foreign country.

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Young people were stuck in a rut. That is, until England gave the U.S. its burgeoning subculture, and its name was punk.

To understand who punks are, you can think of hippies – and do the opposite. Instead of harmony with the world – aggression and sabotage. Instead of unity with nature, it was urbanism and “dumpy” life. Melodic songs were replaced by amateurish street rock, and the positive and easy style of dress – by black leather suits, spikes, and heavy boots. That’s what punk was like on the fringes of London.

In America, London punk mixed with literary Paris, and a new, alternative subculture emerged. It quickly became elitist, unlike England, where lumpen, lower middle and working class people became punk. In the U.S., the significance of this subculture was to poetize the darker sides of people, nightlife, giving bohemianism to drug addictions. At the heart of the movement was music, which migrated from garages to small clubs.

Television, The Velvet Underground, the Ramones and singer Patti Smith, who emerged from the beatnik scene, became popular in the U.S. and, consequently, around the world.

Punk’s image was sharply conspicuous: T-shirts with screaming slogans, collars, colorful hair styled with sharp spikes, badges and rivets.

Soon the image of punk became so popular that punk bands began to be called out on television, radio, and contracts were being signed with them. The subculture, which had set itself against society and all previous cultures, found itself at the mercy of show business. A new crisis of subcultures had begun.

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