Style and music always went together. Not in today’s scene. But why?

Where did the youth cultures and subcultures go? In the 2020s fashion and musical genre have become alienated from each other. Back in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, there was such a rich mix of, in some ways extreme, outrageous styles and fashion, connected directly to music. It is probably safe to say these original groups evolved from the distinct transition of the youth of the day, away from the restraints of their parents and grandparents, who had grown up in the shadow of Queen Victoria and the formal and conservative ways of that era. The topic of sexuality was kept private, and conversations were taboo. With the openness of the late 60’s and 70’s sexuality was an accepted and open talking point and when we look back to the 70’s and 80’s with acts like Queen, David Bowie, and T. Rex we can understand that gender fluidity was actually born in this era with these acts setting the scene, way before the word genderfluid, in 2015, was first added to an English dictionary. These fashion statements became a major part of the cultural following and distinguished one group from another.

Looking at what these subcultures were like and what distinguished them from the general public, Punks, in their heyday were quite a scary sight with Mohican multi coloured hair, chains, tattoos, and piercings. Mods (Modernists) were signified by the pastel coloured vespas they drove and the oversized Parka coats they wore. Musically, Mods tended to lean towards soul and American jazz. Glams were recognisable by their elaborate makeup, brightly coloured clothing, and distinctive rock music. 2Tones on the other hand wore trilby hats, slick suites, and braces in two tone black and white. Their music was a very unmistakable fusing of popular music, from new wave to Jamaican rock. Skins (Skinheads) originated from the laid-back Mods, but showed a tougher, aggressive presence and held extremist political ideals. Northern Soul had their roots firmly in their music, which originated from the fast tempo soul of the 60’s. The fashion of this subculture was closely related to and a mixture of Mods and Skinheads and in some part hippies, with Parka coats, braces, and flares.

Image: One off Vintage

The early 1990s brought with it the Acid House movement and the Rave communities/subcultures. The music was electronic dance music (EDM), and the culture was based around the drug Ecstasy (MDMA). This was the time where fashion started to leave music culture, with comfort (loose baggy clothing) and no specific style being more popular. Bands became less politically vocal in the lyrics of their music and at this point genre was gradually becoming less visually distinguishable one from the other.   

Image: Guardian, Fox, K., 2022 ‘It changed lives and opened minds’: a visual record of the birth of acid house

So, why do we seem to have lost the diversity of these fashion and political statements along with their connection to the music scene? Does this mean that we are heading towards a more neutral and conservative youth culture, where style is irrelevant and musical genre doesn’t exist, where we all blend into one genre?

According to an article in the Guardian written by Alex Petridis in 2014, there are a variety of possible reasons why British subcultures have almost totally disappeared. In his article he quotes from several academics, whose opinions vary. Dr Ruth Adams believes that when they existed the cost of being part of one needed a large amount of investment due to the cost of both music (vinyl) and fashion (Primark didn’t exist) and this meant you would choose carefully which group you wanted to be in and stick with it. Another academic, the historian David Fowler’s theory comes from the concept that these subculture members were actually just plain and simply consumers, conned into the idea of belonging, whilst commercialism was being nurtured within them. In a 2017 article in Gravity, the simplest and probably most relevant theory come into play with the advent of the internet, when subcultures were being created in the form of social media groups, with no visible dress code or political leaning. Group members can hide behind an avatar or profile picture which has no relevance to a specific youth culture in fashion or musical taste. Bombarded with a plethora of playlists based on our listening taste and at the same time guided into new genres, we are being coerced, to becoming genre neutral.  This constant stream has now created cross over genres and merged many of them together, making it more difficult to decipher one from the other. Not only have social media channel chats and feeds, killed subcultures but the internet is now full of videos showing absolutely everything from pornography to gang violence which were part of the draw of what subcultures stood for. There is no drive to join a group to protest on a particular topic or show your fashion statement or political views in person when you can now simply create a video, upload it and wait for the likes and comments.

That subcultures still exist, well yes, they do, but not as youth movements and are mostly occupied by those who can’t or don’t want to let them go. They have become whole families attending punk festivals, their new recruits receiving dress and style guidance from their parents. It’s not the same at all, not a youth culture more like an inheritance! The concept of culture groups seems to have now mutated into new categories such as GenX & Y and the baby boomers, segregated by birth date rather than fashion, musical taste or political beliefs. Will these be the new subcultures? The truth is that people love to be part of one group or another. Distinguishing themselves from the rest of the world. Perhaps as society becomes even more gender neutral, music with also become genre neutral. If you normally listen to Ska, why shouldn’t you be listening to a Rock track you like. If a girl normally wears long skirts, why shouldn’t she on occasion wear minis? These are the constraints of being part of a subculture, there is very little room for self-expression. An example of early genre fluidity was David Bowie who moved seamlessly between genres from Glam Rock to Electronic and anything in between and his fans followed, irrespective of the switch. At the time they weren’t necessarily part of a subculture just Bowie fans.

Will genre ever disappear? I don’t believe it will as it is a fact that intrinsically woven into human nature is to be a member of a pack. Although as young people stream and scroll through their feeds, interacting simply with a like, the purpose of subculture fades further and further away. This picture of a youth culture is a far cry from the punk and mod gatherings of the 70s and 80s.

Genre will continue but leaving the subcultures of the past far behind them, only to be revived by the occasional annual festival. Perhaps as technology moves rapidly through the 21st century we will see even less genres and sub-genres and eventually go back to an era of less is more!