The tribes of youth.

[steve25805 126,021]

Something that I don't seem to see happening much anymore - or if it does I am too old and out of touch to notice - is the way youth seemed to form different tribes based largely around their musical tastes and associated fashion statements.

In my youth - from a UK perspective - in the late 70s and early 80s we had skinheads with most of their hair shaven off and who wore leathers and doc martin boots, whose musical tastes were epitomised by the group Bad Manners and similar, and were often associeted with the far right.

We also had punks or punk rockers, who liked to wear leathers and casual wear with safety pins affixed all over the place, with outlandish hair styles like the mohican cut. Their hair would also be dyed  vivid green, red or a variety of colours. Their tastes in music was of course the various punk rock bands, epitomised by the Sex Pistols. They rebelled against any form of authority as a matter of course and delighted in outraging societal norms and conventions but were in reality mostly harmless.

There were also New Romantics who were into a lot of the early synthesiser sounds, and frequently dressed in garish and colourful clothes. Even the males tended to wear make up, and at a time still rife with homophobia, gay men and women tended quite often to identify with these.

Then there were the smoothies, who basically prided themselves on looking flash with the latest fashions and best styles, whose main haunts were nightclubs where they'd seek out sexual liasons. Politically they tended much more than the other tribes to identify with the 80s political and social zeitgeist. Musically they would be into stuff like Sade or Spandau Ballet.

Is there any equivalent of this today?

Edited March 21, 2022 by steve25805

[Naughts 325]

I am too young to have experienced the 80s but I think music has become less of an identity characteristic over the time.
But it is still there. I feel like the music genres have become more and they are not as distinct.

I will list a few stereotypes that I have come across (They are only my observation in the town I live in so please dont hate me if you feel misrepresented):

Metalheads: I listen to a lot of metal so I also know a lot of metalheads. And metal has a lot of subgenres but I would say that the typical metalhead looks tough but is a really nice person. They are often very introverted but also intelligent and thoughtful. Also I feel like they are often politically left. On metal festivals you have the lowest rates of rape and violence than at festivals of other music genres.

Gangster-Rap: I think it is not as big as it was about 10-20 years before but I know that people used to identify with rap music a lot, to a point where people died because they supported the wrong artist.

Raggae/Chill electronic music: I know some people (who smoke a lot of pot) and listen to this music. They are often frustrated on life and try to forget it all. (I feel like it has replaced some of the punk scene of the nineties)

Also you still have the "popular kids" who listen to whatever is in the charts and played in the clubs where they party and try to get layed.

Here in Germany you have the genre "Schlager" (Helene Fischer is a popular artist if you want to look it up). I feel like it is comparable to American country music. The lyrics are often about nothing or a little bit of heartache. And honestly a lot of it sounds the same. You can dance discofox to most of it (the popular couple dance around here) and know what you expect. Most of the listeners are older than 40 but the ones who are younger are often really conservative (politically speaking).

I dont know a lot about it but I know that there are a lot of kpop fans around the world who identify with that a lot.

Does anybody else have opinions on that? I would be really interested in what others think about that because writing this I noticed how strong my opinions about this are and I would like a second view on this 😄 Hope I didn´t offend anyone!

 

[gldenwetgoose 21,487]

In my university days I was acutely aware of some of the tribes - I wasn't exactly a metal head, but was a definite rock fan with other like minded friends.  On the Friday nights in the students union there was the rock bar and then there was the 'twendy' bar full of clean cut Bros lookalikes (remember the band Bros?  Google them or ask your parents).

I guess in a way we both wore our 'uniforms' - be it the black tatty rock T shirt, jeans, studded belts and the likes - or their identical striped T shirts and jeans with turn ups.   I'm sure one tribe were a lot more relaxed than the others.

A few years later on and I've found myself coming into contact with more rockers, biker meets, rock nights and the like - and to be absolutely honest have found the leather clad, bearded patch wearers to be a lot more open, accepting and less hypocritical than many of my experiences of church goers.

[steve25805 126,021]

On 4/21/2022 at 9:31 PM, Naughts said:

I am too young to have experienced the 80s but I think music has become less of an identity characteristic over the time.
But it is still there. I feel like the music genres have become more and they are not as distinct.

I will list a few stereotypes that I have come across (They are only my observation in the town I live in so please dont hate me if you feel misrepresented):

Metalheads: I listen to a lot of metal so I also know a lot of metalheads. And metal has a lot of subgenres but I would say that the typical metalhead looks tough but is a really nice person. They are often very introverted but also intelligent and thoughtful. Also I feel like they are often politically left. On metal festivals you have the lowest rates of rape and violence than at festivals of other music genres.

Gangster-Rap: I think it is not as big as it was about 10-20 years before but I know that people used to identify with rap music a lot, to a point where people died because they supported the wrong artist.

Raggae/Chill electronic music: I know some people (who smoke a lot of pot) and listen to this music. They are often frustrated on life and try to forget it all. (I feel like it has replaced some of the punk scene of the nineties)

Also you still have the "popular kids" who listen to whatever is in the charts and played in the clubs where they party and try to get layed.

Here in Germany you have the genre "Schlager" (Helene Fischer is a popular artist if you want to look it up). I feel like it is comparable to American country music. The lyrics are often about nothing or a little bit of heartache. And honestly a lot of it sounds the same. You can dance discofox to most of it (the popular couple dance around here) and know what you expect. Most of the listeners are older than 40 but the ones who are younger are often really conservative (politically speaking).

I dont know a lot about it but I know that there are a lot of kpop fans around the world who identify with that a lot.

Does anybody else have opinions on that? I would be really interested in what others think about that because writing this I noticed how strong my opinions about this are and I would like a second view on this 😄 Hope I didn´t offend anyone!

 

Of course you haven't offended anyone.

And all you have said is interesting. And although you appear to be describing a scene at least a decade later than the late70s/early 80s I grew up in, the differentiation into identifiable sub-groups based upon musical taste and associated styles is recognisable to me.

I know a lot of the early synthesiser pop that sprang up in my day was strongly influenced by a group from your country whom you must have heard of called Kraftwerk. They were very much pioneers of the genre. They also influenced some of the New Romantics of the early 80s.

Edited June 15, 2022 by steve25805

[steve25805 126,021]

On 4/22/2022 at 5:45 PM, gldenwetgoose said:

On the Friday nights in the students union there was the rock bar and then there was the 'twendy' bar full of clean cut Bros lookalikes (remember the band Bros? 

Oh I remember Bros.

"When will I, will I be famous?"

So typical of the downward slide of the latter 80s re British chart music towards untalented manufactured rubbish. Stock, Aitken, and Waterman were the epitome of the age, though even Bros were too original and unformulaic for them.