Black Metal

http://www.norsksvartmetall.com

Awesome website... Check it.

Rave Subculture

The rave subculture is just one big party. We showed examples in class like the Electric Daisy Carnival. Are there big festivals for other subcultures? Do any other subcultures mix both childish aspects (toys, lights, etc.) and adult aspects (drugs, etc.)? Why is "childish" a common theme through many subcultures?

Please answer any or all questions. If you have any music you want to share, feel free to do so.

Unicorn Kid- Dream Catcher

Trends and Subcultures

I know I may be jumping the gun but I figured I would post before I forgot my thoughts on the articles we had to read for tomorrow’s class. I was surprised that Anime, Pokémon, and Star Trek were all considered part of a subculture. I’ve always seen them as a trend for youth but nothing more. I’ve begun to see that there is a fine line between a trend and subculture. A trend can lead to a subculture and subculture can create trends but there is a difference. Overall the collection of articles we had to read introduced a new perspective on subcultures that exist but oftentimes people don’t realize it is considered a subculture. I began to also think about the individuals who join subcultures. Do you think in some cases people join a subculture without consciously knowing they are doing so? Or are you only considered part of a subculture when others identify you as being part of one?

Tuesday's discussion

Hey gang. I never made a blog post for Tuesday's discussion so please accept this belated post along with my sincerest apologies. I feel we had a pretty good discussion on Tuesday, and we touched on some interesting points regarding merchandizing in relation to sub cultures, along with a few new ideas on that age old question of what makes a sub culture a sub culture. I think we covered all the bases in terms of asian cute culture and emo, but we didn't get to fit raving into the discussion much so I thought I'd touch on that.

Do you agree with the article's idea that you have to be in the middle or upper class to really take part in the rave subculture? I admit that my experience in the area is somewhat limited but it never struck me that way. Its main reason is the cost of drugs, which rings false for me. 1: drugs aren't completely necessary to be a part of the sub culture (though I do recognize how tied to the culture drugs are) and 2: Is there any less drug use among people of lower class? Obviously people with more disposable income can more easily buy drugs for raves, but people that want drugs find a way to get drugs. There are thousands upon thousands of addicts out there who will testify to that. Not that I'm lumping ravers in with drug addicts, but you can't comment on the drug heavy raving without at least mentioning drug addiction.

Do you think the ailing economy has affected raving at all?

The article focuses heavily on raving being specific to a certain class, but as we may have touched on in class today, I think that goes for most sub cultures. Are there any subcultures that are completely classless? When something hits the mainstream, like hip-hop did, it was embraced by many different people of all kind so of different classes, but when it first started in its truest form, hip-hop was very poor inner-city centric. Most sub cultures seem to have started in one class before eventually branching out.

Heavy Metal All Over the World

In class today Peshe mentioned something, which I never go to expand on, but I find really cool which is the way the Heavy Metal has expanded across the globe. While a lot of subcultural phenomena have remained local to the US heavy metal has spread to Europe as well as South America, Japan, and even some places in the Middle East. In fact, Europe, not America, is often considered the birthplace of heavy metal since it is home to early metal bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and AC/DC. Then you have later British bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Motorhead who are considered gods in the metal world.

But enough about history. What I want to really highlight is what I've seen in tour DVDs and interviews about the bands describing their experiences touring South America. Whether it's Megadeth, Iron Maiden, or Black Sabbath, or any other hard rock or metal act these bands have some of the most devoted fans they've ever seen in places like Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela. Megadeth even has an entire DVD devoted to a show they played in Buenos Aires. We can also see international appeal for metal in places like Japan, where Anvil has an enormous following. Heavy metal is also incredibly popular in France and many bands have been featured on what most might consider "mainstream" television programming. Of course one cannot ignore the Wakken Festival. Every year, in Germany, thousands of fans of all styles of heavy metal gather for a multi-day festival of heavy metal music and culture where you might have Exodus, Cannibal Corpse and Children of Bodom playing on the same stage at different times (trust me those are 3 very different bands). Finally there is the famous story of Acrassicauda, an IRAQI heavy metal band which was discovered by an MTV documentary director and has since moved to the states, and is considered a huge success story among metal fans.

Perhaps the reason that I am drawn to heavy metal, and that it continues to survive is that it has such appeal on this global scale.

Something to think about...

Today we talked about race in subcultures. Many people seemed to think that race was not a dominant factor for subcultures, and that subcultures having dominant races just naturally developed that way, but did not mean the subcultures themselves were racist. But the article about afro-punk gave me a different perspective on the issue. While blacks were allowed to participate in the punk subculture, their experience was not the same as their white peers. This makes me think that race must play more of a role in subcultures than we concluded today in class. Anyone else have similar thoughts? Different ones?

What we didn't get to in class today...

Hey guys, I thought our discussion in class today was really good and thought provoking. The article talked about different marketing techniques and how (or if) they are affective. There were two questions that we were planning on discussing that we never got around to that I was actually kind of curious about, and both of them pertain to the time the chapter was written, in the '90s. Is this article outdated? Here's a question that we were going to cover in class:


The article considered the brand 'Tommy Hilfiger' to be "ghetto" clothing. Is 'Tommy Hilfiger' still looked at the same way today? Does this date the article, and if so does it make it irrelevant?


Also:


Was what was 'cool' in the '90s still considered to be 'cool' today? Who decides whats 'cool' today?

Thoughts, opinions? These are definitely things that I was still unsure about after reading the article...

The Internet, the new Home of the Subculture

In class we talked a lot about how cool hunters and ad agencies have acquired and attempted to sell pretty much any subculture or trend that has surfaced since the beginning of the 90s. Whether it was Hip-hop, Rage Rock, Graffiti, break dancing, Punk, Exclusivity (as Lindsey points out), and a host of other cultures. We have also talked about how these ad agencies appear to create subcultures themselves or create cultural trends which people in turn absorb, change, and then feed back to them to influence new advertising and marketing: the Feedback Loop. However, we discussed a way that people can find new subcultural groups outside of this circular influence: the internet. With tools at our disposal like Pandora, Last.fm, and Grooveshark we can discover all kinds of new bands just by going to these websites. The most influential web tool I have discovered, however, is Stumbleupon. For those of you who do not know what Stumbleupon is I definitely reccomend you go to Stumbleupon, set up an account, and start stumbling! I have found everything from interesting subcultures like steam-punk, funny "demotivational posters", websites about psychological disorders, some of the web-comics I read (which are like a subculture by themselves), and of course anything else you can think of.

I encourage everyone to go stumble as soon as they find some free time and then share something cool or funny they found. It's a great experience and an easy (perhaps too easy) way to waste time and have fun.

Facebook/The Social Network

Hey Guys, Check out this trailer for the movie The Social Network: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB95KLmpLR4,
then share your thoughts on facebook. Why is it so popular and so addictive? This is my idea, because it taps into the greatest marketable element around: exclusivity. The ability to be a part of something that others are exlcuded from. It's the basis of clubs, groups, cliques, societys, etc. According to the movie, Mark Zuckerburg invented facebook as a way to get the attention of the Finals Clubs, elite and extremely exclusive clubs on Harvard campus. It's ironic because (*spoiler alert for the movie) in the end he sells his best friend out of the facebook company and his friend pinpoints the reason why: when they were in college together, his friend was chosen to be in a Finals club and Mark was not. Exclusivity creates the most potent jealousy in people. But that's just how facebook began and how it first draws you in. Once you're in, what do you care most about? Not exclusivity at all. At that point it becomes all about attention. A status update. What does that even mean? It means informing everyone about something you are thinking, feeling, doing, seeing, smelling, tasting, without them having to be present to ask that question, "how are you?". Now, you want everyone to know what you are doing all the time. You "friend" people you hardly speak to in real life. The better to have more people with whom to share you interests, opinions, etc. Of course everyone wants to know things about you, right? Hopefully? I'll finish up here by saying that I really enjoy facebook. I find commenting on peoples walls, status', finding out how they're doing, viewing pictures, all very fun and interesting. However, I found it amazing how exactly it epitomizes a youth culture and everything about it that draws people in. It takes the entire idea of a youth culture and puts it on the internet with easy access to everyone. Which leads to the question, if facebook was at first intended only for Harvard, why did it become something for the masses :) It'd be interesting to see what you all think. Was its exclusivity just too marketable for its own good?

How much Hipster can you pack into a Jazz?

I came across this video and thought that it was funny and interesting. It's a car commercial from Australia (unfortunately, we won't be able to buy a Jazz regardless of the effectiveness of this commercial). It seems to be simultaneously making fun of the hipster culture but also possibly marketing a car to it. I'm not sure that I have even wrapped my head entirely around who the commercial's target audience is and if it would be an effective commercial. I think they are trying to showcase the car's roominess and storage abilities but I can't ignore the obvious way that they are making fun of a subculture, especially a subculture that seems so reliant on style and material possessions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5dIzY7yvRA

Any thoughts?

Hip Hop A Learning Tool

Hip Hop is an eye opening tool that allows one to study American culture in particular. One of the major themes in American history and today is race. The role of race is deeply rooted in the Hip Hop culture. Hip Hop cutlure was made in a direct contrast to the many issues African Americans had. They spoke about poverty and oppression.
Today Hip Hop still deals with many of the issues that African Americans and otheres from the West African diaspora dealth with. One being the complexities of complexion. For example Rap artist are often judged for only featuring only light skinned women in there videos. This is an issue that has been faced around the world, but has greatly effected African American people in America.
Another issue that rap music raises is the role of women in their music. In the videos they are degraded and objectified. This is in direct contrast to the women's role in the African American community. 70 percent of African American children are born into wedlock and the majority live in women led homes. Women obtain more degrees and tend to make more money in this community. One would suggest that this portrayl of women is a refejection of what they deem to be inferiority.
Rap music often demostrates some of the issues that have been created over time in an oppress community

A Possible Explanation For Violence In The Rap Community

I've been thinking about why there is such an emphasis on maintaining a tough or hard image in rap music as discussed in Thursday's class and I think this excerpt from Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech, which was given here in Philly in 2008, provides a bit of an explanation.

"Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us."

When former slaves entered the workforce very few had any education that would land them anything more than a poor paying manual labor job similar to the work they did as slaves. So, the African American community has been playing catch up with the rest of the nation since the abolition of slavery. I think because African American males were unable to assert their masculinity economically, as is the norm in America, they began asserting it through a more feasible means of physical power. Do you agree? Do you think this in any way justifies the violence?

"She even pay her taxes..."

Hey guys,
So, today I was listening to the radio at work and it came to my attention that in a lot of popular "mainstream" hip hop/rap music coming out now, there is alot of glorification of independant women who work and make money and pay their bills and generally have their lives together. Needless to say, I was wondering what you guys thought about this new trend. Is this just the more mainstream influence trying to turn the negative stereotype around? Or, in the rap culture, is there a genuine turning of the tides away from "bitches and hoes" and towards successful, accomplished and respectable women?

A Lesson in Violence

"I love to stab my victims until they're dead /

a knife to the throat, a smashing blow to the head /

I'm judge and jury / my sentence has just been passed/

step into the circle of hell / if you think you can last

fight for what you believe to be right /

crushing with all your might /

I laugh at their pitiful cries /

they run from the fire in my eyes

nothing can save them now /

you've learned a lesson in violence /

get on your knees and bow /

or learn a lesson in violence" - Exodus

I was thinking after class ended today about our discussion of violence in the lyrics of other music besides rap and I brought up an example of a song "Davidian" by Machinehead, that had violent references but they were not directed so much at a person in particular. After we made the comparison that rap was so much more personal about violence I realized that heavy metal can get equally personal. I even gave the example of "Aesthetics of Hate" by the same band, which has a much more personal message. Or take the lyrics above, from Exodus' "A Lesson in Violence", which are extremely violent and direct. If we were to examine punk for directed examples of violence one only need listen to "Beat on the Brat" (Ramones) or "Kill the Poor" (Dead Kennedys). What I noticed, however, is that there is more consistent concern over the violence of the lyrics in Rap music, while heavy metal and punk are just 'those angry genres that always act like that'. So why is this the case? I cannot honestly say I know. More recently, Megadeth just released a song "Headcrusher" which waas about exactly what the title says. They did not catch any criticism. I bet a rapper would have. What do you think?

Different view

I was thinking about what Peshe said about coming from the feminist point of view on dressing a certain way. I believe that it can definitely apply. Dressing that way gives a woman an amount of power over fellow men and women. It can certainly lead to actions on the other side of the spectrum (molestation, rape, etc.), however it can also yield a certain hold on the people surrounding them.

Thoughts?

Hip Hop Classics.

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, there was a golden age, when ambrosia rained down from the skies and hip hop was in its prime, that time was the 90's, specifically 1994 and many hip hop albums that were released that would blow minds and drop jaws.

East Coast

Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die(1994)

Nas- Illmatic(1994)

A Tribe Called Quest- Midnight Marauders(1993)

Wu Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang(36 Chambers) (1993)

Method Man- Tical(1994)

GZA- Liquid Swords(1995)

Jay Z- Reasonable Doubt(1996)

KRS-One- Return Of The Boom Bap(1993)

West Coast

Snoop Dog- Doggy Style(1993)

Dr. Dre- The Chronic(1992)

N.W.A- Straight Outta Compton(1988).

Ice Cube- Amerikkka's Most Wanted(1990)

Ice T- O.G. Original Gangster(1991)

All of these albums are excellent my favorites are Ready to Die, Illmatic, and Midnight Marauders. This list about sums up the golden age, now it just seems as though it was all a dream.

YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY COMMENT ON THIS ONE!

Hello! Since we ran out of time, Kim and I thought we would post one of our last questions that we didn't touch on in case anyone wanted to discuss it. If you didn't speak in class, now's your chance to let us know what you think!

Many rappers talk about their experiences of alienation, unemployment, police harassment, and social and economic isolation through their language, style, and attitude. Does this still apply to rappers today? What purpose do they serve in representing themselves and their communities? What hardships do they face?

The Grey Album

After talking about it in class today and listening to it after class, I'm realizing how much everybody needs to listen to this album. So, here's a download link for everyone. Since the album was yanked almost as soon as it was released (longer history here), and the only way to get it is through "illicit" means, I figure I'm just providing a shorter route to attaining it, not breaking the law. Enjoy.

files.me.com/jerschobel/hzu5dk

Hip Hop, Graffiti, Art: Freedom

We have had a lot of discussion about what this subculture is all about and how graffiti relates to it, and what art is. We have talked over and over about the pro's and cons of the subculture and how graffiti can be detrimental as well as positive. The truth is Hip Hop, Graffiti, Art are all about freedom of expression, we live in a world where your limited in freedom by your job, your background, your race, your socioeconomic status, and these are all ways out. In the end thats what its all about freedom.