Ask anyone British in their 50s, 60s and 70s to look back at their youth and they will doubtless name a plethora of different subcultures. There were the Mods (Modernists) with their tailor-made suits, motor scooters and R & B music, and their great rivals, the Rockers, a biker subculture, who wore leather jackets and listened to Rock and Roll. Hippies, who emerged in America and spread across the world, represented a more peaceful group. With their long hair and garish clothes, they opposed all forms of violence and the 'establishment', as they called mainstream society. Jumping forward to the 1970s, we see the rise of Punk. Instantly recognisable with their drainpipe jeans, kilts, safety pins and Mahicans, they perhaps more than any of their predecessors embodied youth rebellion, sometimes literally spitting in the face of the world in which they had grown up.
These days, the average 15-year-old has probably never seen a Mod or Rocker in the flesh. These youth subcultures from that era have all but disappeared, existing only in films and television for today's young people. Sadly, today's youth, at first glance at least, look more homogenous, seemingly having lost their tribalism. So what happened? Where have all the colourful youth subcultures gone? It was in the 1990s that many older commentators started to point out that the youth movements had lost their fire and had become conventional. The colourful 'tribes' of the previous years were disappearing and the young appeared to have stopped rebelling.
To explain this phenomenon we need to look at the reasons why conditions were ripe for the emergence of youth cultures in the mid-twentieth century. It was the post-war period that saw the rise of distinctive subcultures. Elvis Presley and the advent of Rock and Roll generated the Teddy Boys in the UK, who in turn influenced both Mods and Rockers. It was a time when conventional social values were being questioned and after the austerity of the war, young people found themselves with more freedom. Fuelled by American culture, Britain's youth suddenly had something to say and a desire to express themselves.
These days American culture is still a dominant force, but in many ways the world is so different. Rises in levels of prosperity have robbed many young people of something to rebel against, and the development of the internet and its widespread availability from the 1990s onwards has fundamentally changed how young people interact with the world. Things change so quickly that young people no longer commit to one look and style of music in order to find their identity. Influences from all over the world not just America mean that young people have a vast array of choices in terms of fashion, music and even attitudes and beliefs. Although the younger generation of today has been called 'identity-less', that is not actually the case. The identities they create are more individual and subtle, with a wider range of influences. Teenagers today spend a lot of their time developing their own sense of self through social media. They are free to slip in and out of identities and scenes, which is more liberating than being tied to a specific tribe.
Common to all those subcultures of the mid- to late twentieth century was a desire to rebel: against parents, government policies and established society. Marking yourself out as different and separate through your clothes and hairstyle is something that does not chime so resonantly with the globalised generation born in the nineties and naughties. Today's young people are more tolerant and international thanks to globalisation, but that does not mean they are apathetic. In fact, it can be argued that they are more likely to contribute towards actual change, which again has been made possible by the internet. They set up and sign online petitions and share information about demonstrations on social media. They take part in charity events such as sponsored runs or shave their heads to raise awareness as well as money. The global phenomenon which was the Ice Bucket Challenge*, for example, raised over $100 million for motor neurone disease and raised awareness of that terrible condition which affects, among others, world renowned physicist, Stephen Hawking.
There is one subculture that seems to have endured better than the others: the bikers. Characterised by their long hair, scruffy denim jeans, leather jackets and Harley Davidson motorbikes, the most marked feature of the group nowadays is that they are no longer young. At
biker rallies in the 2010s, the average age is probably around 50. What sets them apart is that they never grew out of the identity of their youth. Seeing them gathered together invokes a strong sense of nostalgia in those of us who remember the days of youth subcultures.
While it is sad in many ways to see the vibrant cultures of our youth consigned to the history books, it is, when examined closely, a development which is as positive as it is inevitable. Young people today are free to adopt aspects from a huge range of cultures and continually reinvent themselves. The symbolic rebellions of dress and hairstyle have been replaced by meaningful action which impacts on political and social decision-making at the highest levels. Rather than being without identity as a generation, today's youth are typically broad-minded and well informed, each individual having created their own unique style and set of beliefs, which they are free to change at any moment. But those of us who recall the heady days of the Mods and Rockers, the Punks and Teddy Boys, will always feel a slight regret at their passing.
* Ice Bucket Challenge - a charity action that involved filming yourself pouring ice cold water over your head in order to raise money for charities related to Motor Neurone Disease
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