2. History of subcultures:

To be able to understand the youth culture in Manchester today I think it is important to understand some of the history behind it all. I think it is important to know how it all started and where we stand now. I will here try to make a chronological description of the most important events and to give a short background to the most wellknown subcultures of the time.

At the beginning of the 20th century leisure and leisure activities were strictly limited to those who could afford membership fees. Poverty had a profound impact upon working class life throughout the beginning of this century. The need to make ends meet dominated the domestic lives of many working-class families. Unemployment was a serious problem at this time, both for skilled and unskilled workers. After 1918 the conditions for the working-class improved drastically. Raising real wages, a narrowing of the gap between the wage rates for skilled and unskilled manual workers, the extension of state welfare and a decline in family size changed the material conditions for the working-class. The increased number of people going to the cinema and the number of wireless gramophones owned by working-class people shows that life was becoming easier for the workers.("Leisure, Gender and Poverty. Working Class in Salford and Manchester. 1900-1939", Andrew Davies, Open University Press, 1992. p.32) Never the less almost one third of the working population of Manchester were living in or on the margin of poverty during the 1930s. Despite the poverty money for entertainment was found in the working-class districts of the city, supporting a network of leisure facilities centered upon pubs, cinemas and bookmakers.
Traditional leisure was male-dominated. It was central to the formation of the male identity. Pub life was especially important to men since they established their relations with friends and relatives through drinking. Men without work were left with no money for leisure at all. This undermined the collective life of these working-class men. The only way for them to come to terms with this problem would be to keep some of their unemployment allowances to themselves, even though it would mean that they ran the risk of leaving their families in very severe domestic poverty. ("Leisure, Gender and Poverty. Working Class in Salford and Manchester. 1900-1939", Andrew Davies, Open University Press, 1992. p.33)

Women were much less likely to indulge in leisure activities, even though the did go to cinemas, music halls and less frequently pubs. The family was a woman’s first responsibility, and the running of the home rested entirely upon her. Prior to marriage young women enjoyed much greater freedom and financial independence.

The period between starting work and getting married was one of the most prosperous stages in the lives of working-class people. Young people earned a bit of money, but they were not burdened with the costs of running a home. As a consequence of this financial independence leisure was widely associated with youth throughout the beginning of the twentieth century. Even among youths the world of commercialized entertainment was restricted to those with sufficient funds.("Leisure, Gender and Poverty. Working Class in Salford and Manchester. 1900-1939", Andrew Davies, Open University Press, 1992. p.76)

Popular culture and youth culture as we know them emerged in England after World War II. After the war English industry was in desperate need of labour and this made it possible for the young in England to, for the first time, make their own money and to spend it on whatever they wanted. A new group of consumers was born.
Out of this developed the first youth culture in the 1950s. A culture born on the streets as the result of the disapproval of the mainstream culture of the time. The followers of this subculture soon got the name Teddy boys. Appearances became more important than ever before. The clothes people wore and the music they listened to all indicated which particular subculture they belonged to.
The Teddy boys were highly influenced by the films they went to see, trying to copy the looks of their favorite stars. Since almost all film were produced in Hollywood the influence was American. This American streamlining was seen as a threat to many of the older generation British. The critics thought it shocking that these youths spent all their money on expensive clothes, pop-records, scooters, drugs and clubs.("Popular Culture - The Metropolitan Experience", Iain Chambers, Routledge, 1986 p.5)

In 1964 a new subculture appears in London; the Mods. The mods subculture proceeded to demonstrate how the objects and contexts of commercial popular culture- clothes, records, dance, transport and drugs- could be transformed and modeled by the particular realities of this time and this place.("Popular Culture - The Metropolitan Experience", Iain Chambers, Routledge, 1986.p6-7)
The Italian scooter became one of the most famous mod icons.
The Mods were young middle- and working-class men who had made a bit of money and wanted it to show. They socialized in groups and if you were not a Mod you were not welcome. The Mod culture spread all over the country, but it was in the big cities that it could best be seen.

In 1976 yet another subculture emerged- Punk. Punk is associated with violence, pins and bad behavior. Punk was closely related to working-class youths. It was their way of showing their disapproval of the current system. Young misunderstood British who rebelled against everything and everyone. The use of drugs has been an important part of the punk era. As John Robb so accurately put it " Everybody did it, nobody cared".(" The Stone Roses -and the Resurrection of British Pop", John Robb. International Music Press, 1997. p.44) But punk has also been a big source of inspiration for the bands that emerged after the punk era was over. The famous Manchester band the Stone Roses once said that without the punk bands they would never have got together to play at all. The impact on the youth culture of the time was enormous. (" The Stone Roses -and the Resurrection of British Pop", John Robb. International Music Press, 1997.p 56)
The most famous punk bands of the time were the Sex Pistols and the Clash. Young people everywhere wanted to copy the styles of Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten, the front figures of the bands. These legends live on through their music today.

After the punk the subcultures slowly died away. You no longer needed a subculture to show which social class you belonged to, since the social classes were becoming more fluid. Music was becoming more accessible and the music industry was booming. The old form of subcultures were not important any more, instead different music genres became the issue. Even in the nineties today you find that with the appearance of a new music genre you also get a new type of "fashion" to go along with it. A good example of this is the "Grunge" with their big pants and "worn out" look as seen in the pivture below at a "Biohazard" consert in Umeå.
People still find themselves through music. Music is still as important as ever before. The only difference is probably that today you don't have to choose one type of music to listen to, you can like them all.

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