Dick Hebdidge 'Subculture: The Meaning of Style'

Key Facts about 'Subculture: The Meaning of Style':


In 1979, Dick Hebdidge wrote a book that was focusing on the British Youth culture and the different groups that were emerging after World War Two.
As he evidenced by seeing how the youth culture's taste in music was seen to be a symbol of resistance and rebellion, as shown by the style and its association with music.
Hebdidge analysis how each specific sub-cultures (for examples: punk, rockers and skinheads) evolved, furthermore he looked at the shared aspects common to that evolution in socio-economic background, ethnicity and class regional factors.


He identified that there are two types of culture which are:

• Sub-culture (under)

This type has its own values and beliefs but is often able to exist within mainstream culture.
For example: the genre 'Rock' as there is alternative rock, pump rock and rock and roll (to name a few see the following source to see all the different types of rock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rock_genres#R).

• Counter-culture (against)

This type is fundamentally as it goes against the mainstream culture and if it becomes large enough it can end up reshaping the mainstream.


How will I apply this theory to my music video?


For my music video 'Time and Tragedy', this song belongs to Pump Rock that is a sub-culture underneath the main genre of 'Rock'. This means that my music video will have its own values and beliefs as there will be footage of 'rock-like' images such as close-ups of music equipment and the singer. Although this will share similar features that belongs to the main genre but there will be parts of the music video that doesn't quite belong to 'Rock'.


Furthermore, the music video will support Hebdidge's Subculture theory, as it will show what taste does the youth culture listen to and like. This will be evidenced by the footage in the music video as shown by the costume of the singer, in how they are dressed and the other people in the music video in how they are dressed and their style.
In additionally, all the footage in the music video of 'Time and Tragedy' will act as evidence for the theory as it can be an example of one of his points 'symbol of resistance'.