THE CULTURE
This page is meant to provide you with a brief overview of some of the subcultures that have inspired music festivals. Particular festivals attach a theme to their festival based on some of these cultures. Read on!
HIPPIES
The hippie subculture was a active youth movement that started in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world. The word hippie comes from Hipster and was used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district. These people inherited the Countercultural value of the Beat Generation, created their own communities, listened to psychedelic rock, pioneer of the sexual revolution, and used drugs such as cannabis and LSD to feel free excitement. The hippies wore jean, bell-bottom pants, vest, tie-dyed garments, dashikis, peasant blouses or long, full skirts.
INDIE
‘Indie’ is a modern day alternative sub culture defined by its associated music, fashion, behaviour and beliefs. It is a culture that emerged in the 1980’s as a by word for attitude and anti-commercialism with a territory of its own type of music and film. It prided itself in protesting against the mainstream.
Indie music rose to new heights with bands such as The Smiths, Sonic Youth and The Pixies, who were successful due to their new indie fan following. They were not signed to major record labels, instead opting for the independent music label, usually managing their whole careers. The original indie kids bought clothes from second hand shops, wore cardigans, scarves, waistcoats, jeans, aviator glasses and devoted themselves to independent music labels. They had a strong sense of being outside the music business machine and ultimately the mainstream.
Indie music rose to new heights with bands such as The Smiths, Sonic Youth and The Pixies, who were successful due to their new indie fan following. They were not signed to major record labels, instead opting for the independent music label, usually managing their whole careers. The original indie kids bought clothes from second hand shops, wore cardigans, scarves, waistcoats, jeans, aviator glasses and devoted themselves to independent music labels. They had a strong sense of being outside the music business machine and ultimately the mainstream.
PUNK ROCK
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. Punk bands created fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces aDIY ethic; many bands self-produced recordings and distributed them through informal channels. By late 1976, bands such as the Ramones, in New York City, and the Sex Pistols and The Clash, in London, were recognized as the vanguard of a new musical movement. The following year saw punk rock spreading around the world, and it became a major cultural phenomenon in the United Kingdom. For the most part, punk took root in local scenes that tended to reject association with the mainstream. An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment and a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies.
RAVE
Raves in the 1980s, was a new, big, hip culture, but nowadays raves are known as a subculture. Raves “are the focus of rave culture, a youth-oriented subculture that blends music, art and social ideals (e.g., peace, love, unity, respect, tolerance, happiness) together” (Scotts). A rave is “a free party that is typically an all-night dance event where DJs and other performers play electronic dance music and rave music. People usually attend raves to dance, socialize, get high and generally have fun in an uninhibited way with other likeminded people. At it's basic, rave parties are loud, flashy with lots of bright lights, and it is an all night event.