Literature Review

In the introduction to his book, Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure, and the Politics of Rock'n'Roll, Simon Frith states that "the sociology of rock [music] is inseparable from the sociology of youth" (1981, p. 9). Assuming this statement to be true, the purpose of this section is to survey the literature pertinent to rock music and youth, specifically alternative rock. To accomplish this, I will discuss the works of authors who examine the relationship between rock and youth, move on to the role of music in communication, and conclude by focusing on articles specifically about alternative rock culture. Frith (1981), Weinstein (1994a, and 1994b), and Dotter (1994) look at the relationship between rock music and youth. Lewis (1987) and Lull (1987a) discuss how music is used as a form of communication. Kruse (1993), Epstein and Epstein (1994), Mohan and Malone (1994), and Santiago-Lucerna (1995) examine alternative rock culture. These authors help develop the argument that rock is a form of communication that youths use to create a culture distinct from mainstream culture, and that alternative music is the most recent form of rock music to do this.

Rock and Youth

A large body of literature focuses on youth culture and its relationship with rock music. Frith (1981), Weinstein (1994a, 1994b), and Dotter (1994) argue that youth use rock to aid in constructing a culture that is distinct from mainstream culture. Frith examines the relationship between the rock industry and its youth listeners. Weinstein argues that rock music has a special relationship to the opportunities and imperatives that youths must deal with in contemporary culture. She also examines how rock music aided in the process of youthfulness losing its attachment to a biological age group. Dotter examines the historical connection between rock and deviance. A discussion of these topics is necessary in attempting to understand the role of rock music in the lives of youths.

Academicians who study rock consider Simon Frith to be one of the most prominent researchers to study rock music. His book, Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure, and the Politics of Rock'n'Roll, is considered the first authoritative sociological discussion of rock music. Frith was among the sociologists who worked at the Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham in England. The CCCS published large amounts of research on youth subcultures during the 1970s and 1980s. In his book, Frith discusses the cultural relevance of rock as compared to its status as a product for consumption. He also presents the results of a study as an explanation of how youths use music.

Frith argues that popular music has always been a product for mass consumption, becoming a resource for youth when they were able to develop expendable income and leisure time. Between 1900 and 1930, several shifts in youth institutions occurred: "the accelerating separation of home and work; the decline of parental influence over their children's marriage and job possibilities and consequent loss of authority...[and] the growing importance of the high school as the new hub of adolescent life" (p.185). From the 1920s on, youths' choices expanded, and they became consumers par excellence. The link between rock music and youth formed in the 1950s, even though other types of popular music exisited for youths of earlier generations. Rock emerged when the music industry was seeking to exploit a new market, and the youth audience was simultaneously seeking a medium that would allow it to express itself. The competition of these two groups over the use of the music left the artists who created this new form of music caught in the middle. In this position, they developed their own creative space and maintained a level of artistic freedom. The industry exploited the audience and the artists, but did not control the meaning of the music. Instead, the artists' creative freedom and the youth audience's desires resulted in a cultural struggle, wherein both groups fought for the control of cultural meaning and symbols. This struggle is important because it is the basis for the idea that rock music can be something more than a product for consumption. Participating in the production or consumption of rock is often more than a passive activity.