Armed with a desire to change the world, young people took to song lyrics and innovative sounds to communicate their ideas on how the world and society should be shaped. As a result of the baby boom of the 1940s to the 1950s, over half of the population in the sixties was under 30 years old (“The Counterculture”). The youth was apparent all over the country, as the need to rebel against the conservative beliefs of adults ignited a willingness to challenge authority, increased social tolerance, changed attitudes about gender roles, and increased political interest, thereby creating the counterculture. As the decade progressed, tensions grew within American society that only seemed to attract more and more followers to the movement (Law). The American civil rights movement, for example, became a key element of counterculture and seemed to represent exactly what these young Americans stood for.
As Matthew C. Perry says “Western correctors had already scooped up much of Japan’s best art” and says that “even today here are more and better examples of eighteenth and nineteenth century Japanese art in Europe and America than in Japan”(p.221) People first couldn’t understand the Japanese art but everything changed after the expeditions. Thanks to the expeditions Japanese art started to reach many countries and they started to make commerce and develop markets especially in the United States. In the Centennial Japan’s full involvement amazed America. The Bazaar that took place made a big success by selling a lot of cultural art and goods America discovered new motifs thanks to Japanese art America embraced the Japanese art and idea as Matthew C. Perry says “Never before had a style or fashion been promoted so vigorously and never had admission to the select halls” of good taste “ been so unabashedly sold. Elite and popular art became aligned as never before or since” (p.235) So we can say that by looking to History we can see that Japan influenced the art and design of America.
After the trial, the anti-payola statute was passed under which payola became a misdemeanor, penalty by up to $10,000 in fines and one year in prison. Getting radio play would allow the songs to reach its expected audience and help launch the artist’s career. This practice also helped small and independent labels break the stronghold of the music industry by major labels. To better understand what was behind the Payola scandal in the 1950’s, let me discuss a little history about the radio industry. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) thrived on the sales of sheet music and recordings of Tin Pan Alley songs, the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the U.S. at the time, but the creation of radio in the 1940’s was geared toward recorded music and things started to change in the industry.
Ranging from the Vietnam War to the Civil Rights Movement, America’s youth were trapped in the midst of the chaos of the decade. These youth which were the children of the veterans who fought in WWII, the baby-boomer generation, had started going to college and started forming their own political ideologies. There was an influx of youths to different colleges during the 1960s which made many of them start to think in ways that would oppose their parents’ ideologies of the conservative 1950s. These new ways of thinking along with great numbers of supporters would allow for such change to occur during an era that was already experiencing struggle. This wave of youth among American society would also impact the culture in which these people were living in.
Throughout the relatively short existence of the United States, our country has changed drastically in order to become what it is today. Compared to much of the world, America is just a teenager, eager to find its place in the world. The US is still developing, and, much like a teenager, we apparently feel the need to express ourselves very publicly. Just as a teen may plaster their first car with politically charged bumper stickers in order to show off who they are, we plaster our houses, vehicles, and even sometimes our clothes with the flag to show who we are as Americans. Though our country seems to have much international influence, we have not existed nearly long enough to give up on patriotism yet.
‘Choose a subculture. Identify and explore its characteristics and discuss these in relation to specific impacts on audience behaviour or image’ The subculture I have chosen to explore is the 1950s movement in music which is known as rock n roll. Rock n roll changed music in such a way that it took the teenage life in to a whole different direction which led to a massive controversy with the dominant culture. The dominant culture was not happy with the way teenagers where dressing and shacking there hips to the new wave sound of rock n roll and mostly the way it made there future generation a lot more care free about there own futures. The main focus I'm going to get across is why did teenagers react in such a positive and strong way to rock n roll music.
Pop culture trends can make a person's life easier or harder, so it is a determining factor in everyday decision making. Pop culture is seen by watching television, listening to the radio, or reading a periodical (Petracca & Sorapure, 2007). Three major trends in American pop culture are reality shows, the IPhone, and Hip Hop music. Pop culture is everywhere (Petracca & Sorapure, 2007).
Owing to the reform and opening-up, our country nowadays has been influenced by western culture to a certain extent. American culture is one of the most influential because America exports its culture, especially popular culture, through a number of media. And American popular culture has especially deep influence on the teenagers. So most of us are familiar with or fond of American popular culture like music, TV, movies, dance, sports, fashion, cultural idols and so on. Some people may think that American pop culture lacks depth and wouldn’t be popular for long.
The 1920’s saw a shift in culture no other era had experienced thus far due to the growth and dominance of advertising. Technological inventions of this century, such as the radio, the billboard, and the magazine, brought ideas and information to people in new ways, impacting the entire social lifestyle of the time. Peoples live were suddenly filled with voices and signs telling them exactly what to buy and what they should. The happy-go-lucky and ‘nothing to lose’ persona encompassing the citizens of the time only fueled their decisions to go ahead and buy these offered products. Items were being offered that had never been on the market before such as refrigerators, telephone sets, cookers, the Model T by Henry Ford, and an endless amount of domestic hardware and commodities.
The Beatles were hugely influential in new music and their music could be said to have changed popular music forever. They also helped to lead the youth of the sixties in other categories such as consumerism. They had a powerful merchandising business and they also supported the fashion business through the way they dressed. The Beatles said that they were the ‘First to admit that they seemed to be the leaders’ showing that they realise that