Radio & Popular Music - Week 2 Response

In this week’s lecture we discussed the concept of moral panic and how this manifests in mass media. The set reading by Thornton outlines how subcultures develop and function, and the role the media plays in this process. Thornton exemplifies this with rave culture, a contemporary instance of moral panic in 1994. My complimentary reading ‘Commercialization of Rap Music Youth Subculture’ by Blair further contextualises Thornton’s reading. The text explores how the underground subculture of rap was adapted and exploited for a mainstream audience, presenting it as a destructive process.

Thornton portrays the underground scene as the adversary of mass media. Mass media coverage, including television, is unwelcome as it means the subculture will enter the mainstream. Blair outlines the disadvantages of this in a rap music context- ‘the mass-culture industries are presenting rap in ways that they expect to be more acceptable to mainstream audiences’ (Blair 1993: 31). Furthermore she argues that this has an adverse effect on its representation as ‘mass media advertisers…do not always have a thorough understanding of the subculture’ (Blair 1993: 21), and therefore manipulate them so that they are less radical and therefore appealing to the mass market.

Thornton also introduces the concept of subcultural capital, which works as currency within subcultures. For instance, in club culture, attaining white-label records holds the highest subcultural capital as they are rare, non-commercialised in appearance and follow the subculture’s convention of non-live music. Thornton refers to subcultural capital as ‘all about position, context and timing’ (Thornton 1994: 179), as it decreases in value as the underground changes.

It is commonly thought that subcultures remain autonomous and disconnected from mass media until periods of moral panic, or when spearheads of these subcultures ‘sell out’ to mainstream media. Thornton actively rejects that division, insisting ‘micro, niche and mass media are crucial to the assembly, demarcation and development of subcultures’ (Thornton 1994: 188). I agree that abhorrence to mass media and relishing moral panic can create a sense of community among subcultures. Periods of moral panic are important as they mark a shift of people from mainstream to underground, thus forming more subcultures. However, Blair would disagree, as she states that commercialisation of subcultures leads to a ‘decline of cultural traditions and community’ (Blair 1993: 24).

Linking to both readings, I could carry out an ethnographic study by interviewing members of an underground subculture. I would gauge their reaction to a once-underground artist moving into the mainstream and whether they feel the customs and meanings of the original subculture have been de-radicalised to make them marketable.

Bibliography

Thornton, S. (1994). 'Moral Panic, The Media & British Rave Culture'. In: Andrew Ross & Tricia Rose (ed), Microphone Fiends, Youth Music & Youth Culture. 1st ed. London: Routledge. pp.(176-192).

Blair, M.E. (1993). "Commercialization of the Rap Music Subculture", In: Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 21.