The year is 1964, the exact day, February 9th. Many people mark the day as the historic beginning of the so called "British Invasion." Some may even go as far to say the day changed the face of American popular music. It's significance is simple. The Fab Four, the Beatles, played on Ed Sullivan's show for the first time. Americans were exposed to the new form of blues influenced popular music that the Beatles exemplified. That very week, hundreds, even thousands, of teenagers all across the country picked up musical instruments and strummed, hit, or sang along to their favorite Beatles songs. It wasn't long until they started forming bands, trying desperately to replicate popular music's sound. And so, garage rock was born.
This paper orients itself in the realm of popular culture identity studies. Popular culture, as anything other than a capitalist exploitation of mass culture, was originally studied by scholars such as Raymond Williams and Stuart Hall. Williams argued that popular culture should be studied in light of the connections it creates between the individuals of a society. He called this the structure of feeling. The structure of feeling opened up completely new avenues for popular culture research. In its wake, academics studied popular culture both critically and analytically.
[...] Though battle of the bands were important to many of these bands, playing in teen clubs or high schools in their hometowns, competition took on a new level in the New York club scene. Venues such as Trude Heller's were very hard to book, and so there was a constant goal of beating out other bands to the best venues in town. The competition that occurred for club booking was different from battle of the bands because the deciding factor was the club owner. [...]
[...] The work examines the ways in which garage bands placed an emphasis on individualism representing post-modern values of angst and frustration. Paul Kauppila, in his study of San Jose garage bands, observed the community in relation to its psychedelic counterparts in San Francisco[v]. He explored the ways in which garage bands defined themselves against these other bands. She explores several layers of how garage bands did chose to define themselves, especially in comparison to psychedelic bands. My research continues the tradition of popular music in an exploration of the question of garage band identity. [...]
[...] The working class spirit and attitude of garage bands in New York divorced the garage bands from this tendency. Instead they embraced an almost folk-like sense of community. This can account for the level of interaction between performers, their audience, and everyone in the scene. Without this kind of contact, garage rockers would be unable to be so locally successful; the movement would have fallen apart in its early stages. Thus, the working class spirit of garage bands enabled them to conform to certain tendencies of subcultural values, most prominently the importance of dancing and a respect for one's peers. [...]
[...] Garage Rock's Authenticity Paul Kauppila, in his discussion of Garage Bands in San Jose, California does briefly address the question of their authenticity. His argument stems from the idea that folk and commercial music are not areas of black and white, but rather there exists a “continuum between authenticity and commerciality.”[xvi] Because garage rock occurred in the early stages of the development of what rock music would eventually become, it was not forced to conform to the structures of what would eventually become mass produced, mass marketed music. [...]
[...] In the case of Garage bands it had an extra layer to it. House bands were a sort of local affiliation, a way of connecting back to one's fan base. Fans would go to certain clubs because of their house band, or to show support for local performers. This only added to the close knit structure of garage rockers. The interaction between bands and their fans is essential for any subculture. In fact, without supportive fans, there would be no scene at all. [...]
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