1950
YOUTH
CULTURE
Objectives…
• Examine the various influences on the emergence of the
teenager in American society.
• Deconstruct the popular notion that American society
was at risk due to the behaviors of teenagers.
Activity
Songs of the 1950s:
“Yakety, Yak” –
“School Days” - “Almost Grown”
* While listening to the songs below identify what is on the
minds of American teenagers...
-Sources of entertainment for teens...
-Sources of conflict for teenagers...
-Concerns...
-Distractions...
-Social change or changes in norms....
The Coasters - “Yakety Yak”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xAi80ShG0I
Chuck Berry “School Days”...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt7Y2aNxvzM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc7oGWgeA8s
Objective…
• Identify the elements of
mass culture in the 1950s.
•Describe the various
criticisms of mass culture.
The basic elements of mass
culture in the 1950s…
• Music – Rock and Roll
• Teen magazines
• Radio
The Youth Market
14) Who were the first “teenagers”?
The first “teenagers”….
-Born in late 30s & war years
-Born into an affluent society
15) What businesses pursued the teenage
market?
Teenagers were consumers...Cosmetics, clothes,
radios, phonographs, music & cars
“Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll!”
16) How did radio programming
change in the 1950s?
National shows are replaced with local
music shows
The economics of Rock &
Roll…
Record Sales
1954
1959
$213M ……. $603M
Radio Stations
1956
- 2,700 radio stations
- 70% of all airtime involves
music
Traditional Blues + Rhythm & Blues +
County + Pop =
17) What is meant by the term
“crossed over”?...
18) What did
Alan Freed do
to promote
RR?...
“Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll!”
19) Why did it take
white artists like
Elvis Presley to
exploit the new
sounds and styles?
Elvis
Presley
“Hound Dog”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU4i5gyFK1s
“Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll!”
20) The racial issues
involved in popular music…
“But no music has been the object of more
apocalyptic fears than rock-and-roll in 1950s
America.” - A Renegade History of the United States
“Crossed-over” or
“Cover” versions...
Chuck Berry version of Memphis Tennessee...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5ezeUM6c74
Jonny Rivers version of Memphis Tennessee...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF-FSRVrTco
Chuck Berry
Maybelline...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-azvd30UKE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm8ktxzaumg …Nadine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyp13Q6dQjY …Little Queenie
Johnny B. Good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVT65M4mRnM
Back to the Future…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1i5coU-0_Q
The Chicken Walk
American Bandstand with host
Dick Clark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AoAzhCKGXU
Almost Grown /
Deviance & Delinquency
21) How & why were teens torn between
youth & adulthood?...
22) The adult reaction to “rock ‘n’ roll”…
23) Juvenile delinquency:
Perception v. Reality…
Almost Grown
24) What is meant by the term
“the erosion of adult
authority”?...
Almost Grown
25) How did the views of parents & teens differ in
regard to Marlon Brando, James Dean & Elvis?
Dean
Elvis
Brando
James Dean – “Rebel Without A Cause”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAlzg0S51GY
Marlon Brando clip...“The Wild Ones”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT_xrsjKN_Y