Beyond Subculture: Pop, Youth and Identity in a Postcolonial World

In an aging world, is pop music any longer an automatic metaphor for youth culture?Beyond Subcultureinvestigates a series of musically-centered global youth cultures, including hip-hop, electronic dance music, and bhangra. Based on first hand case-study material and interviews with consumers and producers, including Talvin Singh and Noel Gallagher, Rupa Huq re-examines the link between music and subcultures. As youth cultures become more diverse and the effects of globalization become stronger, the late twentieth century definition of "Generation X" is becoming redundant.Beyond Subculturesuggests a new approach to the study of youth culture and popular music.

Rupa Huq is Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at Kingston University.