Youth culture generally refers to the ways adolescents and teenagers differentiate themselves from the parent culture of their community and is seen in the range of youth subcultures. .

Youth culture is a reaction to the economic, political, and educational changes after World War II in Western civilisation. The culture tends to fluctuate with different generations.

History

Post-World War Two

Prior to World War II, young people in Western culture had little freedom or influence. With the development of post-war affluence and the subsequent baby boom in the United States and Europe, young people began to gain considerable societal influence and buying power. Throughout the 1950s, the growing numbers of young people in the USA and Europe began to greatly influence music, television, and cinema, spurring the explosion of rock & roll in the late-1950s and a full-blown youth culture in the mid-1960s, partly in the form of subcultures such as mods, rockers, and hippies.

The tastes of young people began to drive fashion, music, films and literature. Corporations quickly took note and adapted to the shift by devising marketing strategies for the new demographic. For young people, being more open to change and challenge, technology came easier and fashions changed quicker than their adult conterparts. Baby boomers began to enter the workforce in the 1970s, and thereby wielded even greater influence, helping to innovate the computer revolution, which would be exploited fully by the next generations of young people.

1990s youth culture

In the United Kingdom, Britpop exploded in the mid 1990s, peaking between 1995 and 1997 with the release of the Oasis album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, and the election of Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Some argue that youth culture in the United States lacked a steady footing during the 1990s, particularly in relation to music, as the industry became increasingly commercialised. Although artists like Mariah Carey and the Backstreet Boys were hugely successful commercially, most would agree that they, and similar artists, created no sense of a 'movement.' Their fans held no clear fashions or trends, unlike earlier subcultures such as the Teddy Boys, Mods and Punks of Britain. Many critics felt that the artistic integrity of such groups was compromised by the fact that record companies chose performers based largely upon their age or appearance, and that their music was often written by outside songwriters, featuring heavy production. Perhaps as a result of this change in the music industry, popular music has splintered into many differend genres, large music movements, started by bands like The Beatles and Guns N' Roses, have been replaced by smaller-scale movements.

Mainstream rock music in the United States in this period sometimes featured a softer sound. Examples include the Friends theme tune I'll Be There for You by The Rembrandts and Breakfast at Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something. The 1990s also featured the emergence of mainstream commercial success of rap and hip hop. The hit Gangta's Paradise by Coolio was one of the first rap songs to cross over into the mainstream. Television shows like South Park and Beavis and Butt-head were popular during the 1990s with youth audiences.

2000s youth culture

Commercial pop and rock in the United States has been overshadowed by urban sounds like hip hop and contemporary RnB. Although recently the hip hop genre has been fading, and new rock/nu metal bands are becoming increasingly popular. A lot of popular music now comes from bands such as Deftones, Staind, Incubus, KoRn, System of a Down, Shinedown, & even some 80's bands like Metallica are very popular. Less popular music like, James Blunt's 2005 song You're Beautiful became the first non-urban or non-American Idol hit to top the Hot 100 since Nickleback's 2001 hit How You Remind Me, and the first British artist to top this chart since Elton John in 1997. But these haven't done much in teen culture today.

Since the demise of Britpop, few bands in Britain have witnessed the commercial success of bands like Oasis, with the possible exception of Coldplay. A resurgence of indie genres with their corresponding subcultures has occurred. This resurgence was fronted by bands like Franz Ferdinand and the Kaiser Chiefs. Elswhere on the UK scene, urban music has enjoyed increased commercial success. Although urban music television channels (such as BET) & urban radio stations (such as Kiss FM) are dominated by American urban music, there have been some local breakthrough acts like Dizzee Rascal & The Streets.