"Every Home Is Wired":
1 -- The Net in Relation to Music Subcultures
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Music can thus be used to literally drown out unwanted influences; however, more abstractly, too, subcultures are also formed by distinction from others through music:
fans make a distinction between what counts as rock and roll ... and what is simply not included within the category. ... If such boundaries are not individually drawn, they point to the different ways in which fans are organised; the structures of such groupings establish and locate fans within different ... groups or ... subcultures. The relevant social network for fans is determined, not merely by shared tastes in music, but more important, by shared ways of drawing the line between what is and is not rock. (Grossberg, "Rock and Roll" 161)
Bit 56
The same is true for genres other than rock, too, of course. As a result, then, "as much as the word 'identification' seems to imply a sense of belonging, perhaps even more it describes a process of differentiation. ... Senses of shared identity are alliances formed out of oppositional stances", as Kruse points out (34). Out of such alliances arise larger structures which govern the interaction between the subculture's members: "younger to older, experienced to novice, stylish to square. They explore 'focal concerns' central to the inner life of the group: things always 'done' or 'never done', a set of social rituals which underpin their collective identity and define them as a 'group'" (J. Clarke et al. 47). On the Internet the establishment of such alliances is already symbolised in very simple, yet tangible and important actions such as a reader's actual subscription to a generic newsgroup. Bit 57

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© 1998 Axel Bruns