The Rolling Stones Influence on Youth Culture

“Lose your dream, you lose your mind.” 
― The Rolling Stones

Youth is usually characterized as a stage of life between adolescence and adulthood. “The central conflict of youth during the early 70’s was the tension between self and society. Youth during this period was characterized by the refusal of socialization, in which the individual rejects society after several adolescent attempts to fit into it.” In youth great emphasis is placed on movement of any kind; adulthood is equated with stasis and death. The goal of youth is to move; the direction is secondary. Rock music spoke directly to the youth and its effect was magnified by the fact that in the seventies more than half of the population fit into this category. The teenage years were the time for growing up; after age 19, you were thought to be an adult even though you were still a young one. The seventies changed that, common threads brought different age groups together and it became clear that age did not indicate movement from one developmental stage to the next.

Music, the styles of clothing, language, and behavior are all so closely linked to the youth culture. New heroes of early 70’s rock and roll, such as The Rolling Stones, inspired the youth to pick up electric guitars, grow their hair long, and experiment with sex and drugs. Rock music was a major force behind the youth movement of the seventies, and was used by youth to express both their mass culture and their individuality. “The Rolling Stones epitomized the mood of alienation that was prevalent at this time. No longer were young people feeling society had shut them out, rather they felt united in their decision to reject society and as a community of youth, share their own values.”

It is the music of the seventies that offers us a vehicle for bringing to life the feelings, events, and spirit of that decade. The music offers us an accurate record of the people and events of the times.

Works Cited

August, Andrew. "Gender And 1960S Youth Culture: The Rolling Stones And The New Woman." Contemporary British History 23.1 (2009): 79-100. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.

Faulk, Barry J. "New Left In Victorian Drag: "The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus.." Texas Studies In Literature & Language 53.2 (2011): 138-158. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.