john eden
male pale and stale
however I absolutely agree it's impossible to discuss without looking at mass culture
obviously there must first be a culture for something to counter
tho I don't see why counterculture needs be unified or en masse? the counter is the key element.
and that has to do with imagination. there's some mythic element in it, an origin story in counter to the origin story of hegemony.
i.e. black metal of early 90s
I think for me a counter culture suggests a degree of scale which is greater than what you got with black metal.
If there is an actual challenge to mainstream culture then there has to be large numbers of people involved. So hippies or rave culture in Europe and the US. Maybe rastafari in Jamaica...
Obviously within all these things there a different tensions - so with rave you have actual contestation going on with free parties but at the same time as that you have entrepreneurs like Pete Tong.
Punk was DIY, fanzines and squat parties and a safety pin through the Queen's nose. But also Malcolm McLaren's "Rock n Roll Swindle" and "Cash From Chaos".