Greasers

Damilola Lawson

GreasersSUBCULTURE

Damilola Lawson

Who are The Greasers?• Greasers were a youth subculture that originated in the 1950s amongst the

Teenagers in northeastern and southern United States.• The music genre Rock n Roll, played a major role in this culture and its styles

were influenced by singers like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bill Haley, and Richie Valens

• Although the greaser subculture was popular in the North American youths, there were similar subcultures in the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Germany, and South Africa. The 1950s British equivalents were the Ton-Up boys, who evolved into the rockers in the 1960s.

• Unlike British rockers who were exclusively bikers, North American greasers were known more for their love of hot rod cars and ordinary or customized vans, not necessarily motorcycles

Their Style• The style and subculture became popular among other types of people, as an expression

of rebellion. • In the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, these teens were known as "hoods", or street

punks. This may be due to the fact that the style was more popular in working class neighborhoods that have higher crime rates than the upper class. The name itself "greaser" came from their greased-back hairstyles. Greasers of other races would have different hairstyles if they had curly hair like Latinos or Blacks. They’d use wax, gel, creams, tonics or pomade.

• Clothing usually worn by greasers were fitted, colored T-shirts, often with the rolled up sleeves, Ringer T-shirts, Italian knit shirts, Baseball shirts, Denim Levi jackets, Leather jackets, black or blue Levi's jeans with rolled-up cuffs and baggy cotton twill work trousers.

• Common greaser footwear would be motorcycle boots such as harness boots or engineer boots, army boots, winkle pickers, brothel creepers, cowboy boots and Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars. Common accessories included bandannas, stingy-brim hats, flat caps and chain wallets.

• It wasn’t just the boys. There were Teddy girls and greasers too sporting pencil and poodle skirts, ponytails and pompadour curls! Teddy girls also wore hobble skirts, rolled up jeans and tailored jackets.

Damilola Lawson

Damilola Lawson

Representation in the Media

• 1950s British rebels were known as Teddy boys and girls. Some Teds formed gangs and gained notoriety following violent clashes with rival gangs which were often exaggerated by the popular press. The most notable example was the 1958 Notting Hill race riots, in which Teddy Boys were present in large numbers. The violent lifestyle was sensationalized in the pulp novel ‘Teddy Boy‘ by Ernest Ryman, first published in England in 1958.

• Greasers are usually portrayed as urban working class, often Italian American or Hispanic American. Notable exceptions to the urban ethnic portrayal include films such as ‘The Wild One’ (1953), ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ (1955) and ‘The Outsiders’ (1983), which portrayed a more rural, southern United States variant of the greaser subculture.

Damilola Lawson