Greasers are a
working class youth subculture that originated in the 1950s among young
northeastern and
southern United States street gangs. The style and subculture then became popular among other types of people, as an expression of rebellion.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, these youths were known as
hoods.Marcus, Daniel.
Happy Days and Wonder Years: The Fifties and the Sixties in Contemporary Cultural Politics.
New Brunswick:
Rutgers University Press, 2004. p. 12. The name
greaser came from their greased-back hairstyle, which involved combing back hair with
wax,
gel, creams, tonics or
pomade. The term
greaser reappeared in later decades as part of a revival of 1950s popular culture. One of the first manifestations of this revival was a 1971 American
7 Up television commercial that featured a 1950s greaser saying "Hey remember me? I'm the teen angel." The music act
Sha Na Na also played a major role in the revival.
Although the greaser subculture was largely an American youth phenomenon, there were similar subcultures in the
United Kingdom and
Australia. The 1950s British equivalents were the
ton-up boys, who evolved into the
rockers in the 1960s. In the United Kingdom, the term
greaser only came into use in the 1970s, when the
Hells Angels and other
bikers became prevalent. Members of rival subcultures in the UK, such as
skinheads, sometimes referred to greasers simply as
grease.
Unlike British rockers, American greasers were known more for...
Read More