A greaser is a youth subculture that originated in the 1950s among teenagers in northeastern and southern United States. Rock n Roll music was a major part of the culture and styles were influenced different singers such as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bill Haley, and Richie Valens.
- The name greaser came from their greased-back hairstyle, which involved combing back hair. Greasers from other races would have different hairstyles if they had curly hair like Latinos or African-Americans.
- “Greaser” soon became a label for those young adults that rebelled.
- The term “Greaser” reappeared in later decades as part of a revival of 1950s popular culture.
- The greaser subculture was largely a North American youth phenomenon. There were similar subcultures in
- United Kingdom
- Australia
- Italy
- Japan
- Sweden
- Germany
- South Africa
Here below is a picture of how a typical male greaser dressed.
- Typical North American greaser.
- In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1980s, greasers were known as “hoods” (street punks). This is because the “greaser” look was more popular in working class neighborhoods that had higher crime rates than the upper class neighborhoods.
Although males typically come to mind when mentioning greasers, males were not the only greasers at the time. Females greaser at the time were simply called “Greaser Girls”. They were just as relevant as the males.
Here below is a picture of a typical “Greaser Girl” .
Greaser girls were also very popular in the working class for the same reasons as the male. The greaser girls were known for having very big hair opposed to the males with slick back hair. Greaser girls were also very popular in the North America region and had many of the same characteristics as the males.
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Greasers were not known for having the best and most positive attitude. Their attitudes were not the best. They did not really put up with people’s “crap”. Since greasers had more of a “bad boy” image, one might conclude that others in the community could have been afraid of them.
- People have their own ideas and opinions about Greasers. Today greasers have this cool, bad boy image. This was the complete opposite in the 1950s though. With all the more current remakes of how the 1950s were, one might not know this about greasers.
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In the high school settings, greasers were very unpopular people. Just like many current high schools, high schools are divided by the social class. There are the people who are “cool” or very popular, nerds, jocks, cheerleaders, etc. In high school, greasers fell into the category of being unpopular. Nobody really wanted to associate with greasers. They were looked down upon because they skipped class, smoked cigarettes, things of this sort.
Citation:
greaser (subculture). (2009). Retrieved March 24, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greaser_(subculture)
Greasers: Past and Present 