Raggare
From Freepedia
Image:60's car with lots of raggare on the roof at Power Big Meet.jpg
Raggare (from the word "ragga" wich means roughly "to seek sexual contact with someone") is a subculture found mostly in Sweden and parts of Norway and Finland, mostly in rural environments and smaller villages.
Raggare have existed since the 1950s and haven't changed much since then. Their culture is based on American popular culture of the 1950s, and typically centers around a "rebel" image. James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause is a popular source of influence.
Very important to raggare are their cars, they are large US cars from the 1950s and beyond, 50s cars are prefered but any large american V8-powerd car will do. If one is not available some substitutes are used, for instance Volvo Amazon, fintail Mercedes or some other car with US styling (but never a Japanese car). If that too fails an older Volvo may be used, usually in the 200-series.
The music of choice is rockabilly. The clothes and hairstyle are that of 1950s rockabilly. Blue jeans, cowboy boots, white t-shirts, sometimes with print (also used to store your pack of cigarettes by folding the sleeve), leather or jeans jacket. The hair is styled using Brylcreem or some other pomade.
One of the most popular artists among raggare is Eddie Meduza.
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Raggare then
When they first appeared raggare caused a moral panic with concerns about the use of alcohol, violence, high speed driving and having sex in the back seat. These concerns usually had little merit and most raggare were actually quite peaceful. In 1959 the movie Raggare![1] covered the issue.
Later on Raggare often got into fights with hippies and in the 1970s also with punks, something described in the punk song "Raggare Is A Bunch Of Motherfuckers" by Rude Kids (and later re-recorded by Turbonegro). When Sex Pistols played in Sweden July 28 1977 a bunch of raggare waited outside and cornered some young girls who came out from the show. The girls had safety pins through their cheeks and the raggare ripped them right through their faces. The band was upstairs drinking beer when they heard about it. Sid wanted to go down and fight and someone else suggested that they should get the limousine and ram them down. In the end the gig organiser just called the cops. Nowadays the hostility is much lower.
Raggare now
No longer considered a menace to society, the raggar-culture very much lives on in Sweden but in many ways it is still viewed in a negative light. Because of its mostly rural roots, Retro-esthetics, and unusual (for Swedes) pro-American stance, Raggare are often (in urban areas and in pop-culture) seen as uneducated white trash with poor taste and a low-brow attitude towards sex. This is how they are normally depicted on film and television with the most famous modern example being the cult-characters "Ronny & Ragge", a pair of complete idiots who cruise around in their beat-up Ford Taunus.
There are several meetings for raggare around Sweden. The Power Big Meet is the most famous one, and is also the biggest car show in the world.
See also
- Greasers
- Rockers
- Teddy Boy (youth culture)
- Anarcho-Rockers
- Cadillac
- Mods and Rockers
- Motorcycle gang
- Outlaw motorcycle club
- Punk Rockers
- Rock and roll
- Bosozoku
- Kustom Kulture
- Leningrad Cowboys
External links
- Category at ODP
- Cultural Imperialism or Hyper-Americanization - Swedish raggare and Chicano Lowriders - article by Scott Holmquist
- Raggare - The Movie
Categories: Swedish culture | Subcultures | Moral panics | Motorcycle clubs | Musical movements | Rock music
