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Despite the criticisms of subcultural theory as a framework for the sociological study of the relationship between youth, music, style and identity, the term `subculture' continues to be widely used in such work. It is a central contention of this article that, as with subcultural theory, the concept of `subculture' is unworkable as an objective analytical tool in sociological work on youth, music and style - that the musical tastes and stylistic preferences of youth, rather than being tied to issues of social class, as subculture maintains, are in fact examples of the late modern lifestyles in which notions of identity are `constructed' rather than `given', and `fluid' rather than `fixed'. Such fluidity, I maintain, is also a characteristic of the forms of collective association which are built around musical and stylistic preference. Using Maffesoli's concept of tribus (tribes) and applying this to an empirical study of the contemporary dance music in Britain, I argue that the musical and stylistic sensibilities exhibited by the young people involved in the dance music scene are clear examples of a form of late modern `sociality' rather than a fixed subcultural group.

This article examines how older fans of punk rock articulate their continuing attachment to the music and its associated visual style.While sociological research on popular music audiences is well established, little attention has been paid to the articulation and management of fan practices of individuals beyond the age of 30. Based on ethnographic interviews conducted with older punk fans in East Kent, England, the article begins to redress this oversight in studies of popular music audiences.This involves an assessment of both the way in which articulations of punk style transgress with age from the visual to the biographical and how older punks develop particular discursive practices as a means of legitimating their place within a scene dominated by younger punk fans.

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The purpose of this article is to explore how creative competencies acquired through involvement in music and style-based youth cultures are being converted by young people into DIY (do-it-yourself) careers. This term, as applied here, covers a range of alternative and do-it-yourself modes of work and employment not governed by the acquisition of formal qualifications and training, but, rather, grounded in knowledge and practical know-how acquired through participation in music and style-based youth cultures and associated consumption, leisure and lifestyle practices. The article examines how the emergence of the DIY career can be placed in the context of the collapse of the youth labour market and the increasingly precarious position in which young people find themselves. It also argues that, given the increasing emphasis among youth (and indeed post-youth individuals) placed on the significance of music as a source of DIY career-making, some redefinition of the term DIY music-making and the sphere of DIY creative practice is necessary, particularly in respect of its relationship to more mainstream cultural industries and the related concept of the ‘creative city’.