So in making the Atompunk Opera i have taken a gander into rockabilly. Musically it’s a genre i certainly can get into as i do like me some rock and roll. But here’s a great peek into the non musical side of what is more than a musical genre, but an actual… movement, much like steampunk.
Photographer Jennifer Greenburg has photographed rockabilly culture. Her involvement in the close-knit rockabilly community initially evolved from a shared aesthetic. That particular aesthetic–with its poodles and pompadours; crinolines and credenzas; dinette sets, tiki bars, and pin curls–is emblematic of an era of optimism, a fictional America of happy suburban families with stylish cars, bright-eyed children, and easy lives. The craving for this American dream is at the subculture’s center: the rockabillies, Greenburg notes, were “actively pursuing a 1950s lifestyle of marrying young, moving to the suburbs, and having children. They did not care much for the ins and outs of politics… and they weren’t losing sleep over the economy, AIDS, or Roe v. Wade.” She found “a subculture of people who had mostly turned away from the horrors of contemporary American culture to focus on family, friends, music, and vintage Americana.”
She has a great book of images on Amazon which is available here. In the meantime let’s take a little gander, shall we?
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