Source: http://members.tripod.com/yapop/video.html
"‘I Belong to the _____ Generation'" by Jessamin Swearingen (adapted and edited by Allan Metz)
‘We Created It: Let's Take It Over!' web site, 1999-2001
The Beat Generation as a precursor to punk rock–Ed.
Source: http://members.tripod.com/yapop/video.html
The beat generation, which emerged in the late 1940s, followed in the tradition of Western culture's youth-obsessed artistic and literary idealists. Beatniks claimed to be outside the ranks of cultural norms, but they were actually products of a middle class heritage that in turn influenced their work. In late nineteenth century France, a group of young artists and writers known as bohemians disavowed the restrictions and norms of their cultural heritage. The beats copied these French bohemians and their romantic ideals of artistic productivity.
The beats saw themselves as a modern version of the "lost" generation of post-World War I and as outcasts in a society recovering from a war in which they were too young to fight. The "lost" generation established a new pattern of migration--instead of flocking to Paris as expatriates, the beats fled to such urban environments as New York City and San Francisco.
The beats also influenced later generations of youth subcultures. The early punk movement during the mid-1970s emulated beat poetry and lifestyle to forge a new genre of rock'n'roll music. These musicians borrowed heavily from both the beats and the French romantic poets to emerge as distinct from the rock musicians of the time....