Hot Topic: A Subculture Analysis

Subcultures of the late 20th century sparked the movement of moving away from the typical and socially acceptable lifestyle to becoming broader in order to stand out from the crowd. It began in the 60’s, a decade in which people were truly formal and well respected, when the genre of rock n roll music commenced to become heavier and faster paced. Artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones paved the way for the era of an alternative lifestyle that surrounded itself with images of colorful, long hair that waves through a crowd of screaming fans. Ever since then, people have gone through their emo, punk, or even scene phases from typically their adolescent years into their young adult years. This chapter in someone’s life is exactly what caught Orv Madden’s attention in order to create a store that targeted the interests of individuals who want to demonstrate

Hot Topic is a chain store that expresses to their consumers that not fitting in with the crowd is okay and reflects on today's society by having items related to pop culture, supporting people who have a unique sense of style, and following alongside trends. Before you even walk into Hot Topic, you can hear different genres of rock songs blaring through the shop’s sound system, catching the attention of anyone passing by the retail store. This certainly made me turn my head as I was walking through the Outlets of Orange, alarming me that the store i was looking for was right in front of me. It is true when they state that they are ¨the loudest store in the mall¨ according to their website. The distinctive feature about this store is the merchandise it holds for different genres of music which adds to