American Youth Rebellion And Identities In The 90s Presented In Skid Row Songs

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Feri Supriyatin - C1307522 - Fak. Sastra dan Seni Rupa

This research discussed about American youth rebellion and identities in the 90s presented in Skid Row’s songs. This research was conducted to find out how American youth rebellion are expressed in Skid Row’s songs and to find out what kind of youth identities that Skid Row wants to construct through rebellion in their songs. This research was a descriptive qualitative research. This research combined a socio-cultural approach, semiotic approach and music theory to get an ultimate analysis of the data. The sampling technique used in this research was purposive sampling. The lyrics of Skid Row’s songs containing youth rebellion and identities were taken purposively as the data. The result shows that American youth rebellions in the 90s were presented by Skid Row in two ways; through lyrics and music. The lyrics sharply describe certain social condition and society in America, while the music is used to build and support the rebellion atmosphere within the songs. The result also shows that American youth rebellion in the 90s was mostly aimed to the capitalists, America government, conservative society and negative lifestyle among youth. Besides finding the way how Skid Row described American youth rebellion in the 90s through their songs, the research also found some youth identities that Skid Row wants to construct among American youth itself. They are deviant, stubborn, resistant, self reliance, and self determinant adolescents. The researcher hopes this research gives a contribution to American Studies field and other researchers dealing with American youth and the decade of 1990s studies. There are still wide ranges on the study of American youth. It is suggested to other researchers who are interested in American Studies to conduct a further research on American youth studies particularly in youth rebellion.