Raggare

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The ideal Raggar-car
When no American fintails are available, raggare are sometimes forced to improvise, like using a Mercedes.
A lot of raggare on the roof a 1960s car during Power Big Meet in 2005

Raggare (a Swedish word roughly corresponding to the English term "pick-up artist", i.e., a person seeking sexual contact with someone) is a subculture found mostly in Sweden and parts of Norway[1][2], Finland, Denmark, Germany and Austria.

Contents

[edit] Description of the subculture

Raggare have existed since the 1950s and haven't changed much since then. Cars are an important part of the subculture, especially V8-powered cars and other large cars from the U.S.A..[3] Statistically, the most common Raggare car is the 1960s Pontiac Bonneville. They are plentiful, classic, relatively cheap, and have a huge backseat so they can pile in all of their Raggare friends. Raggare have been described as closley related to the hot rod culture, but when hotrodders in the USA had to do extensive modifications to their cars to stand out raggare could use stock US cars and still stand out compared to the more sober Swedish cars.[3] Other used cars are the fintail Mercedes, the Volvo Amazon, and modified cars from the Volvo 200 series.

Popular sources of influence are elements from American popular culture of the 1950s, such as the movies Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean, and American Graffiti.[2]

The music of choice is rockabilly. Also, musicians Ted Nugent, Dwight Yoakam and Eddie Meduza are popular within the subculture. There is a saying - "if you don't like Creedence Clearwater Revival, you are not a raggare" (roughly translated from Swedish). Note that any self respecting raggare refers to the band only as "Creedence".

The clothes and hairstyle are that of 1950s rockabilly. Blue jeans, cowboy boots, white t-shirts, sometimes with print (also used to store a pack of cigarettes by folding the sleeve), leather[4] or denim jacket. The hair is styled using Brylcreem or some other pomade.

The confederate flag seems to be a popular item in the subculture (possibly inspired by The Dukes of Hazzard) and peckerwood, but raggare are often oblivious to their meanings and are not necessarily racists, rather they embrace the rebellious message of the flag.

[edit] Raggare history

When raggare first appeared, they caused a moral panic with concerns about the use of alcohol, violence, high-speed driving, and having sex in the back seat. Raggare gangs was seen as a serious problem.[5] The film Raggare! covered the issue in 1959.

Later, raggare often got into fights with hippies and punks,[6] something described in the punk rock song "Raggare Is a Bunch of Motherfuckers" by Rude Kids (and later re-recorded by Turbonegro). When The Sex Pistols played in Sweden on July 28, 1977, a group of raggare waited outside and cornered some young girls who came out from the show. The girls had safety pins through their cheeks, and the raggare ripped them right out their faces. The band was upstairs drinking beer when they heard about it. Sid Vicious wanted to go down and fight, and someone else suggested they should get the limousine and run them over. In the end, the gig promoter called the police. Nowadays the hostility between Raggare and other subcultures is over since most people regard raggare as a comical relief to everyday life. The biggest nuisance with this sub culture is alcohol related.

[edit] Raggare today

Still considered a menace to society but not as much and often more seen as amusing, the raggare subculture lives on in Sweden, but in many ways it is still viewed in a negative light. Because of its mostly rural roots, retro-aesthetics, and unusual (for Swedes) pro-American stance, raggare are often (in urban areas and in pop-culture) seen as uneducated white trash with poor taste and a low-brow attitude towards sex. This is how they are normally depicted on film and television, with the most famous modern example being the cult-characters "Ronny & Ragge", a pair of idiots who cruise around in a beat-up Ford Taunus. There are several gatherings for raggare around Sweden. The Power Big Meet is the most famous, and is also the biggest car show in the world. Today raggare are different in the way that the early Raggare were mostly workers and looked up to American culture. Today's Raggare are more about partying and driving American cars.

In 1996 the Swedish post office issued a stamp featuring raggare.[7]

Due to the raggare culture there are more restored 1950s cars in Sweden than in the entire USA[8] and although only two 1958 Cadillac convertibles were sold in Sweden there are now 200 of them in Sweden.[8] Between 4000 and 5000 classic US cars are imported to Sweden each year.[8]

The classical cars are still the most preferred but since the 1980s there are mostly posers called "svansar" (tails) driving around in different models of Volvo (mostly The Volvo 240, and also the Volvo 740) calling themselves raggare. These are large stocky and square cars that are very easy to fix and repair even if you are not a skilled mechanic. This makes them ideal for the culture. They are often given new paint jobs with either flame work or a dark colour. Dixie flags are commonly draped over the trunk and is fixed in place on the inside of the trunk. It is however very rare to find one who knows what Dukes of Hazzard is today, though after the latest two movies were released you might find one or two who knows them.

A popular hangout for raggare has always been hotdog bars. A chain by the name of Sibylla in Sweden has always made good money on the raggare and has a special raggare meal. It generally consists of two hotdogs without buns, powdered mashed potato and a coleslaw with shrimps. Plenty of ketchup and mustard is of course added.

Every small town is obliged to have their own group of raggare, and this was why so many of the Volvo240s came in. Many of them simply could not afford to buy anything else. A raggare will call it a 240, and there has been enough on them that ‘Volvo Raggare’ is also a definition on them. In those smaller towns there are many young boys who are interested in cars, tinkering and driving, and those tend to make up most of the Swedish raggare population of today. It is a way to enjoy a shared interest, and while Raggare nowadays very rarely manages to convince a girl to go along, in Sweden raggare and the raggare culture is immortal and something many are proud to count themselves to.

[edit] Raggare in media and pop culture

  • Eddie Meduza have performed songs like "punkjävlar" ("punk bastards").
  • Rude Kids made a song about raggare (later re-recorded by Turbonegro) called "Raggare Is a Bunch of Motherfuckers", as an answer to "punk jävlar" by Eddie Meduza.
  • The 1959 film Raggare! was about raggare and the moral panic of the time.
  • The TV series Ronny & Ragge is about two raggare who cruise around in a beat-up Ford Taunus.
  • Onkel Kånkel made a song about raggare behaviour during cruising called "Åka femtitalsbil" (later covered by Charta 77).
  • The early Swedish punk band P.F. Commando has issued a song called "Raggare" on their 1978 Svenne Pop 7" EP, see [2].
  • Raggargänget (1962) with Ernst-Hugo Järegård and Sigge Fürst
  • Massproduktion published a compilation album titled "Vägra Raggarna Bensin - Punk Från Provinserna".
  • On May 1, 1979 about 100 punx formed their own parade down Kungsgatan under the slogan "Vägra raggarna bensin" (Refuse the raggare gasoline).[9]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Police Journal, v.38 1965, page 58
  2. ^ a b OA: Råning og ragging på utstilling
  3. ^ a b Automobilities by Mike Featherstone, Nigel. Thrift, John Urry. p. 189
  4. ^ Crime and Its Correction: An International Survey of Attitudes and Practices by John Phillips Conrad, p.126
  5. ^ Statistics on Delinquents and Delinquency by Walter Albin Lunden, p.134
  6. ^ England's dreaming: les Sex Pistols et le punk by Jon Savage, Denys Ridrimont, p.435
  7. ^ Consumption: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences by Daniel Miller, p.155
  8. ^ a b c Today: Sweden's car kings: 'greasers' cruising in vintage US wheels
  9. ^ Vecko Revyn, Nr 30, 25 july, 1979[1]

[edit] External links

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