Music Sound

A raggare in his ideal environment, with a beer, on the hood of a 60's car (Picture taken during Power Big Meet in 2005)

Two genuine raggare (Picture taken during Power Big Meet in 2005)

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 60's car during Power Big Meet in 2005

Raggare (from the Swedish word "raggare" which means roughly "to seek sexual contact with someone") is a subculture found mostly in Sweden and parts of Norway and Finland, mostly in rural environments and smaller villages.

Raggare have existed since the 1950s and haven't changed much since then. Their culture is based on American popular culture of the 1950s, and typically centers on a "rebel" image. James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause and American Graffiti are a popular sources of influence.

Cars are very important to Raggare; they like large US cars from the 1950s and beyond. Although cars from the '50s cars are preferred, any large American V8-powered car will do. If one is not available some substitutes are used, for instance, the Volvo Amazon, fintail Mercedes or some other car with US styling, but never a Japanese car. If that too fails, an older Volvo may be used (usually in the 200-series).

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

One of the most popular artists among raggare is Eddie Meduza.

Raggare often use the confederate flag (possibly inspired by The Dukes of Hazzard) and the peckerwood, but are often oblivious to their meanings and are not necessarily racists. In the late 1990s the skinhead neonazi culture intermixed with the raggare culture and even their old sworn enemies: the punks. In Sweden today the raggarculture tends to be more racist and xenophobic than it was before.

Contents 1 Raggare History 2 Raggare In Present Day 3 See also 4 External links

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. These concerns usually had little merit and most raggare were actually quite peaceful. In 1959 the movie Raggare![1] covered the issue.

Later on, Raggare often got into fights with hippies and in the 1970s, and also with punks, something described in the punk song "Raggare Is A Bunch Of Motherfuckers" by Rude Kids (and later re-recorded by Turbonegro). When The Sex Pistols played in Sweden July 28, 1977 a bunch 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 through 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 that they should get the limousine and run them over. In the end the gig organizer simply called the police. Nowadays the hostility between Raggare and other subcultures is much lower.

Raggare In Present Day

No longer considered a menace to society, the raggar-culture very much 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 complete idiots who cruise around in their beat-up Ford Taunus.

There are several meetings for raggare around Sweden. The Power Big Meet is the most famous one, and is also the biggest car show in the world.

See also

Rockers

Anarcho-Rockers

Punk Rockers

Rock and roll

External links

• Category at ODP
• Cultural Imperialism or Hyper-Americanization - Swedish raggare and Chicano Lowriders - article by Scott Holmquist
• Raggare - The Movie