page_title: History of modern Western subcultures
section_title: 1920s
hierarchical_section_title: History of modern Western subcultures / 20th century / 1920s
caption_attribution_description: English: King &amp; Carter Jazzing Orchestra, Houston Texas
context_page_description: The 20th century saw the rise and fall of many subcultures.
context_section_description: In the 1920s, American jazz music and motor cars were at the centre of a European subculture which began to break the rules of social etiquette and the class system (See also Swing Kids and Flappers). In America, the same "flaming youth" subculture was "running wild" but with the added complication of alcohol prohibition. Canada had prohibition in some areas, but for the most part, thirsty Americans coming over the border found an oasis. As a result, smuggling escalated as crime gangs became organized. In the southern United States, Mexico and Cuba were popular with drinkers. Thus, a drinking subculture grew in size and a crime subculture grew along with it. Other drugs were used as alternatives to alcohol. When prohibition ended, the subculture of drink, drugs and jazz did not disappear, and neither did the gangsters.
caption: Jazz music, previously restricted to mainly poor African-Americans, broke out as the musical craze of the 1920s.
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