Beatnik was a media stereotype prevalent throughout the 1950s to mid-1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s. Elements of the beatnik trope included drug use, pseudo-intellectualism, and a cartoonish depiction of real-life people along with the spiritual quest of Jack Kerouac's autobiographical fiction.
Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation" in 1948, generalizing from his social circle to characterize the underground, anticonformist youth gathering in New York at that time. The name came up in conversation with the novelist John Clellon Holmes, who published an early Beat Generation novel, Go (1952), along with a manifesto in The New York Times Magazine: "This Is the Beat Generation" In 1954, Nolan Miller published his third novel, Why I Am So Beat (Putnam), detailing the weekend parties of four students.
The adjective "beat" was introduced to the group by Herbert Huncke, though Kerouac expanded the meaning of the term. "Beat" came from underworld slang—the world of hustlers, drug addicts, and petty thieves, where Allen Ginsberg and Kerouac sought inspiration. "Beat" was slang for "beaten down" or downtrodden, but to Kerouac and Ginsberg, it also had a spiritual connotation as in "beatitude". Other adjectives discussed by Holmes and Kerouac were "found" and "furtive". Kerouac felt he had identified (and was the embodiment of) a new trend analogous to the influential Lost Generation.
Beatnik is a distortion of the Beat Generation into a media stereotype.
Beatnik may also refer to::
"Beatnik" is a synthpop song by the British synthpop group The Buggles from their second and final album Adventures in Modern Recording. It was released as the album's fifth and final single in 1982. It was the final single to be released by the Buggles. The song was written by Trevor Horn and was produced by Horn and John Sinclair.
"Beatnik" is a progressive rock-influenced song that is 3 minutes and 36 seconds long, and is played at a BPM of 104. Horn has stated that "Things like 'Beatnik' were me just messing around with gear and just having a silly idea. I was quite fascinated by Fairlight brass and all of those kind of things that Geoffrey and I had started messing around with before he went off to join Asia."
With limited involvement by Buggles member Geoff Downes, the Adventures in Modern Recording album featured much more involvement from Horn. However, Downes contributed to four songs on the album; "Beatnik", "Vermillion Sands", "I Am a Camera" and "Lenny". On "Beatnik", Downes played the Fairlight keyboard. Other instrumentation includes vocals, guitars, percussion and additional keyboards by Anne Dudley.
All will be revealed before the next move
All will be revealed before the next move
Gimme some juice and watch me blow
Tell that joker where to go
Gimme some air and let me breathe
Wake me when it's time to leave
I was a beatnik (x4)
A shark tooth fin and a chevrolet
A wild boy takes it all the way
No more Charlie it's my throat
Send the bell-boy for my coat
I was a beatnik (x4)
I was a beatnik, beatnik, beatnik...
All will be revealed before the next move
All will be revealed before the next move
I got to see you one more time
And show you to a friend of mine
A poor white man on an asian beat
An excess kid with a graceful streak
I was a beatnik (x8)
I was a beatnik!
No more from Charlie
No more from Cole
No more espresso
What a joke
I was a beatnik (x4)
All will be revealed before the next move
All will be revealed before the next move