“PRO BRASIL NASCER FELIZ"

ROCK IN RIO, JUVENTUDE E REDEMOCRATIZAÇÃO NO BRASIL

Abstract

For some time, the 1980s were known as ‘the lost decade’. Due to economic and political crises, the youth of this generation was recognized as lacking a political will of its own, especially when compared to the 1960’s youth. Such an interpretation shows to be wrong, because it has failed to address the new questions proposed by this youth and its new forms of action in public and private spaces. In this article, our aim is discussing the importance of rock music as a form of expression for the 1980s Brazilian youth by means of the Rock in Rio. This event is marked by a strong political dispute about its production, either through forces that try to prevent it due to institutional political disagreements or putting in to question the values of this young culture. At the same time, it takes place in parallel with the indirect elections that brought the presidency back to the hands of a civilian after 20 years of military administrations. Through the festival we may analyze and identify the new forms of expression of a generation that was not simply ‘useless’.