8 stories
Post-mining subcultures
In 2024, it will be 50 years since the last Limburg mine closed its doors. In the decennia after 1974, vast new build coloured Heerlen and its surroundings grey. But out of the cracks of the drab concrete grew something new: from jet black to fluorescent green. In this post-industrial Parkstad, young people illuminated their lives and surroundings with numerous subcultures.
From January 2024, we will share monthly stories of dissent: from flower power to political punk, from Heerlen hip-hop to the gabber scene at the end of the millennium.
Image: Masja van Kleef
Bomberjacks en kale koppen: gabber, een Oer-Hollands en onsterfelijke cultuur
Hard, harder, hardcore: Mijnstreek Oost Crew
Hip hop in Heerlen: the street as canvas
'Gays, don't get bashed': violence against homosexuals in 1980s Heerlen
From hard rock to horror metal: headbanging in the Euroregion
Gothic: obscure nights in Landgraaf
Punk: anarchie in the mining region
Flower power: commune on coal dust
"The great thing about a failed city is that the people living in it try to make something work."
- Leon Verdonschot
Which subculture do or did you belong to?
The post-industrials: a history
Pit closures and secularization: where lives before had been dictated by mine and church, in the post-industrial era of the 1970s, it was up to young people to add a splash of colour to their existence. Read the article on the history of the origin of subcultures in South East Limburg.