Experience economy in the making: Hedonism, play and coolhunting in automotive song lyrics

The purpose of this paper is to explore contemporary consumer culture in the making. This is done by means of an analysis of historical consumer cultural products. Through an investigation of a subset of lyrics from the Southern California popular music scene of the early 1960s, themes of hedonic consumption and consumer rituals are analyzed. It is argued that these songs are reflective of a resonant meeting between a market-oriented culture production system and participation in consumer subcultural systems. As such, it represents an early form of coolhunting. Finally, the themes from the lyrics are used to flesh out the various types and elements of play in consumption practices, as well as to underline the importance of historicizing consumer culture theoretical constructs.