“Stupid Music for Stupid People”: Negotiating Class in a Small Town in Moravia

This article examines cultural participation processes within the specific context of Tišnov, a small Czech town situated in the southeastern part of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, approximately 25 kilometers away from Brno. The study was conducted among individuals actively involved in various grassroots cultural endeavors during the early 1990s, including music clubs focused on alternative genres, art film screenings, bookstores, and small art galleries. Within this setting, a narrative of cultural exclusivity emerged, which was particularly pronounced in the milieu of a small town, often framed in the context of perceived or real injustices endured during the state socialist era, as well as expressed through generational and class distinctions. The argument put forth is that in Tišnov, typically considered a prototypical small town, a select group of like-minded individuals formed a relatively cohesive taste-based community, necessitating intense competition and argumentation to establish their position within the cultural landscape. This article seeks to challenge prevailing narratives of cultural exclusivity within the framework of a small town following the dissolution of state socialism and the transformation of its class dynamics.