Using interview data from twenty-eight men performing in independent rock bands in a college music town, this study examines the consequences informal careers have on constructions of masculinities. First, musicians illustrate the ways in which musical commitment poses challenges to normative masculinities as they move into adulthood. In particular, parents, families, and peers regard musicianhood as lacking the attainment of full adulthood, as well as a lesser achievement of normative masculinity. Second, musicians illustrate the consequences of musical commitment, particularly how they negotiate and construct their masculinities within musical contexts. In general, men use musical worlds as a site to play with innovative gender identities, but continue to be bound by traditional assumptions of culturally-appropriate adult masculinities.
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