The British National Daily Press and Popular Music, c.19561975

By (author) Gillian A.M. Mitchell

Publication date:

28 February 2019

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781783089093

The British National Daily Press and Popular Music c.1956–1975 constitutes a reappraisal of the reactions of the national daily press to forms of music popular with young people in Britain from the mid-1950s to the 1970s (including rock ‘n’ roll, skiffle, ‘beat group’ and rock music). Conventional histories of popular music in Britain frequently accuse the newspapers of generating ‘moral panic’ with regard to these musical genres and of helping to shape negative attitudes to the music within the wider society. This book questions such charges and considers whether alternative perspectives on press attitudes towards popular music may be discerned. In doing so, it also challenges the tendency to perceive evidence from newspapers straightforwardly as a mere illustration of wider social trends and considers the manner in which the post-war newspaper industry, as a sociocultural entity in its own right, responded to developments in youth culture as it faced distinctive challenges and pressures amid changing times.

Acknowledgements; Introduction; Focus and Scope of the Work; Chapter Outlines; 1. ‘Teddy Boy Riots’ and ‘Jived- Up Jazz’: Press Coverage of the 1956 Cinema Disturbances and the Question of ‘Moral Panic’; 2. Beyond ‘Moral Panic’: Alternative Perspectives on the Press and Society; 3. ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Has Become Respectable’: The Press and Popular Music Coverage beyond 1956; 4. Adventures in ‘Discland’: Newspapers and the Development of Popular Music Criticism, c. 1956– 1965; 5. Reversals and Changing Attitudes: Newspaper Coverage of Popular Music from the Late 1960s to the Mid- 1970s; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

‘Beyond merely reporting the phenomenon, the popular press played an enormous part in shaping our understanding of the importance of popular music to emergent youth culture. Mitchell’s finely tuned historical sensibility, allied to her rich textual illustration and expert analysis, makes for an accessible and authoritative contribution to the field.’
—Martin Conboy, Professor of Journalism History and Co-director of the Centre for the Study of Journalism and History, University of Sheffield, UK