A Comparative History of Youth Culture and Popular Music in Liverpool and Newcastle Upon Tyne, 1956-1965 Jona
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Northumbria Research Link ‘Beats Apart’: A Comparative History of Youth Culture and Popular Music in Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne, 1956-1965 Jonathan Paul Watson PhD 2009 1 ‘Beats Apart’: A Comparative History of Youth Culture and Popular Music in Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne, 1956-1965 Jonathan Paul Watson A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Northumbria at Newcastle for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Research undertaken in the School of Arts and Social Sciences December 2009 2 Abstract This study explores the themes of continuity and change in twentieth-century British cultural history, particularities of place and regional identity in the North of England, and the cultural transfer of North American popular music in Britain between 1956 and 1965. By means of a comparative historical investigation of youth culture and popular music in Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne, the work engages with existing debate among historians surrounding the nature and extent of cultural change for the period usually referred to as „The Sixties‟, and whether or not it is possible to speak of a „Cultural Revolution‟. Spanning the years between the initial impact of rock „n‟ roll and the immediate aftermath of the Beat Boom of 1963-64, a phenomenon described by one commentator as representing „perhaps the North‟s greatest single cultural „putsch‟‟, the thesis examines the role of urban and regional identity in the process of cultural production, reproduction, and consumption. Theoretical insights derived from the associated disciplines of sociology and cultural studies are employed which offer an opportunity for a novel and dynamic analysis and interpretation of the empirical historical evidence. This research is especially pertinent at a time when historians are increasingly looking to the regional and inter-regional, as opposed to the national and international, for explanations of continuity and change. There is a burgeoning interest in the history of popular culture inspired by the transition of post-modern society from one of production to consumption. Cultural and economic theorists have called for more historical investigation to inform current debates regarding the post-modern city‟s ability to attract a „creative class‟ as a means towards urban regeneration. This study informs these debates by bringing the above themes together in a unique historical analysis of cultural continuity and change, Northern identity, and popular music. 3 Acknowledgements This study represents the culmination of several years‟ research that was originally inspired by a Master‟s course in British Regional History run jointly by Northumbria University and the North East England History Institute (NEEHI). Work on the resulting thesis allowed me to bring together in one study, three areas of particular interest; twentieth-century British cultural history, „Northern‟ regional history, and popular music. This was achieved by means of a comparative study of youth culture and popular music in Leeds and Newcastle upon Tyne between 1956 and 1963. The positive feedback I received from those generous enough to offer constructive criticism of the thesis provided the motivation for this work. It was felt that a much more substantial study was justified, and that Liverpool was the ideal object for comparison with Newcastle in such an expanded work, not least for the obvious reason that the city produced Merseybeat and the Beatles. I would like to acknowledge the help and support of the following. The AHRC Doctoral Awards Scheme without the support of which this project would not have been possible. Bill Lancaster, whose advice and encouragement has sustained my faith in a successful outcome throughout. Avram Taylor for his support and assistance. Mike Sutton for his indulgence and useful suggestions. All my colleagues at Northumbria University and NEEHI for providing an atmosphere conducive to high quality historical research. The staff of the various libraries and archives including Northumbria University Library, Newcastle University Robinson Library, Newcastle Central Library (Local History), The Tyne & Wear Archive, Liverpool University Library, Liverpool Central Library (Local History and County Archive), The British Library, and British Library Newspapers at Colindale. The Ordnance Survey for permission to reproduce contemporary maps, and the staff at Newcastle and Liverpool Central Libraries for their kind assistance with retrieval and photocopying. Finally, I would like to thank those who gave their time to be interviewed for this work. 4 Declaration I declare that the work contained in this thesis has not been submitted for any other award and that it is all my own work. Name: Jonathan Paul Watson Signature: Date: 5 Contents Introduction 7 – 19 Chapter 1: The Historical Context 20 – 45 Chapter 2: Culture and Northern Identity 46 – 75 Chapter 3: Youth Culture, Music Culture 76 – 118 Chapter 4: Popular Music in the North of England 119 – 151 Chapter 5: Youth Culture and Popular Music in Liverpool 152 – 202 Chapter 6: Youth Culture and Popular Music in Newcastle upon Tyne 203 – 253 Chapter7: Youth, Music and Cultural Revolution in the North 254 – 294 Conclusion 295 – 305 Bibliography 306 – 316 Appendix: Key to Maps 317 – 319 Maps: Figs. 1 – 8 6 Introduction „O thou North of England, who art counted as desolate and barren, and reckoned the least of the nations, yet out of thee did the branch spring and the star arise which gives light unto all the region round about.‟1 Themes This work sets out to explore the history of youth culture and popular music in the North of England between 1956 and 1965. Ultimately it is the intention to engage with the wider debate surrounding the extent and nature of cultural continuity and change in Britain as a whole during the period usually referred to as the Sixties. To this end, arguments put forward in the recent works of Dominic Sandbrook and David Fowler will be addressed. After reading Sandbrook‟s two volume history of Britain from 1956-1970 it was impossible not to be struck by the implication that youth and pop culture did not matter very much. He further suggests that the widely held impression that it did is the result of historians, authors and commentators paying „extremely close attention to the affairs of a minority of well-educated, relatively affluent young people, precisely those people most likely to become writers, publishers, historians and so on.‟2 Similarly, Fowler claims that „historical and sociological analysis of youth culture during the 1960s is based on a false premise: that pop culture was an expression of youth culture.‟ He argues that „Mods were not products of affluent, „Swinging London‟‟, that „the Beatles were not in any meaningful sense a reflection of youth culture during the 1960s‟, and that „working-class youth were alienated‟ from middle-class pop stars.3 These arguments stem from a shared belief in the essential continuity of British cultural life from one period to the next and the dismissal of any notion that „the Sixties‟ witnessed a „cultural revolution‟, particularly one with working class youth at the forefront. The existence or otherwise of this „cultural revolution‟ is the central theme of this study. Its aim, by focussing on the micro-histories of youth culture and popular music in Liverpool and Newcastle, is to offer a fresh perspective on a debate that has thus far been held at a national level. The second major theme of the work relates to the question posed by Dave Russell in his, Looking North: Northern England and the national imagination, as to „the extent to which 1 Edward Burrough, To the Camp of the Lord in England, (1655), in The Memorable Works of a Son of Thunder and Consolation, (1672), p.66, cited in, Christopher Hill, The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During The English Revolution, (London, 1991), p.73. 2 Dominic Sandbrook, Never Had It So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles, 1956-63, (London, 2005), preface p.xxiii. 3 David Fowler, Youth Culture in Modern Britain, c. 1920-c. 1970, (Basingstoke, 2008), pp.197-98. 7 we can speak of a single „northern‟ identity and whether regional patriotisms can hold their own against the often-conflicting demands of locality at one extreme and class and nation at the other.‟ While Russell admits that he is concerned primarily with the constructed „North‟, he insists that his „concentration upon cultural representation in no sense implies a rejection of modes of investigation rooted in the history of actual events‟.4 It is by exploring some of the „objective realities‟ of Northern urban and regional identity, particularly those pertaining to Liverpool/Merseyside and Newcastle/Tyneside, that some albeit provisional answers to the above question will be sought. There is however another reason why this line of inquiry should be pursued. It is the contention at the outset that there was indeed a cultural revolution, beginning in the mid-1950s with Northern working class youth at the forefront, and that their participation was closely associated with the cultural transfer of North American popular music. A further aim is to ascertain whether or not Northern, regional or urban identity played a part. In other words, did the reception of jazz, blues and rock „n‟ roll, and the subsequent indigenous production of skiffle, beat and rhythm and blues differ between Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds or any of the major towns and cities in the North? Was there anything especially „Northern‟ about the phenomenon? Answers to these questions and those relating to the „cultural revolution‟ debate will be pursued by means of an historical investigation of the young people being impacted upon. As Liverpool and Newcastle provide the focus, some justification for their choice as objects for comparison must be given.