The British National Daily Press and Popular Music, c.1956–1975

‘The British National Daily Press and Popular Music, c.1956–1975’ examines the reactions of the national daily press to music styles popular with British youth from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s (including rock ’n’ roll, skiffle, ‘beat group’ and rock music) and challenges the perception that a one-dimensionally negative and inflammatory reaction contributed to the generation of ‘moral panic’ around popular music.

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.