Popular Music in Leeds

Brett Lashua teaches sociology of media and education at University College London (UCL). He has worked with schools, community centres, musicians and arts organizations in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to address questions of youth inequalities, racialized borderlands and urban place-making. Karl Spracklen is a professor of sociology of leisure and culture in Leeds School of Sciences at Leeds Beckett University. His research ranges across leisure studies, popular music studies and metal music studies, though with a sociological lens. He is currently the editor-in-chief and the founder of International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, published by Springer. Spracklen was also the co-founder and first editor of its journal Metal Music Studies, published by Intellect. Kitty Ross is Curator of Leeds History and Social History, Leeds Museums and Galleries. exhibitions. She has been involved in two major museum redevelopment projects, that of Abbey House Museum (1998–2001) and Leeds City Museum (which reopened in 2008). Beyond the museum, Kitty has been a member of the Sheffield Bach Society since 1992 and is currently their treasurer. Paul Thompson is a professional recording engineer, educator and Reader in popular music at Leeds Beckett University. He is the author of Creativity in the Recording Studio: Alternative Takes (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) and co-author of Paul McCartney and His Creative Practice: The Beatles and Beyond (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021) with Professor Phillip McIntyre.

List of Figures ix



Acknowledgements xi



Foreword xiii



Jez Willis



Introducing Leeds 1



Brett Lashua, Karl Spracklen, Kitty Ross and Paul Thompson



 



PART 1. PLACES OF LEEDS’ POPULAR MUSIC 13



1. Dance and Drink the Fenton: Fighting for Territory in Leeds’ Culture Wars 15



Rio Goldhammer



2. When Mr Fox Met Kit Calvert, the Maker of Wensleydale Cheese: Constructing Yorkshireness in the Sixties Leeds Folk Scene 31



Karl Spracklen



3. Park Life: When Roundhay Went Pop 43



Peter Mills



4. ‘Everything Is Brilliant in Leeds’: Venues in the Leeds Indie Scene 1992–2012 57



Dan Lomax



5. Noise, Power Electronics and the No-Audience Underground: Place, Performance and Discourse in Leeds’ Experimental Music Scene 70



Theo Gowans, Phil Legard and Dave Procter



 



PART 2. PEOPLE: LEEDS’ MUSICAL COMMUNITIES AND CULTURAL IDENTITIES 85



6. La-Di-Dah: Some Thoughts on Jake Thackray and British Popular Culture 87



Stephen Wagg



7. Home Is Where the Music Is: Migrants and Belonging in Leeds 102



Jonathan Long



8. A Tale of Two Artists: Thinking Intersectionally About Women and Music in Leeds 117



Beccy Watson



9. Leeds Punk through a Feminist Lens 130



Mallory McGovern



10. Americana and Leeds: Narrating the American South with Northern Grit 144



Dave Robinson



 



PART 3. HISTORIES OF POPULAR MUSIC IN LEEDS 159



11. Leeds City Varieties in the 1950s and 1960s: Decline, Nudity and Nostalgia in the British Variety Industry 161



Dave Russell



12. The Evolution of DIY Venues as Dancing Spaces in Leeds from the 1940s to 2020s 176



Stuart Moss



13. Music of the Leeds West Indian Carnival 191



Danny Friar



14. Jazz in Leeds, 1940s–50s 205



Michael Meadowcroft



 



PART 4. POPULAR MUSIC HERITAGE, LEGACIES AND FUTURES 215



15. Sounds of Our City Exhibition: Music and Materiality in Leeds’ Abbey House Museum 217



Kitty Ross and Paul Thompson



16. Where You’re From and Where They’re At: Connecting Voices, Generations and Place to Create a Leeds Hip Hop Archive 235



Sarah Little and Alex Stevenson



17. A Splendid Time is Guaranteed for All: A Psychogeography of Leeds’ Popular Music Heritage 250



Brett Lashua and Paul Thompson



18. Music: Leeds – Supporting a Regionalized Music Sector and Scene 264



Paul Thompson and Sam Nicholls



 



Conclusion: Putting Popular Music in Leeds ‘On the Map’ 279



Brett Lashua, Paul Thompson, Kitty Ross and Karl Spracklen



Notes on Contributors 287



Index 299