Watson, Jonathan Paul (2010) 'Beats apart': a comparative history of youth culture and popular ...

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Citation: Watson, Jonathan Paul (2010) 'Beats apart': a comparative history of youth culture
and popular music in Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne, 1956 - 1965. Doctoral thesis,
Northumbria University.
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‘Beats Apart’: A Comparative History of
Youth Culture and Popular Music in
Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne,
1956-1965

Jonathan Paul Watson

PhD

2009
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‘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

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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.

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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.

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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:

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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

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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.
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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. For a study which sets out to examine the role of youth
culture and popular music in a cultural revolution that began with the advent of rock „n‟ roll
in 1956, Liverpool was the obvious choice. As Sara Cohen pointed out when making a
similar justification, „Liverpool was chosen as the location for the study because of its history
of involvement and achievement in rock music.‟5 What is more, given that the second major
theme concerns Northern regional/urban identity, Liverpool also appears ideally suited to an
investigation of this nature owing to its well-established „Scouse‟ character. Liverpool
produced „Merseybeat‟, a phenomenon described by Russell as perhaps representing „the
North‟s greatest single cultural „putsch‟‟, whilst adding that „Manchester was also extremely
fertile‟ and „the Animals gave Newcastle its first nationally prominent pop music stars.‟6 The

4 Dave Russell, Looking North: Northern England and the national imagination, (Manchester, 2004),
p.4.
5 Sara Cohen, Rock Culture In Liverpool: Popular Music in the Making, (Oxford, 1991), p.4.
6 Dave Russell, Looking North: Northern England and the national imagination, (Manchester, 2004),
p.213.
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Animals were not a beat group however, but an R&B group who found success in the wake
of the Beat Boom as part of the largely London-based rhythm and blues scene. This raises
the intriguing question of „where were the Newcastle beat groups?‟ or for that matter „was
there a Liverpool R&B scene?‟ One reason why Liverpool and Newcastle have been selected
then is because they both produced popular music that achieved national recognition but
importantly, they made music that was significantly different.
Overall though, at first glance similarities may appear more obvious than differences. Two
port city/regions with a working class heritage where traditional forms of male employment,
casual labour on the docks in Liverpool and shipbuilding and heavy engineering on Tyneside,
were, during the period in question, still dominant but in terminal decline. Their social
structure might be presumed to be similar, and both were certainly experiencing the same
dislocations as the result of housing clearance programmes. Many long-established inner city
working class communities were in the process of being uprooted and dispersed to overspill
council estates and New Towns. If the culture was predominantly that of the working class
then a common predilection for pubs and social clubs, cinemas, ballrooms and football might
also be supposed. Then again, „Scouse‟ and „Geordie‟ are equally strong but very distinctive
identities and the reasons for this must be explored.
Method and Theory
The choice of Liverpool and Newcastle is compatible with John Breuilly‟s recommendation
that when taking the comparative approach, „There is no point in studying events which have
nothing in common but nor is there in studying events which do not differ significantly‟.7
Whilst the methodology adopted is based on the comparative method it should be stated at
the outset that it is not the intention to identify all the similarities and differences between
Liverpool and Newcastle and certainly not between Merseyside and Tyneside. Rather, the
idea is to introduce the concept of „cultural transfer‟ as a means by which to limit the analysis
of similarities and differences to those that pertain to the reception of North American
popular music. This means the cultural transfer of jazz, blues, rock „n‟ roll and rhythm and
blues. Because it is the argument here that youth and pop (as opposed to popular) culture
were at the forefront of the North‟s cultural revolution, an exploration of the impact of this
transfer on the young people of Liverpool and Newcastle ought to provide some answers to

7 John Breuilly, Labour and liberalism in nineteenth-century Europe: Essays in comparative history,
(Manchester, 1992), p.3.
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