About this ebook
The city has spawned crooners, folk singers, punks, post- punks, Goths, DJs, popstars, rappers and indie rockers, yet – with a few exceptions - Leeds has not been studied for its scenes in ways that other UK cities have. In ways that the chapters explore, Leeds’ popular music exemplifies and informs understandings of broader cultural and urban changes – both in Britain and across wider global contexts – of the social and historical significance of music as mass media; music and migration; music, racialisation and social equity; industrial decline, de-industrialisation, neoliberalism and the rise of the 24-hour city. Charting moments of stark musical politicisation and de-politicisation, while concomitantly tracing arguments about “heritagising” popular music within discussions about music’s “place” in museums and in the urban economy, this book contributes to debates about why music matters, has mattered, and continues to matter in Leeds, and beyond.
About the author
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.
