'Only one can rule the night': Fairs and music in post-1945 Britain. (24th November 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Trowell, Ian
• Is Part Of: Popular music history. Volume 10:Number 3(2015)
• Page Start: 262
• Page End: 279
• Publication Date: 2017-11-24
• Subjects: listening -- subcultures -- fairgrounds -- soundscape -- popular music; Popular music -- History -- Periodicals; 781.6309
• DOI: 10.1558/pomh.34399
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1740-7133

Abstract

Abstract : This article charts and examines the relationship between popular music and the British travelling fairground in the post-war years. I set out a historical trajectory of the importance of sound and noise within the fairground, and examine how music in the post-war years emerged as an important aspect of this wider soundscape. The complex spatial characteristics of the fairground are considered as fragmented zones with 'interiors-within-interiors' forming to facilitate certain music and sounds. This progresses to encompass and engage the subcultural explosion in British society. The fairground becomes a complex mode of musical consumption, enhancing the sound through somatic engagement and providing a temporary space for subcultures to flourish. I draw on historical materials, archival evidence and gathered testimony to look at the 1950s period of new music, then plot a course to the current phase of dance music and club culture.