“Evidence drawn from a series of interviews which I conducted with prolific English broadsheet music critics back in 2006 suggests that during the period 1981 to 1991 an intricate melange of factors converged to dramatically alter longstanding preconceptions of London as the epicentre of quality live music performance in England. Supported further by qualitative and quantitative analysis of a sample of English broadsheet newspaper articles, this paper investigates how the political climate of Thatcherism, the arrival of The Independent, the rise of broadsheet popular music coverage, the decline of the overnight concert review and the demise of Fleet Street transformed the way in which the English quality news press approached live music performances within the city of London. Finally, the paper will consider the possible legacies inherited from this period, particularly in terms of London’s musical identity and status, as least as it is depicted within the English quality press.”
Abstract of the research paper which I presented at the 2012 annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (UK and Ireland); ‘Imagining Communities Musically: Putting Popular Music in its Place’. University of Salford, Media City, September 5-7th 2012.
Dr Jennifer Skellington 