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Provincial Towns and Yorkshire Cities: Post-Punk Sounds, Suburban Escape, and Metro-Hegemony

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Sounds and the City

Part of the book series: Leisure Studies in a Global Era ((LSGE))

Abstract

This chapter analyses the post-punk scenes (1978–1984) and legacies of provincial Yorkshire towns in and around Bradford, Barnsley, and Dewsbury, England. The notion of moving to the city to make one’s future is well-trodden in popular consciousness, and musicians represent a familiar group within this narrative. While the original punk movement, through its DIY-orientated form of decentralised production, is cited as having empowered the UK provinces in a formerly London-centric landscape, the musical contributions of rural and quasi-rural places such as Yorkshire have been absorbed into the memoryscapes of nearby cities—primarily Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Sheffield. Through interviews with key participants in Yorkshire’s post-punk scene, I explore musicians’ relationships with nearby cities and their enduring, if not always cherished, links to local towns.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In 2018, Yorkshire had its national football team recognised by the main non-FIFA governing body (CONIFA 2018).

  2. 2.

    A serial killer dubbed “The Yorkshire Ripper”, Peter Sutcliffe killed 13 women in Yorkshire and Northwest England between 1975 and 1980.

  3. 3.

    Dubai, for example, or the “commuter town” model of Milton Keynes.

  4. 4.

    Although the sci-fi writer Ursula K. LeGuin said, more positively, “we live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings” (2014).

  5. 5.

    Conversely, Mark had said previously: “Me mum n dad were from Baildon. I was never from Bradford, I was born in Shipley” (Mark, interview, January 11, 2017).

  6. 6.

    A year after this scathing indictment, Keighley had again established its own Town Council (Telegraph & Argus 2002).

  7. 7.

    A gothic rock band formed in Leeds in 1980.

  8. 8.

    Harewood is a rural suburb of Leeds, roughly half way between the centres of Leeds and Harrogate.

  9. 9.

    Peel (1939–2004) was a BBC disc jockey known for playing music scene, either initially or enduringly, as outside the mainstream.

  10. 10.

    Chickenley is a large village east of Dewsbury.

  11. 11.

    It is worth noting that prominent Leeds bands of the time such as The Mekons, Delta 5, Gang of Four, Scritti Politti) formed at University, as opposed to their Bradford, Dewsbury, and Barnsley-native contemporaries.

  12. 12.

    Post-punk bands, formed in Sheffield in 1978.

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  1. Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK

    Rio Goldhammer

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  1. Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK

    Brett Lashua , Stephen Wagg , Karl Spracklen  & M. Selim Yavuz , ,  & 

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Goldhammer, R. (2019). Provincial Towns and Yorkshire Cities: Post-Punk Sounds, Suburban Escape, and Metro-Hegemony. In: Lashua, B., Wagg, S., Spracklen, K., Yavuz, M.S. (eds) Sounds and the City. Leisure Studies in a Global Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94081-6_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94081-6_17

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94080-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94081-6

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