Juke Box Britain

British teenagers witnessed immense cultural change in the period following the second world war. There were fewer than 100 juke boxes in Britain in 1945 and over 15,000 by 1958. Over the same period there was a similar unprecedented expansion of casual youth venues in the form of cafes, snack, milk and coffee bars where young people could hear the sounds of hot American jazz and rock 'n' roll. It has been a common assumption among academics and cultural historians alike that British youth between 1945 and 1960 underwent a period of massive 'Americanisation'. Juke Box Britain contests this view maintaining that American popular-cultural influences were not examples of cultural domination but simply influences that combined with existing styles to create distinctly British style fusions. Juke Box Britain is suitable for students of cultural, social and design histories as well as cultural studies and provides fascinating reading for youth culture and juke box enthusiasts.

ISBN 0719083664   Pages 240 ISBN13 9780719083662 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 386 Publisher Manchester University Press   Published in Manchester Imprint Manchester University Press   Series title Studies in Popular Culture Format Paperback   Height (mm) 234 Publication date 01 Oct 2010   Width (mm) 156 DEWEY 941.5081   Spine width (mm) 20 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Tertiary education, Professional / Scholarly

Introduction 1. Context - British acceptance and resistance to American popular culture pre 1945 2. Americanisation and the post-war juke box 3. American music, juke boxes and cultural resistance 4. British teenagers 5. Spivs and Teds: changing meanings of 'rebellious' male dress styles 6. Cutting your coat according to your cloth: Dress styles for young women after World War II 7. Venues: From arcade to high street Conclusion Bibliography Index

Richard Hoggart believed that the juke box was a harbinger of all the worst features of American mass culture. Using a range of primary and secondary sources, from the trade press of the music industry to memoirs and interviews, and drawing on an established sociological and historical literature on postwar youth cultures, Adrian Horn has produced an innovative and scholarly work. He charts the cultural impact of juke boxes in Britain in meticulous detail, and sheds much needed light also on the cultural worlds of 'the juke box boys' and youth cafes of postwar Britain.' -- David Fowler, University of Cambridge.

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