Roots, radicals and rockers
Subtitle: how skiffle changed the world
By: Billy Bragg
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 431
ISBN-13: 9780571327744
Subjects: Skiffle; History and criticism; Popular music
Description: "Emerging from the jazz clubs of the early 1950s, skiffle -- a uniquely British take on American folk and blues -- caused a sensation among a generation of kids who had grown up during the dreary post-war years. These were Britain's first teenagers, looking for a music of their own in a culture dominated by crooners and mediated by a stuffy BBC. Sales of guitars rocketed from 5,000 to 250,000 a year, and -- as with the punk rock that would flourish two decades later -- all you needed to know were three guitar chords to form your own group, with your mates accompanying on tea-chest bass and washboard. Against a backdrop of Cold War politics, rock and roll riots and a newly assertive working-class youth, Billy Bragg charts -- for the first time in depth -- the history, impact and legacy of Britain's original pop movement. It's a story of jazz pilgrims and blues blowers, Teddy Boys and beatnik girls, coffee-bar bohemians and refugees from the McCarthyite witch-hunts, who between them sparked a revolution that shaped pop culture as we have come to know it"--Page 2 of dust jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 399-414) and index.
Table of contents: title: The Rock Island Line; title: Ration book jazz; title: Blues in brass; title: Pilgrimage to New Orleans; title: Back to basics; title: What kind of music are they playing?; title: Stumbling towards a new dawn; title: The new Edwardians; title: The highbrow of swing; title: Will TV kill the British Sunday?; title: Sunshine on Soho; title: Red scare refugees; title: Skiffle artificial; title: The adventures of an Irish hillbilly; title: Youth in revolt; title: The people's music; title: Here's three chords; title: Lonnie opens the door; title: Going so fast; title: This'll make you skiffle; title: Country, bluegrass, and blues; title: Expresso bongo; title: For peace and harmony; title: Skiffle on the skids; title: Maximum R & B; title: The British are coming.