'The British National Daily Press and Popular Music, c.1956-1975' constitutes a reappraisal of the reactions of the national daily press to forms of music popular with young people in Britain from the mid-1950s to the 1970s (including rock 'n' roll, skiffle, 'beat group' and rock music). Conventional histories of popular music in Britain frequently accuse the newspapers of generating 'moral panic' with regard to these genres and of helping to shape negative attitudes to the music within wider society. The book questions such charges; in doing so, it also challenges the tendency to perceive evidence from newspapers straightforwardly as a mere illustration of wider social trends and considers the manner in which the post-war newspaper industry, as a socio-cultural entity in its own right, responded to developments in youth culture as it faced distinctive challenges and pressures amid changing times.

Acknowledgements; Introduction; Focus and Scope of the Work; Chapter Outlines; 1. 'Teddy Boy Riots' and 'Jived- Up Jazz': Press Coverage of the 1956 Cinema Disturbances and the Question of 'Moral Panic'; 2. Beyond 'Moral Panic': Alternative Perspectives on the Press and Society; 3. 'Rock 'n' Roll Has Become Respectable': The Press and Popular Music Coverage beyond 1956; 4. Adventures in 'Discland': Newspapers and the Development of Popular Music Criticism, c. 1956- 1965; 5. Reversals and Changing Attitudes: Newspaper Coverage of Popular Music from the Late 1960s to the Mid- 1970s; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.