The Beatles on BBC Radio in 1963: The "Scouse" Inflection and a Politics of Sound in the Rise of the Mersey Beat

BBC radio's role in the dissemination of the Beatles' sound in Britain in 1963 is examined through analysis of relevant program content and media coverage. As will be seen, both the Beatles' music and their speech reflect their Liverpool roots, and the band's involvement in the h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Popular music and society 2011-05, Vol.34 (2), p.163-175
Main Author:	Atkinson, Peter
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Accent Beatles British Broadcasting Corporation British culture British music Culture dialect dialectology Diction England English language (Modern) ethnomusicology folk music Inflection (Morphology) Liverpool Media coverage Mersey Beat Musicians Politics Popular Culture Popular music popular song Radio Radio broadcasting Radio Broadcasts Regional identity Rock Bands Social Classes Society Sound Speech stylistics The Beatles United Kingdom
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Summary:	BBC radio's role in the dissemination of the Beatles' sound in Britain in 1963 is examined through analysis of relevant program content and media coverage. As will be seen, both the Beatles' music and their speech reflect their Liverpool roots, and the band's involvement in the hegemonic format of BBC radio provides a key signifier in the absorption of the provincial "Mersey Beat" into British culture. This is demonstrated to have implications in the context of Britain's imperial decline, the emergence of new representational forms in arts and media, and the transition towards a more inclusive society in the 1960s.
ISSN:	0300-7766 1740-1712