Remembering the 1960s: popular music and memory in Europe

Abstract

Following the increasing attention paid to popular music in heritage discourses, this article explores how the popular music culture from the 1960s is remembered in Europe. I discuss the role of heritage organizations, media and the cultural policy of the EU in the construction of a popular music heritage of this period. Furthermore, I examine the ways in which attachments to local, national and European identities are negotiated. To this end, I draw upon interviews with representatives of museums, websites and archives. The article reveals a recurring tension between transnational and local experiences of the 1960s. It is found that media and heritage institutions like museums and archives predominantly have a national and local orientation, although narratives with a European vantage point are now emerging on the internet.

Keywords:

• popular music
• cultural policy
• cultural memory
• Europe

Acknowledgements

This research has been supported as part of the Popular Music Heritage, Cultural Memory and Cultural Identity (POPID) project by the HERA Joint Research Programme (www.heranet.info) which is co-funded by AHRC, AKA, DASTI, ETF, FNR, FWF, HAZU, IRCHSS, MHEST, NWO, RANNIS, RCN, VR and The European Community FP7 2007–2013, under ‘the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities programme’. The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and Susanne Janssen for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Notes

1. http://europa.eu/abc/symbols/motto/index_en.htm (accessed February 2013).

2. http://www.dismarc.org/info/ (accessed March 2013).

3. ‘Remembering Radio Luxembourg in the People’s Republic of Poland’: http://varsovie.mae.lu/en/Remembering-Radio-Luxembourg-in-the-People-s-Republic-of-Poland-Wspominajac-Radio-Luksemburg-w-PRL (accessed May 2013).

4. http://www.arte.tv/de/tv-programm/3204632.html (accessed February 2013).

5. http://europopmusic.eu/ (accessed March 2013).

6. http://www.readysteadygirls.eu/ (accessed March 2013).

7. See http://www.offshoreradio.org, http://www.azanorak.com/ and http://soundscapes.info/ (accessed March 2013).

8. www.offshoreechos.com/Aboutus.htm (accessed March 2013).

9. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/visiting/en/visits/historyhouse.html (accessed February 2013).