ABSTRACT
The idea of music cities has become a well-established way of making sense of a diverse musical culture, both nationally and internationally. In the UK, the idea that particular sounds and genres belong to specific geographical contexts has enabled the construction of a musical heritage in cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. The close relationship between musical genres and music ‘scenes’ in these cities has made it possible to understand and represent Liverpool’s ‘Merseybeat’ sound, Manchester’s ‘Madchester’ scene and Birmingham’s reputation as the birthplace of heavy metal. The notion of specific urban musical identities has become a conventional way to describe and analyse the cultural significance of British popular music in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
