ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a general and a particular description of young people's use of music. It considers the existing sociological explanations of the importance of music in youth cultures. A lively, regular and varied social programme is vital to the building of Young Socialist branches. Young people's interest in music is taken for granted by everyone these days, and although post-war sociologists were initially surprised that teenagers should 'frequently and spontaneously' express a love of music. They already knew that young people had their own leisure pursuits and that one of the most popular was dancing. The full integration of pop music and youth culture was a development of the 1950s and was symbolised by a new form of music, rock'n'roll, and a new form of youth, teddy boys. The rise of rock'n'roll was accompanied by the development of a generation gap in dancing, as dance halls advertised rock'n'roll nights or became exclusively rock'n'roll venues.
