
Transatlantic Drift
The Ebb and Flow of Dance Music
Reaktion Books (Publisher)
Published on 1. March 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-1-83639-073-2 (ISBN)
Description
Transatlantic Drift explores the emergence and evolution of nightclubs and electronic dance music from the 1950s onwards. It traces the rhythmic journey of dance music, following the pulse as it bounced between Europe, North America and the Caribbean. Music, dance styles and nightclub spaces are not created in isolation; they are shaped by collective influences and shared experiences. This book uncovers the interconnected story of dance music, taking in hotspots such as New York, Detroit, London, Manchester, Chicago, Duesseldorf and Ibiza. Transatlantic Drift offers an engaging exploration of how people have come together to share melodies and rhythms, forming a global conversation through electronic music.
Reviews / Votes
Sociologist Katie Milestone and music journalism lecturer Simon A. Morrison divide between them the period from the birth of rock'n'roll in the late 1950s to the modern day. Their scope is ambitious: where people danced, how they danced and the music that made them move. It's a golden era that takes in the rise of the mod, the birth of Northern Soul, the disco boom and rave culture . . . There is an evanescent quality to the world the book inhabits. Underground scenes form, enter the mainstream, fade away. * Financial Times * Through its carefully considered form, authorial team and consciously drifting contents, Transatlantic Drift is dedicated to transatlantic musical interchange and, indeed, to the exchange of scholarly and critical ideas concerning not only music but the ways in which we remember and make meaningful. This excellent book unravels the oftentimes knotty and contested musical happenings, people and places through an approach that embraces an open understanding of music histories in the plural. And in sidestepping common pitfalls in popular music scholarship - by attesting to regions as well as capital cities, for example - Katie Milestone and Simon A. Morrison have created an essential resource for all those interested in transatlantic popular music and subcultural histories. * Sarah Raine, Research Fellow, School of Music, UCD, and author of Authenticity and Belonging in the Northern Soul Scene *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
24 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 208 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
363 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83639-073-2 (9781836390732)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Katie Milestone (Author)
Katie Milestone is an academic and co-lead of the Music and Sonic Studies Research Group at Manchester Metropolitan University, teaching and researching youth subcultures, music and identity. Her books include Gender and Popular Culture (2nd edn, 2020).
Simon A. Morrison (Author)
Simon A. Morrison is a writer, academic and Programme Leader for Music Journalism at the University of Chester. He has published widely on global music culture, and his books include Dancefloor-Driven Literature: The Rave Scene in Fiction (2020).
Katie Milestone is an academic and co-lead of the Music and Sonic Studies Research Group at Manchester Metropolitan University, teaching and researching youth subcultures, music and identity. Her books include Gender and Popular Culture (2nd edn, 2020).
Simon A. Morrison (Author)
Simon A. Morrison is a writer, academic and Programme Leader for Music Journalism at the University of Chester. He has published widely on global music culture, and his books include Dancefloor-Driven Literature: The Rave Scene in Fiction (2020).
Content
Preface:
Mix In
Track One Katie
Milestone
1 The quest for a new kind
of dancefloor in post-war Britain
2 The emergence of youth
nightclub spaces in the uk
3 The late 1960s demise of
uk mod nightclubs and rise of a new dance underground
4 Rave before rave: The uk
in the late 1970s to the mid-1980s
Track Two Simon
A. Morrison
5 Uptown and Downtown
Manhattan in the latter 1970s
6 New York, Chicago and
Detroit in late-1980s (ish) usa
7 The beat travels back over
the pond: uk and continental Europe, 1985-90
8 TransEurope Express:
Europe . . . and the usa . . . to the Millennium
Epilogue: Mix Out
Chronology
References
Key Figures
Dance Playlist and Key Tracks
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index
Mix In
Track One Katie
Milestone
1 The quest for a new kind
of dancefloor in post-war Britain
2 The emergence of youth
nightclub spaces in the uk
3 The late 1960s demise of
uk mod nightclubs and rise of a new dance underground
4 Rave before rave: The uk
in the late 1970s to the mid-1980s
Track Two Simon
A. Morrison
5 Uptown and Downtown
Manhattan in the latter 1970s
6 New York, Chicago and
Detroit in late-1980s (ish) usa
7 The beat travels back over
the pond: uk and continental Europe, 1985-90
8 TransEurope Express:
Europe . . . and the usa . . . to the Millennium
Epilogue: Mix Out
Chronology
References
Key Figures
Dance Playlist and Key Tracks
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index