‘How Belfast got the blues’

Towards an alternative history

Authors

  • Noel McLaughlin Northumbria University Author
  • Joanna Braniff Northumbria University Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.35324

Keywords:

Belfast, 1960s, Them, Van Morrison, Ottilie Patterson, Phil Solomon, Billy Harrison, Maritime Hotel, beat scene, blues, blues/jazz, ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’

Abstract

This article offers a revisionist history of a key period of Belfast and Northern Ireland’s music scene in the 1960s: the emergence of Them and Van Morrison and the attendant ‘legend’ of the group’s residency in the city’s Maritime Hotel. This formative moment is, somewhat surprisingly, under-explored in popular music studies, and the article seeks to address this relative absence. Van Morrison’s biographies are a vital resource here, and—via discourse analysis—we trace the emergence of a dominant narrative and assess its ideological implications, before moving on to analyse Them’s breakthrough single and related promotional materials. In so doing, we connect the scene that the group both emerged from and represented, to broader popular musical trends, as well as considering how the story of Them’s emergence is supported and framed in contemporary heritage initiatives. The article argues that the myth of Them, Morrison and the Maritime has obscured other ways of approaching the period, and we conclude with a counterhistory by considering an earlier blues/jazz scene in the city and how this might shape an orthodox narrative.

Author Biographies

  • Noel McLaughlin, Northumbria University
    Dr Noel McLaughlin is Senior Lecturer in Film and Television Studies, Department of Arts, Northumbria University, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK. He has published widely on Irish rock and popular music. His most recent book is Rock and Popular Music in Ireland: Before and After U2 (with Martin McLoone, Irish Academic Press, 2012).
  • Joanna Braniff, Northumbria University
    Joanna Braniff is an independent scholar based in Belfast. She was features editor of The Irish News from 2002 to 2008. She was a director of political communications in the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2010 to 2015. Joanna now works as a freelance journalist, author and media consultant, specializing in arts and culture. Her interests include environmental and progressive politics in the Northern Irish context.

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Published

2017-12-21

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

McLaughlin, N., & Braniff, J. (2017). ‘How Belfast got the blues’: Towards an alternative history. Popular Music History, 10(3), 207-240. https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.35324