And in The End: A 1980s Liverpool Youth Magazine

Abstract

This article will examine the 1980s magazine The End first published in Liverpool by young people following 2 years of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative election victory in 1979. The End editors and contributors have previously been discussed within popular culture, but there is a lack of academic consideration of the magazine itself. The End has been absorbed within the wider “Casual Cultural” appraisal—soccer subcultures of fashion and “terrace culture.” The End stands alone as it embraced the difficult life experiences of school leavers and endeavored to apply a humorous and acidly sarcastic twist to the dull consequences of unemployment and economic recession. This paper will explore the social, economic, and industrial landscape at the time of The End’s inception and capture the thoughts and motivations of those who first published the magazine. An exploration will examine the devastation of one industry as a representation of many businesses and manufacturing plants in Liverpool that relocated or ceased trading in the early 1980s. It explores the multi-layered texture and observational humor within The End.