Where there is discord, may we bring harmony: Government economic policy and independent record labels in the United Kingdom in the 1980s

Abstract

Abstract This article seeks to examine the relationship between independent popular music cultural production in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and the policies and political philosophy of Thatcherism. Although often regarded as being oppositional forces, closer scrutiny reveals areas of significant complementarity, most notably in the influence of the Enterprise Allowance Scheme on various emerging independent record labels. The first part of the article will look at genuine attempts at resistance to Thatcherism in popular music culture such as Red Wedge, and cite various ‘common-sense’ ideas around anti-Thatcherism in contemporary popular music culture. The second part looks at the historical roots of Thatcherism in order to provide a definitional framework as well as to explore some of the ambiguities around Thatcherism itself (particularly regarding the competing strands of social conservatism and economic liberalism) and the central importance of the promotion of an ‘enterprise culture’ based on self-reliance and entrepreneurship. An examination of the role played by the Enterprise Allowance Scheme in the development of independent record labels follows in order to assess the degree to which the economic liberalism of Thatcherism found an expression in independent popular music culture.