BBC Radio 2 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Light Programme.

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The People's Songs

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Stuart Maconie tells the story of modern Britain via the songs that provided a soundtrack.

Featuring memories contributed by Radio 2 listeners, Stuart Maconie narrates the story of post-war Britain via 50 records that soundtracked this dramatic and kaleidoscopic period.

The People's Songs: Lad and Ladette Culture

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Factual: History

Lad and Ladette Culture

19/06/2013

BBC Radio 2 - The People's Songs, Lad and Ladette Culture

Stuart looks at the lad and ladette culture which began in the early 1990s.

Stuart Maconie on the history of modern Britain in 50 records. How the new men's magazines of the early '90s gave men an excuse to rediscover their inner Neanderthal.

The term: 'new lad' was first coined by journalist Sean O'Hagen in an article for Arena magazine, in 1993. But there was nothing essentially 'new' about this lad. In fact he seemed a throwback to the late '60s/early '70s - a simpler time when men were interested in beer, football, fast cars and dolly birds. This was explained away as a reaction to the sensitive 'new man'; a confused reaction to feminism or, more patronisingly, as a middle-class aspiration towards some sort of mythical working-class values. But, of course, all of this could be also argued to be absolute nonsense, and it was just a lucrative marketing ploy driven by cynical magazine editors at the likes of GQ and Loaded. They recognised that many young men will always be interested in the same things, even if it wasn't politically correct to admit this, hence Loaded's motto, 'For men who should know better'.

James Brown, one of the driving forces behind Loaded, had said ultimately he'd wanted to capture his old employer the NME's readership, and in the process kill the old music press. At the height of its success, Loaded would sell nearly half a million copies a month, celebrating male rogues (say Liam Gallagher, Ollie Reed or George Best) and scantily clad women. But music also played a big part, exemplified by the likes of sharp-dressed geezer Paul Weller or boozing, brawling Manc loudmouths, Oasis. And what better anthem could lads have than Cigarettes And Alcohol?

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