Bass Culture UK – How Bass Music Influenced British Culture

Bass Culture UK is the Black Music Research Unit at the University of Westminster, an academic research project exploring the impact of Jamaican and Jamaican-influenced music on British culture. Covering the period from the 1960s to the present day, with an initial focus on London and a particular interest in the years 1976 – 1981. We explore the impact of Bass Culture through the explosion of Jamaican genres like ska, reggae and dub in the UK to the development of distinct British variants like dub poetry, two-tone and lovers rock. We examine how and why this music’s influence has and continues to transform British pop from Susan Cadogan or The Clash to Stormzy. We also explore Bass Culture as a creative practice, an independent economy and a source of alternative philosophical and political ideas. This podcast is a collection of interviews with the people both behind the scenes and in the limelight of British Black Music.