May 13, 2023, 1:52 p.m. ET
May 13, 2023, 1:52 p.m. ETFans pose with a statue of the Beatles in Liverpool, England.Credit…Mary Turner for The New York Times
Liverpool, which is this year hosting Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine, is among the most important cities in pop music history, and not just because it is the birthplace of the Beatles.
It is a port city, on the bank of the River Mersey estuary, and its unique mix of sounds comes from a flow of people over the centuries that has included seafarers and enslaved people, according to Paul Skillen, the author of “Scouse Pop” and a lecturer at the University of Chester. “It became a melting pot of cultures and musical influences, which made Liverpool different from all the other cities in the U.K.,” he said.
Merseybeat, a genre of music described as a British interpretation of American rock ‘n’ roll, emerged from Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Beatles and other local bands, like Gerry and the Pacemakers, were…
This article was written by Eleanor Stanford and originally published on www.nytimes.com