Highway to hell or stairway to heaven: Making sense of the rock and metal scenes in Bradford and Leeds, West Yorkshire 1980–2005

Popular music scenes and spaces have been the subject of critical inquiry for many years, and metal music studies is also now well established. In this article, we explore the rock and metal scenes in Bradford and Leeds between 1980 and 2005 through written interviews with participants identified in the Facebook groups dedicated to the venues and nights in our chosen cities. We aim to show that the scenes constructed powerful senses of belonging to those in the scenes, but that memory and identity intersect with class, gender, race and northernness. This broad overview serves to contextualize our chosen cities, and we reference this snapshot of the scene in relation to other regions of the United Kingdom as we focus our attention specifically on the venues, fans, production and consumption of music in Bradford and Leeds. In taking this approach, we aim to pinpoint aspects of localized fan experience, and we depart from the perspective of established theorists who have historically approached the topic of the scene from a predominantly US perspective.