Surveiller les Stones : musique et violence à Berlin. Les débats transnationaux des années 1960

• Main Author: Bodo Mrozek
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Criminocorpus 2019-02-01
• Series: Criminocorpus
• Subjects: history of violence; pop music history; transnational history; cultural history; juvenile delinquance; censorship
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/criminocorpus/5897

The article analyses the violence that broke out at a concert of the Rolling Stones in 1965 West-Berlin. In a close reading of records from the Berlin Police archives the article understands the actions at the concert as a result of lacking experience with new cultural forms of expression, old-fashioned ideas of “order” rooting deep in German history as well as logistical failures. Analyzing the aftermath of the concert, the article demonstrates how not only the event itself, but also the effects of rock music in general and the state of post-war youth was discussed extensively in the media and even in a political debate at the Berlin city parliament. As a result, police reforms and new safety standards for concert halls and arenas were developed and internationally debated. Therefore, the article suggests to regard the mid-sixties as a watershed (« Schwellenzeit ») in the process of the establishment of a new rock and pop culture.