Professor Karl Spracklen

Satan, death, mutilation and murder: why are heavy metal album covers so scary?

Metal Hammer - online

Karl Spracklen, Professor of Sociology of Music, Leisure and Culture at Leeds Beckett University, is the author of several papers exploring music counter-culture and so-called ‘dark leisure’.

Professor Karl Spracklen Conferred as Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences

Leisure Studies Association - online

Former chair of the Leisure Studies Association, Prof Karl Spracklen has been conferred as Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences. The LSA nominated Karl for his extensive research in the field of leisure and popular music but for also promoting and championing leisure studies more broadly. Karl acts as an official ambassador for the LSA.

Why experts say there's no such thing as a northern identity

Mirror - online

Professor Karl Spracklen says the template for what is now thought of as a northern culture was laid down centuries ago. Romantic figures such as Robin Hood helped maintain the fiction in later years, but he says the idea of a concept of ‘Yorkshireness’ is simply made-up.

Academics create witch hunt against metal

Death Metal Underground - online

Karl Spracklen, previously interviewed here, became part of Metalgate when he “unfriended” me on Facebook and presumably helped block me from the Metpol mailing list after SJWs attacked me for allegedly having opinions that were not politically corrected. It is interesting that he, as a white male, caught the fear and now has joined the SJW side.

British University Professor KARL SPRACKLEN Talks About His 'Metal Music Studies' (Video)

BLABBERMOUTH.NET - online

A video clip Dr. Karl Spracklen, Professor of Leisure Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University, talking about goals of the International Society Of Heavy Metal Studies (ISMMS) and his focus on black metal can be seen below.

Spracklen K (2016) Millstone Grit, Blackstone Edge: Literary and Heritage Tourism in the South Pennines, England. In: Hooper G ed. Heritage and Tourism in Britain and Ireland: Nation, Conservation, Identity. Palgrave,

Spracklen K (In press) From Playful Pleasure to Dystopian Control: Marx, Gramsci, Habermas and the Limits of Leisure. Akademisk Kvarter/Acadaemic Quarter, 11 pp. 24-34.

http://www.akademiskkvarter.hum.aau.dk/pdf/vol11/2_KarlSpracklen_FromPalyfulPleasureToDystopianControl.pdf

Spracklen K (In press) "Come: it is time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man”: The re-enchantment of Scotland through Wicker Man tourism’. Journal of European Popular Culture

Gomes CL; Pereira JKC; Campos J; Spracklen K (In press) Light, Camera, Hospitality: Relationship between hosts and guests in film productions in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Leisure Studies, pp. 1-13.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2023.2215469

Bamford T; Ibrahim J; Spracklen K (In press) Becoming and being goth: how goths remember the scene’s transition from the eighties into the nineties. Punk and Post Punk, 10 (3), pp. 421-437.

https://doi.org/10.1386/punk_00088_1

Spracklen K (In press) Hegemony in postmodernity: Lifeworld colonization and the instrumentalization of leisure. International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, pp. 1-14.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-023-00136-y

Spracklen K (In press) Theorising northernness and northern culture: the north of England, northern Englishness, and sympathetic magic. Journal for Cultural Research, 20 (1), pp. 4-16.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14797585.2015.1134056

Spracklen K (In press) Bravehearts and Bonny Mountainsides: Nation and History in Scottish Folk/Black Metal. Rock Music Studies

https://doi.org/10.1080/19401159.2016.1253297

Spracklen K (2022) Sports Fans and Fan Culture: A Critical Reflection on Fandom as Communicative Leisure in a Commodified World. International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 5 pp. 283-295.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-021-00093-4

Spracklen K; Spracklen L (2022) Workington Man, Brexit and populism: Discussions of politics, identity and class among rugby league fans online. British Politics, 17 pp. 315-332.

https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-021-00191-7

Gomes CL; Falcão D; Spracklen K (2022) The artistic work of street musicians in Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro: Interstices of work and leisure. Leisure Sciences: an interdisciplinary journal, pp. 1-16.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2022.2062076

Spracklen K; Lashua B; Swain S (2021) Khat-chewing, moral spacing and belonging: Sociological insights into the cultural space of the mafrish in the leisure lives of older and middle-aged British-Somali males. International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure

https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-020-00079-8

Thurnell-Read T; Robinson D; Herbst J; Spracklen K (2020) Rhythm and booze: Contesting leisure mobilities on the Transpennine Real Ale Trail. Mobilities

https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2020.1820189

Spracklen K; Spracklen L (2020) Simply the Best, or remembering when Tina Turner met the Winfield Cup : Nostalgia and the construction of authenticity in rugby league online spaces. Sport in Society

https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2020.1789103

Spracklen K; Robinson D (2020) Putting faith in vinyl, real ale and live music : a case study of the limits of tourism policy and a critical analysis of new leisure spaces in a northern English town. Tourism, Culture and Communication, 20 (2-3), pp. 151-161.

https://doi.org/10.3727/109830420X15894802540223

Spracklen K (2020) From The Wicker Man (1973) to Atlantean Kodex: Extreme music, alternative identities and the invention of paganism. Metal Music Studies, 6 (1), pp. 71-86.

https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00005_1

Spracklen K (2020) Performing science-fiction fandom through debating controversy: Communicative leisure, collective memory and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story below the line at The Guardian. Journal of Fandom Studies, 8 (1), pp. 103-117.

https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs_00012_1

Spracklen K (2019) Cycling, bread and circuses? When Le Tour came to Yorkshire and what it left behind. Sport in Society

https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2019.1673735

Robinson D; Spracklen K (2019) Music, Beer and Performativity in New Local Leisure Spaces: Case Study of a Yorkshire Dales Market Town. International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure

https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-018-00029-5

Swain S; Spracklen K; Lashua B (2018) Khat-Chewing in Liminal Leisure Spaces: British-Somali Youth on the Margins. Leisure Studies, 37 (4), pp. 440-451.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2018.1455891

Spracklen K (2018) Leisure, Popular Culture and Memory: The Invention of Dark Age Britain, Wales, England, and Middle-earth in the songs of Led Zeppelin. International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 1 (2), pp. 139-152.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-018-0009-7

Spracklen K (2018) Opeth Not Metal: Making Sense of the Symbolic Boundary Work in the Leisure Spaces of Musicians and Fans. International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure

https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-018-00024-w

Henderson S; Spracklen K (2017) ‘Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose’: Music Promoting, Digital Leisure, Social Media and Community. Leisure Sciences, 40 (4), pp. 239-250.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2017.1378139

Spracklen K (2017) ‘Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, and—which is more—you’ll be a man, my son’: Myths of British masculinity and Britishness in the Construction and Reception of Iron Maiden. Metal Music Studies

https://doi.org/10.1386/mms.3.3.405_1

Henderson S; Spracklen K (2017) If I Had My Way, I'd Have Been a Killer: Songwriting and its Motivations for Leisure and Work. Leisure / Loisir, 41 (2),

https://doi.org/10.1080/14927713.2017.1353436

Spracklen K (2017) Sex, Drugs, Satan and Rock and Roll: Re-thinking Dark Leisure, from Theoretical Framework to an Exploration of Pop-rock-metal Music Norms. Annals of Leisure Research, 21 (4), pp. 407-423.

https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2017.1326156

Spracklen K; Henderson S; Procter D (2016) Imagining the Scene and the Memory of the F-Club: Talking About Lost Punk and Post-Punk Spaces in Leeds. Punk and Post Punk

https://doi.org/10.1386/punk.5.2.147_1

Spracklen K (2015) "To Holmgard… and Beyond": Folk Metal Fantasies and Hegemonic White Masculinities. Metal Music Studies, 1 (3), pp. 354-377.

https://doi.org/10.1386/mms.1.3.359_1

Henderson S; Spracklen K (2015) From Serious Leisure to Serious Work, or, When Folk Music Struck a Chord: Careers, Habermasian Rationality and Agency. Leisure/ Loisir, 38 (3-4), pp. 207-224.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14927713.2015.1042210

Spracklen K; Long J; Hylton K (2014) Leisure opportunities and new migrant communities: challenging the contribution of sport. Leisure Studies, 34 (1), pp. 114-129.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2014.939989

Spracklen K (2014) Bottling Scotland, drinking Scotland: Scotland's future, the whisky industry and leisure, tourism and public-health policy. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, 6 (2), pp. 135-152.

https://doi.org/10.1080/19407963.2014.911517

Spracklen K (2014) Moral panics or the politics of pleasure? Alcohol and policy directions in tourism, leisure and events. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, 6 (2), pp. 93-94.

https://doi.org/10.1080/19407963.2014.925259

Spracklen K (2014) There is (almost) no alternative: the slow ‘heat death’ of music subcultures and the instrumentalization of contemporary leisure. Annals of Leisure Research, 17 (3), pp. 252-266.

https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2014.926226

Long J; Hylton K; Spracklen K (2014) Whiteness, Blackness and Settlement: Leisure and the Integration of New Migrants. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 40 (11), pp. 1779-1797.

https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2014.893189

Fletcher T; Spracklen K (2014) Cricket, drinking and exclusion of British Pakistani Muslims?. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 37 (8), pp. 1310-1327.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2013.790983

Spracklen K; Lucas C; Deeks M (2014) The Construction of Heavy Metal Identity through Heritage Narratives: A Case Study of Extreme Metal Bands in the North of England. Popular Music and Society, 37 (1), pp. 48-64.

https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2012.724605

Spracklen K; Spracklen B (2014) The Strange and Spooky Battle over Bats and Black Dresses: The Commodification of Whitby Goth Weekend and the Loss of a Subculture. Tourist Studies, 14 (1), pp. 86-102.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797613511688

Spracklen K; Laurencic J; Kenyon A (2013) 'Mine's a Pint of Bitter': Performativity, gender, class and representations of authenticity in real-ale tourism. Tourist Studies, 13 (3), pp. 304-321.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797613498165

Spracklen K; Henderson S (2013) "Oh! What a tangled web we weave": Englishness, communicative leisure, identity work and the cultural web of the English folk morris dance scene. Leisure/ Loisir, 37 (3), pp. 233-249.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14927713.2013.848552

Spracklen K; Richter A; Spracklen B (2013) The eventization of leisure and the strange death of alternative Leeds. City, 17 (2), pp. 164-178.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2013.765120

Spracklen K (2013) Nazi Punks Folk Off: Leisure, Nationalism, Cultural Identity and the Consumption of Metal and Folk Music. Leisure Studies, 32 (4), pp. 415-425.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2012.674152

Spracklen K (2013) Respectable Drinkers, Sensible Drinking, Serious Leisure: Single-Malt Whisky Enthusiasts and the Moral Panic of Irresponsible Others. Contemporary Social Science, 8 (1), pp. 46-57.

https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2012.745590

Spracklen K; Spracklen B (2012) Pagans and Satan and Goths, Oh My: Dark Leisure as Communicative Agency and Communal Identity on the Fringes of the Modern Goth Scene. World Leisure Journal, 54 (4), pp. 350-362.

https://doi.org/10.1080/04419057.2012.720585

Spracklen K; Lucas C; Deeks M (2012) The Construction of Heavy Metal Identity through Heritage Narratives: A Case Study of Extreme Metal Bands in the North of England. Popular Music and Society, 37 (1),

https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2012.724605

Spracklen K (2011) Dreaming of drams: Authenticity in Scottish whisky tourism as an expression of unresolved Habermasian rationalities. Leisure Studies, 30 (1), pp. 99-116.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2010.502240

Lucas C; Deeks M; Spracklen K (2011) Grim up North: Northern, England, Northern Europe and Black Metal. Journal for Cultural Research, 15 (3), pp. 279-296.

Spracklen K; Timmins S; Long J (2010) Ethnographies of the imagined, the imaginary and the critically real: Blackness, whiteness, the north of England and rugby league. Leisure Studies, 29 (4), pp. 397-414.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2010.523838

Spracklen K (2020) Metal Music and the Re-imagining of Masculinity, Place, Race and Nation. Bingley: Emerald.

Spracklen K; Spracklen B (2018) The Evolution of Goth Culture The Origins and Deeds of the New Goths. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing.

eds. Spracklen K; Lashua B; Sharpe E; Swain S (2017) The Palgrave Handbook of Leisure Theory. London: Palgrave.

Spracklen K; Lamond I (2016) Critical Event Studies. Abingdon: Routledge.

Spracklen K (2016) Making the Moral Case for Social Sciences: Stemming the Tide. London: Palgrave.

eds. Brown A; Spracklen K; Khan-Harris K; Scott N (2016) Global Metal Music and Culture: Current Directions in Metal Studies. New York: Routledge.

Spracklen K (2015) Digital Leisure, the Internet and Popular Culture. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Spracklen K (2014) Exploring Sports and Society: A Critical Introduction for Students. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lamond IR; Spracklen K (2014) Protests As Events: Politics, Activism and Leisure. London: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Incorporated.

Spracklen K (2013) Leisure, Sports & Society. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Spracklen K (2013) Whiteness and Leisure. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Spracklen K (2011) Constructing Leisure: Historical and Philosophical Debates. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Long J; Spracklen K (2010) Sport and Challenges to Racism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Spracklen K (2009) The Meaning and Purpose of Leisure. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Spracklen K (2017) The Future of Work and Leisure by Stanley Parker (1971, London: MacGibbon and Kee).

Spracklen K; Scott N (2015) Metal Music Studies.