Music of Manchester
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| Music of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| History | Nationalities | |
| Early popular music | England | |
| 1950s and 60s | Scotland | |
| 1970s | Wales | |
| 1980s | Ireland | |
| 1990s to present | Caribbean and Indian | |
| Genres: (Samples) Classical - Folk - Hip hop - Opera - Popular - Rock - Jazz | ||
| By year: 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 | ||
| Awards | Mercury, BRIT Awards, Gramophone Awards | |
| Charts | UK Singles Chart, UK classical chart, UK Albums Chart | |
| Festivals | Cambridge Folk Festival, Creamfields, Download Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Eisteddfodd, Glastonbury Festival, Homelands, Isle of Wight Festival, Royal National Mod, The Proms, Reading and Leeds Festivals , T in the Park, V Festival | |
| Media | NME - Melody Maker - The Gramophone | |
| National anthem | "God Save the Queen" | |
| Regions and territories | ||
| Birmingham - Cornwall - Man - Manchester - Northumbria - Somerset
Anguilla - Bermuda - Cayman Islands - Gibraltar - Montserrat - Turks and Caicos - Virgin Islands | ||
For Mancunians, the popular musical heritage of the city has always been a source of great pride. The city's eclectic mix of music has created the sense among its inhabitants that Manchester is the most important city in world music.
Although Manchester had an impressive music scene before 1976 (with groups like The Hollies, The Bee Gees, Barclay James Harvest and 10cc, and with Top of the Pops being recorded by the BBC in the city), undoubtedly the key moment in Manchester's musical history occurred on 4 June, 1976, when the Sex Pistols, at the invitation of Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks, arrived at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Castlefield to play a legendary gig [1] - legendary, because in spite of an audience of less than 42 people, several key members of Manchester's future music scene were present: Tony Wilson Granada TV presenter and creator of Factory Records, Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner (of Joy Division & New Order), Morrissey - later to form The Smiths with Johnny Marr - producer Martin Hannett, and Mick Hucknall of Simply Red. Soon after this gig, Wilson created Factory Records and signed Joy Division. Another influential event was the release of Buzzcocks' Spiral Scratch EP in early 1977 - the first independent-label Punk record.
With the industrial revolution as its model, Factory Records played upon Manchester's traditions, invoking at once apparently incongruous images of the industrial north and the glamorous pop art world of Andy Warhol. While labelmates A Certain Ratio and The Durutti Column each forged their own sound, it was Factory's Joy Division who somehow managed to grimly define what exactly it was to be a Mancunian as the '70s drew to an end. At the same time, and out of the same post punk energy, emerged Mark E. Smith's groundbreaking group The Fall, who would become one of the most inventive, original and prolific groups of the next three decades. New Order rose from the ashes of Joy Division combining rock, pop, and dance music to earn much critical acclaim while selling millions of records. The group that would ultimately become the definitive Manchester group of the '80s was The Smiths, lead by Morrissey and Marr. With songs like 'Rusholme Ruffians' and 'Suffer Little Children', Morrissey sang explicitly about Manchester, creating songs that are as iconic of Manchester as the paintings of L.S.Lowry.
As the '80s drew to a close, a new energy arrived in Manchester, fuelled by the drug ecstasy. A new scene developed around The Haçienda night club (again part of the Factory Records ‘empire’), creating what would become known as the Madchester scene, – the main proponents being the Happy Mondays, The Inspiral Carpets, and The Stone Roses. The history of the Manchester music scene over this period was dramatised in Michael Winterbottom's 2002 film 24 Hour Party People.
After the "Madchester" period, Manchester music lost much of its provincial energy, though many successful and interesting acts were still to emerge. Other notable musical acts in Manchester have been Take That, 808 State, M People, Oasis, The Verve, Magazine, The Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio, James, Badly Drawn Boy, Chameleons, Charlatans, Simply Red, Michael McGoldrick, Elbow, Monomania, I Am Kloot, Autechre, Lamb, Marconi Union, A Guy Called Gerald, Mr Scruff, and Doves. Morrissey and The Fall still continue to garner critical acclaim while Oasis remain the most popular, having played to more than 1.7 million people worldwide during their Don't Believe the Truth tour of 2005/early 2006.
Manchester's biggest popular music venue is the Manchester Arena, which seats over twenty thousand, and is the largest arena of its type in Europe, with the City Of Manchester Stadium and Old Trafford's cricket grounds also providing large ad-hoc open air venues outside of the sporting season. Other major venues include the Manchester Apollo and the Manchester Academy. There are over 30 smaller venues for signed and unsigned artists of all genres to perform in, ensuring that the music scene in Manchester constantly remains vibrant and interesting. An area known as the Northern Quarter, considered the cultural and musical heart of the city, houses some of the more famous of these venues such as Band on the Wall, the Roadhouse and Night and Day Cafe, plus various other venues established in various pubs and clubs throughout the city.
Many Manchester bands, and those influenced by the city's musical heritage and unique atmosphere have immortalised it in song - see List of songs about Manchester
Manchester music is currently immortalised by many new bands past and present, the definitive northern resource is available at :
http://www.manchestermusic.co.uk.
An independent website established in 1999 cataloging hundreds of local acts and with thousands of reviews available on-line.
The region is now served well by its own local radio shows, notably some regular weekly slots on BBC Radio GMR. However the recent addition of London based commercial station Xfm in the city has helped elevate the city's media facilities. Arguably the more locally owned, focussed and dedicated Mancunian radio station is Revolution Radio (96.2 FM) which is based in Oldham, focusing the majority of its airplay to local acts past and present.
The continued development of TV Broadcaster Channel M's (part of the Guardian Media Group) programming has provided a remarkable opportunity for many contemporary unsigned acts to appear on live television, with a high standard of production. With live venue recordings and regular unsigned shows broadcast most nights of the week, it all adds up to an unprecedented level of exposure for Manchester's new music.
Extraordinary Rendition Manchester Musicians' Collective (aka EXR) was formed in February 2006 and is based at the Carlton Club, Whalley Range. The collective consists of around 100 bands and about 100 acoustic acts all from the Greater Manchester area. EXR have their own record label (EXR Records)and put on live music nights around Manchester. All bands and artists from the area are encouraged to join and gig as part of the collective. For more information go to [www.exr.org.uk] and [www.myspace.com/manchesterbands].
[edit] References
The definitive local resource for all Manchester music information and reviews is manchestermusic.co.uk [2], Manchester’s original on-line music only publication, one of the UK’s first music webzines and still one of the UK’s largest with almost 10 years of grass roots and emerging music coverage.
Manchester Music is also a show with Terry Christian, Bonehead (oasis) and Natlie-Eve and Michelle Hussey. Broadcast every Saturday from 10pm on BBC Radio Manchester ( 95.1FM and www.bbc.co.uk/manchester [3]).
