Pop groups of the 1960s and early 1970s Manchester and its surrounding area had an impressive music scene before 1976, with groups in the 1960s including the Hollies, the Bee Gees, Herman's Hermits,
Wayne Fontana and
the Mindbenders, and
Freddie and the Dreamers.
Barclay James Harvest formed in nearby
Oldham in 1966 and
10cc in
Stockport in the early 1970s.
Top of the Pops was also recorded by the
BBC at this time in the city. Manchester bands Freddie and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders and Herman's Hermits topped the American
Billboard charts consecutively during mid-April – May 1965. In 1965, all three bands were numbers 1, 2 and 3 on the US
Billboard top 100 for one week.
Graham Nash of the Hollies moved to
California to become part of the rapidly expanding music scene there. With the exception of Graham Gouldman of 10cc and Eric Stewart of the Mindbenders (who built
Strawberry Studios in
Stockport, the UK's first world class recording studio outside London), and
Keith Hopwood of
Herman's Hermits (whose Pluto Studios started in the same building as Strawberry, then spent 1977–1987 in the centre of Manchester), there was little reinvestment in Manchester from its local musicians who had been successful. , Manchester, pictured in 2023
Philomena Lynott (1930-2019), the Irish mother of
Thin Lizzy frontman
Phil Lynott, ran the Clifton Grange Hotel (on the corner of Wellington Road and Alness Road) in
Whalley Range from 1966 to 1980. On visits to Manchester, Phil Lynott would stay with her there, and took inspiration from the colourful 'showbiz' clientele he met who frequented the hotel. The Buzzcocks had formed after seeing the band live in London in February 1976. The crowd for the June and July Manchester shows consisted of around 30 to 40 people, several key members of Manchester's future alternative music scene were present:
Tony Wilson (
Granada Television presenter and creator of
Factory Records),
Peter Hook and
Bernard Sumner (
Joy Division and
New Order),
Morrissey (later to form
the Smiths with
Johnny Marr), producer
Martin Hannett,
Mark E Smith of
the Fall,
Paul Morley (later to write for the
NME and become an influential music journalist),
Jonh Ingham of
Sounds and
Mick Hucknall of
Simply Red. Another influential event was the release of Buzzcocks'
Spiral Scratch EP in early 1977 – the first punk release to be financed, produced and recorded purely independently by a band. In the wake of the release, the old movers and shakers from the Manchester music collective Music Force, who included producer Martin Hannett, Tosh Ryan and Lawrence Beadle, formed a local label called Rabid Records and started putting out singles by local acts like
Slaughter & the Dogs (
Rob Gretton later to manage Joy Division and New Order was their roadie/tour manager – all
Wythenshawe lads),
John Cooper Clarke and
Ed Banger and the Nosebleeds (whose lineup included
Vini Reilly) and they licensed "
Jilted John" by Jilted John to
EMI Records. The timing of this record company coincided with
Tony Wilson bringing the cream of both American and British punk and New Wave bands to the public on his acclaimed late night
Granada Television show
So It Goes. This meant that Manchester had televised the
Sex Pistols long before they appeared on
Thames Television with
Bill Grundy (incidentally another Mancunian). Unlike other major cities, Manchester hosted The Sex Pistols Anarchy Tour twice at
The Electric Circus; and it was these gigs more than the small Lesser Free Trade Hall gigs which really lit a fire under Manchester's assorted musicians and gave them that
do-it-yourself philosophy which defined British punk. When
So It Goes concluded on Granada TV, Tony Wilson wanted to remain involved in the local music scene, so he started an event night at the old Russell Club in
Hulme called The Factory along with his friends (soon to be business partners) Alan Erasmus and Alan Wise. Deeply Vale Festivals (1976–1979), just north of Manchester between
Rochdale and
Bury, was the first free festival in the country to introduce punk bands such as Durutti Column, Fast Cars, the Fall and the Drones. The festival was compered by Tony Wilson as a favour to friend and organiser Chris Hewitt. Wilson had been taking a great interest in Rabid Records and its set up. After working on the research for a Granada TV feature about Rabid, he along with Alan Erasmus and Joy Division manager Rob Gretton (the
Ideal for Living EP had been distributed by Rabid) decided they would do their own version of Rabid Records, but instead of churning out singles and then licensing the album deals to major labels (Slaughter & the Dogs' debut appeared on
Decca, John Cooper Clarke was licensed to CBS, and Jilted John to EMI), they would concentrate on albums.
Post-punk and Factory Records Taking 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 label mates
A Certain Ratio and
the Durutti Column each forged their own sound, it was Factory's
Joy Division who were the most prominent. Other bands that walked through the door opened by punk included the
Salford Jets, fronted by Mike Sweeney, and
the Freshies, led by
Chris Sievey (Frank Sidebottom). There was also the idiosyncratic post-punk of
the Membranes. The first Factory Records release following the
A Factory Sample EP (which included Joy Division, the Durutti Column,
Cabaret Voltaire, and
John Dowie) was
Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division, recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport. At the same time, and out of the same post-punk 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 1980s was
the Smiths, led by Morrissey and Marr. With songs like "Rusholme Ruffians" and "Suffer Little Children", Morrissey sang explicitly about Manchester. Other bands that have emerged from the Manchester music scene include
Van der Graaf Generator,
Oasis,
the Smiths,
Joy Division and its successor group
New Order,
Buzzcocks,
the Stone Roses,
the Fall,
10cc,
Godley & Creme,
the Verve,
Elbow,
Doves,
the Charlatans,
M People,
the 1975,
Simply Red,
Blossoms,
Take That,
Dutch Uncles,
Everything Everything,
the Courteeners,
Pale Waves, and
the Outfield. Although from southern England,
the Chemical Brothers subsequently formed in Manchester.
Madchester As the 1980s drew to a close, a new energy arrived in Manchester fueled by the drug
ecstasy. A new scene developed around
The Haçienda night club (part of the Factory Records empire), creating what would become known as the
Madchester scene, the main proponents being
Happy Mondays,
Inspiral Carpets,
Northside, and
the Stone Roses alongside the already legendary Hacienda co-owners
New Order and Cheshire band
the Charlatans. The history of the Manchester music scene over this period was dramatised in
Michael Winterbottom's 2002 film
24 Hour Party People and the life of Joy Division's
Ian Curtis was also dramatised in the 2007 film
Control.
1990s and after Following the Madchester period, Manchester music lost much of its provincial energy, though many successful and interesting acts were still to emerge.
Morrissey,
New Order,
the Fall,
James, and
the Verve still continue to garner critical acclaim while
Oasis remains the most popular, having played to more than 1.7 million people worldwide during their
Don't Believe the Truth tour of 2005 and early 2006. In 2010, Manchester was named the UK's seventh "most musical" city by
PRS for Music per head to some bemusement. ==Venues of the early 21st century==