In Deepest Manchester

The image is taken from Vocalzone

Introduction

Around 1977 I was in a band called The Bok and we touted our demos to various record companies but the only ones who took any notice were Rabid Records. You can hear the demos below, but this is essentially about the general "Madchester" phenomenon, Factory Records, Tony Wilson, The Hacienda and other probably unrelated stuff.

I remember seeing Tony Wilson on Granada especially with his great contemporary music show. He went on to form Factory Records, signing some great acts like Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays and worked with the genius producer Martin Hannett.

The film "Twenty Four Hour Party People" is a brilliant and funny insight into the era and the film "Control" focuses on Joy Division, especially the tragedy of their lead singer Ian Curtis.

These are just a few songs from the area and era that stand out for me.

"Happy Birthday" by The Bok

This is a demo record live direct to a two track cassette in my parents house in Preston. Rabid wanted to put this out as a single and asked us what studio we had used. We said "Studio????". John Peel described us as primitive but I wrote it for my friend Catherine. It, of course, was never released on record.

"Spiral Scratch" by The Buzzcocks

A perfect description of a vinyl records in the title of this do it yourself EP output on their own New Hormones record label. This was when independent meant independent and not just another sub EMO music genre.

"Suspended Sentence" by Doctor John Cooper Clarke

The Bard of Salford who is still going strong today, but he brought poetry into punk. He was on Rabid when we almost signed but he had just gone to CBS for his "Disguise In Love" album. This is brilliant piece of Social Commentary.

"Atmosphere" by Joy Division

The sound of this song is just stunning, but we lost Ian Curtis far too soon. Love the keyboard orchestration and drum sound on this.

"Hallelujah" by The Happy Mondays

The Happy Modays were a band I wouldn't want anywhere near me, Shaun Ryder being an obnoxious Manc, but they made some great albums and this is one example of how brilliant they could sound. In a live environment these songs could go on for a long time and fuelled by drink and drugs the crowd were not complaining.

"Blue Monday" by New Order

Ander Ian Curtis' suicide Joy Division morphed into New Order with Bernard Sumner taking on the mantle of lead vocalist. The song was instigated by a drum machine glitch and became the biggest selling 12" vinyl single of all time.

However there was a slight problem. The computer disc cut out replica artwork cost more than Factory charged for the record. This was the Factory Records modus operandi and why the originally didn't last, although they were resuarrected and are an iconic symbol of the Madchester movement.

"Step Out" by Oasis

The Gallagher's are more obnoxious Manc's. I love this record which rips off Steveie Wonder's "Uptight" for the chorus. The band put it on the "B" side of a single and I'm not sure if Stevie Wonder was given a credit, but it's still a great record and I think we did it once when I was in Spoon. You can download it here if you like it.

"Waterfall" by The Stone Roses

Ian Brown does not have the strongest voice but with John Squire on guitar and The Stone Rise as a foil the songs almost always came out perfectly and this is an absolute beauty.

Conclusion

I hope these selctions make you want texplore further. There are lots of bands that I have missed but these are just a few jewels for your enjoyment.