Sounds of the cities
These inspirational UK cities celebrate their musical heritage and honour their home-grown talent...
Mad for it in Manchester
The world’s first major industrialised city has spawned hundreds of world-class music acts from The Hollies and The Bee Gees to The Smiths, Simply Red, New Order, James, The Stone Roses, Take That, M People and Oasis.
The Hacienda club was the epicentre of the rave scene in the 80s and 90s, with many big Manc acts playing the venue.
Now a block of student flats, music fans can still get a taste of the infamous scene at Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum (scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk), which displays artefacts from the venue, including a pair of loading bay doors. Walking tours are on offer around the city’s famous Madchester music haunts. Iconic landmarks include the Epping Walk Bridge in Hulme, featured on Joy Division’s ‘best of’ album and the red-bricked Salford Lads Club from The Smiths album, The Queen Is Dead.
Oasis also loved featuring locations on their sleeves, including the front room of guitarist Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs’ old house in Didsbury on Definitely Maybe.
City venues such as Band on the Wall, Gorilla, The Deaf Institute and the Castle Hotel are some of the much-loved venues still hosting local and international acts. visitmanchester.com
Steel City sounds
Sheffield’s musical heritage stretches back to the 60s, when Woodhouse-born singer
Dave Berry found stardom with Memphis, Tennessee, swiftly followed by gravel-voiced Joe Cocker, who signed his first record contract in the Frog & Parrot pub on Division Street.
Many musical talents followed – The Human League, Heaven 17, Def Leppard, Pulp and Arctic Monkeys.
Fave venues include Sheffield City Hall, Sheffield Arena, O2 Academy, The Harley, The Greystones and The Leadmill.
The now-closed Boardwalk (formerly the Black Swan) was where The Clash played their first ever gig in 1976. Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner pulled pints there and it is apparently Sheffield’s most haunted spot, with a resident poltergeist that slams doors and plays piano.
Crazy Daizy nightclub on High Street was where The Human League’s Phil Oakey first spotted 18-year-old best friends Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall on the dancefloor and asked them to join the band. They’re still together 40 years later. The club, next to a Sheffield Supertram stop, is now used as a supermarket and shops.
Meanwhile, Stanhope Road in Intake, where Jarvis Cocker grew up, is immortalised in the opening lines of Pulp’s Babies: “It happened years ago, when you lived on Stanhope Road”. welcometosheffield.co.uk