The city of Manchester in North West England has a vibrant music scene that has produced some of the most innovative groups in the history of British popular music.

The Smiths

The Smiths were formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr (guitar), the group also included Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (drums). The band picked their name as a reaction against the elaborate names used by synthpop bands of the early 1980s, such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Spandau Ballet. In a 1984 interview Morrissey stated that he chose the name The Smiths "... because it was the most ordinary name" and because he thought that it was "... time that the ordinary folk of the world showed their faces."

Signing to Rough Trade Records, they released their first single, Hand in Glove, in May 1983. The record was championed by DJ John Peel, but failed to chart. The follow-up singles This Charming Man and What Difference Does It Make? fared better when they reached numbers 25 and 12 respectively. In February 1984, the group released their debut album The Smiths, which reached number two on the UK Albums Chart. In 1985 the band released their second album, Meat Is Murder. This was more strident and political than its predecessor, including the pro-vegetarian title track and the anti-corporal punishment stance of The Headmaster Ritual and Barbarism Begins at Home. The band had also grown more adventurous musically, with Marr adding rockabilly riffs to Rusholme Ruffians and Rourke playing a funk bass solo on Barbarism Begins at Home.

The Smiths have been hailed as the most important group to emerge from the British music scene of the 1980s. The band broke up in 1987.

The Fall

The Fall is one of the greatest and strangest rock groups to emerge from the British post-punk scene of the late 1970s. Occupying cult status on the fringes of mainstream success, the Fall has gone through many permutations during its long and turbulent career, but the one constant is its iconic front-man, the renegade genius Mark E. Smith.

The Fall was formed in Prestwich, a suburb of Manchester in 1976 by Mark E. Smith, Martin Bramah, Una Baines and Tony Friel. The name was a reference to Albert Camus’s novel La Chute (1956). From the beginning, the group produced a sound unlike anything else being played in the run-down dancehalls of northern England. They were more intelligent, more committed and far weirder.

The Fall emerged from the wreckage of the punk revolution. However, the group has always been fuelled by the originality and limitless imagination of Mark E. Smith. As the name of the group suggests, Smith is unusually literate for a rock performer. His lyrics employ a William Burroughs-style cut-up technique, abounding with references to occult literature, philosophy, pulp fiction and comic books. Smith cites H.P. Lovecraft, Raymond Chandler and Malcolm Lowry among his favourite writers. Smith’s lyrics reveal a strange aesthetic that combines gritty realism and an eye for the mundane details of life in the industrial North with a love of the grosteque and fantastic. This is evident in tracks like Lucifer Over Lancashire, City Hobgoblins and Spectre Vs. Rector. Demonic possession is a persistant theme, along with madness, witchcraft and political oppression from both left and right. Smith can pack more ideas into one song than most performers can manage in an entire album, and though his work is certainly an acquired taste, he has earned a grudging respect among his peers as one of the most original voices in rock music.

Joy Division

Joy Division was a legendary English rock group of the late 1970s, whose career was tragically cut short by the death of its enigmatic frontman, Ian Curtis. Inspired by the punk revolution, Joy Division evolved a haunting electronic sound to become pioneers of the British post-punk scene. Originally named Warsaw, the group was formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. The line-up included vocalist Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner (on guitar and keyboards), Peter Hook (on bass guitar) and drummer Stephen Morris. The band renamed themselves Joy Division in early 1978, borrowing the name from the prostitution wing of a Nazi concentration camp mentioned in the novel The House of Dolls (1955).

Joy Division developed a highly distinctive sound. Ian Curtis began to sing in a low, baritone voice, which was often compared to Jim Morrison of The Doors (one of Curtis’s favourite bands). Producer Martin Hannett ‘dedicated himself to capturing and intensifying Joy Division’s eerie spatiality’. In April 1979, the band began recording their debut album, Unknown Pleasures, at Strawberry Studios in Stockport. The striking cover was designed by Peter Saville, who would go on to provide artwork for future Joy Division releases.

Despite the band’s success, Ian Curtis was plagued by depression and personal difficulties, including being diagnosed with epilepsy. Curtis found it difficult to perform at live concerts, and often had seizures during performances. On the eve of the group’s first American tour, Curtis committed suicide in May 1980. Joy Division’s posthumous second album, Closer (1980), and the single Love Will Tear Us Apart became the band’s highest charting releases. After the death of Curtis, the remaining members reformed as New Order, achieving critical and commercial success.