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Manchester, England
The definitive account of the pop cult capital of the UK by Dave Haslam, one of Manchester's top DJs and journalists. Manchester, a predominantly working-class city, away from the nation's capital, has been at the margins of English culture for centuries. The explosion of music and creativity in Manchester can be traced back from Victorian music hall and the jazz age, to Northern Soul and rock and roll, through to acid house and Oasis. But its roots are in Manchester's history as a melting pot of popular idealism and dissent, from the industrial revolution on, via film, theatre, comedy and TV. And for Manchester, read England and the world. Dave Haslam is uniquely placed to tell this story - Manchester, England is as witty, erudite and passionate as you would expect from a man who can say, again and again, "I was there". Like Jon Savage's England's Dreaming, this is the last word on the abiding centre of 40 years of UK pop culture.
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First published January 1, 1999
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About the author
Dave Haslam
20 books45 followersDave Haslam is an author and DJ. Originally from Moseley, Birmingham, he moved to Manchester in 1980, making his name as a DJ with 450 appearances at the Haçienda nightclub, including Thursday's Temperance club night in the late 1980s. In the 1990s he also hosted the weekly night Yellow at the Boardwalk nightclub in Manchester. His more recent DJ shows include clubs in Italy, USA, France, and Germany.
In the mid 1980s he founded the fanzine 'Debris' and went on to write for NME. His journalism has since appeared in The Times, The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The New Statesman and elsewhere. In 1999 he published Manchester, England, and, subsequently, Adventures on the Wheels of Steel, a book about the music and politics of the 1970s called Not Abba; the Real Story of the 1970s (reprinted as Young Hearts Run Free; the Real Story of the 1970s), a history of British nightclubs and music venues entitled 'Life After Dark', and his memoirs, 'Sonic Youth Slept On My Floor: Music, Manchester & More'.
His numerous other cultural interventions included creating an installation for the Berlin-based ‘Shrinking Cities’ exhibition; presenting a twenty minute talk on the North/South divide for BBC Radio 3; appearing on TV shows on BBC Two and on Channel 4, Granada TV, and Canal Plus (France). His 'Close Up' series of live interviews have attracted guest interviewees including Jonathan Franzen, Nile Rodgers and John Lydon.
In the mid 1980s he founded the fanzine 'Debris' and went on to write for NME. His journalism has since appeared in The Times, The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The New Statesman and elsewhere. In 1999 he published Manchester, England, and, subsequently, Adventures on the Wheels of Steel, a book about the music and politics of the 1970s called Not Abba; the Real Story of the 1970s (reprinted as Young Hearts Run Free; the Real Story of the 1970s), a history of British nightclubs and music venues entitled 'Life After Dark', and his memoirs, 'Sonic Youth Slept On My Floor: Music, Manchester & More'.
His numerous other cultural interventions included creating an installation for the Berlin-based ‘Shrinking Cities’ exhibition; presenting a twenty minute talk on the North/South divide for BBC Radio 3; appearing on TV shows on BBC Two and on Channel 4, Granada TV, and Canal Plus (France). His 'Close Up' series of live interviews have attracted guest interviewees including Jonathan Franzen, Nile Rodgers and John Lydon.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 9, 2012
A bit of a strange one this, I expected from a renowned Manchester DJ a more up to date/modern take on Manchester life, so I freely admit that I found the approx the first 1/3 of the book boring as hell because I was just wasn't in the mindset for a history lesson. As fascinating as the Peterloo Massacre (and other pre 1930 events) was, it wasn't what I really what I wanted to read about from 'legendary Hacienda DJ' Mr Haslam. However once it got into the music scene history lesson I was all ears, and it was worth the trek to the Cornerhouse for a signed copy, I wont spoil it too much as I can assume that anyone with an interest in Manchester Music History can guess all the artists mentioned in this book, worth a read if you can get past the first few chapters.
May 16, 2016
I read this fittingly while on English soil, in London though. It was well written and smoothly retold, a nice lively and firsthand recount of the Manchester musical landscape. I must say though that I know too little about British pop and underground to really understand all the references and know what bands or individuals we are talking about now. For this book it's not enough to just know oasis, joy division and new order.. So without it being the books fault I couldn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked to. The British bands I like are of a too different kind for this book. Anathema or my dying bride for example.. This book is about pop after all.
April 23, 2014
I moved to Manchester from the US in February, and my wife and I found a flat in late March. The occupant of Flat #1, with whom we share the building, offered up this book for me to read when I said that I was looking to learn more about the city and its history. I’m certain he didn’t recognize the kinship “looking to” has with “fixing to”, which is to suggest that there’s vagueness, hesitation, and some indeterminate future involved. So, no, I wasn’t really seeking a history text at that moment, and I certainly wouldn’t have taken up one that focused on Manchester’s music scene.
While I did work at reading the book—largely because of my extreme ignorance about the bands being described beyond the book’s midpoint—I found it thoroughly readable, chockfull of information about the city and culture that I’d not expected. Haslam writes well, though sometimes a bit floridly in his effort to reinforce (which he does throughout the book) his principle theme: that Manchester is a city whose meaningful history dates from about 1780 to the present, characterized by social dynamism (encompassing political, social, and cultural unrest), which manifested itself creatively (and mostly safely) in music. The thesis is well established in the introduction to the book, and then is elaborated in the more sweeping historical chapters that follow. Manchester was through most of the 19th century the most industrialized city in the world, and it remained one of the most industrialized even into the early 20th century. This status, however, did not come without a price: namely, a social disparity between rich and poor that ignited riots and movements for nearly a century. Beginning with the food riots in 1797, constant unrest through the first two decades, culminating in Peterloo (a demonstration of more than 60,000 people was run upon by English Hussars in an effort to quell violence that didn’t yet exist). The Chartist movement grew up then, but its rise was countered at every turn by English authorities, including standing garrisons in Manchester that lasted decades. Frederich Engles, living for many years in Manchester, used it as the basis of his Condition of the Working Class in England and as the philosophical springboard for the concept of socialism (ie, Marxist communism). Mancunian writer Elizabeth Gaskell wrote about the class disparities in Manchester (calling it Milton) in her novels Mary Barton and North and South.
Haslam asserts that this long-running standoff between the haves and have nots of Manchester was held in check only by the release valve of the entertainments available to the poor. Bars and dance halls and theatres (later movies) had the ability to divert and mostly contain the energies of the discontented poor, even as these entertainments became more sophisticated in the early decades of the 20th century. Music had a mostly anodyne effect till the 50s when the skiffle and folk music appeared, at which point there was a new ferment and new energy that captured the imagination of nascent music makers. Inspired by the nearby Beatles and the infusion of blues (and other pop music from the US), youth all over England, most particularly in Manchester, sought ways to create their own sounds. While the safe sounds of Herman’s Hermits, Freddie and the Dreamers, the Hollies, et al. made it possible for Manchester to be perceived as a music hub, there was no real leap forward till the mid-70s, when punk introduced itself to Manchester, which DIY style musicians and music promoters took up with a vengeance, building new clubs, record studios, and spawning the likes of the Buzzcocks, Joy Division, The Fall, and the Smiths, amongst several others. In the 80s and 90s, these groups themselves developed and grew, converging with such groups as New Order and A Certain Ratio, which offered up a music that included electronica and longer danceable grooves. In the 90s era of rave there was Oasis, 808 State, and the Stone Roses.
Haslam is good at delineating the particular sections of town where the clubs were located and what kind of crowds attended the different venues, who was a mover and shaker, and what kind of social upheaval was occurring (eg, development and re-location in Moss Side). As a practicing DJ through the 80s and 90s, he well knows the history of this era, and he is particularly strong on the Madchester (Ecstacy-fueled rave) period, giving a good deal of prominence to the dance music.
For an introduction to the city, this book was probably too much for me to fully absorb—especially since my interest in any popular music simply ceased in 1985 and my knowledge of Manchester’s geography and demography was at near zero when I began—but I found the read worthwhile. Haslam has researched his book very well, and he’s provided extensive endnotes, along with playlists for each of the later chapters (each playlist highlighting the music of the period and Mancunian proponents). I used youtube as means to avail myself of the music on these playlists, impressed that so much was so good (as an older adult, I’m obliged to add, semi-ironically, “if you’ve got a taste for that sort of thing”).
While I did work at reading the book—largely because of my extreme ignorance about the bands being described beyond the book’s midpoint—I found it thoroughly readable, chockfull of information about the city and culture that I’d not expected. Haslam writes well, though sometimes a bit floridly in his effort to reinforce (which he does throughout the book) his principle theme: that Manchester is a city whose meaningful history dates from about 1780 to the present, characterized by social dynamism (encompassing political, social, and cultural unrest), which manifested itself creatively (and mostly safely) in music. The thesis is well established in the introduction to the book, and then is elaborated in the more sweeping historical chapters that follow. Manchester was through most of the 19th century the most industrialized city in the world, and it remained one of the most industrialized even into the early 20th century. This status, however, did not come without a price: namely, a social disparity between rich and poor that ignited riots and movements for nearly a century. Beginning with the food riots in 1797, constant unrest through the first two decades, culminating in Peterloo (a demonstration of more than 60,000 people was run upon by English Hussars in an effort to quell violence that didn’t yet exist). The Chartist movement grew up then, but its rise was countered at every turn by English authorities, including standing garrisons in Manchester that lasted decades. Frederich Engles, living for many years in Manchester, used it as the basis of his Condition of the Working Class in England and as the philosophical springboard for the concept of socialism (ie, Marxist communism). Mancunian writer Elizabeth Gaskell wrote about the class disparities in Manchester (calling it Milton) in her novels Mary Barton and North and South.
Haslam asserts that this long-running standoff between the haves and have nots of Manchester was held in check only by the release valve of the entertainments available to the poor. Bars and dance halls and theatres (later movies) had the ability to divert and mostly contain the energies of the discontented poor, even as these entertainments became more sophisticated in the early decades of the 20th century. Music had a mostly anodyne effect till the 50s when the skiffle and folk music appeared, at which point there was a new ferment and new energy that captured the imagination of nascent music makers. Inspired by the nearby Beatles and the infusion of blues (and other pop music from the US), youth all over England, most particularly in Manchester, sought ways to create their own sounds. While the safe sounds of Herman’s Hermits, Freddie and the Dreamers, the Hollies, et al. made it possible for Manchester to be perceived as a music hub, there was no real leap forward till the mid-70s, when punk introduced itself to Manchester, which DIY style musicians and music promoters took up with a vengeance, building new clubs, record studios, and spawning the likes of the Buzzcocks, Joy Division, The Fall, and the Smiths, amongst several others. In the 80s and 90s, these groups themselves developed and grew, converging with such groups as New Order and A Certain Ratio, which offered up a music that included electronica and longer danceable grooves. In the 90s era of rave there was Oasis, 808 State, and the Stone Roses.
Haslam is good at delineating the particular sections of town where the clubs were located and what kind of crowds attended the different venues, who was a mover and shaker, and what kind of social upheaval was occurring (eg, development and re-location in Moss Side). As a practicing DJ through the 80s and 90s, he well knows the history of this era, and he is particularly strong on the Madchester (Ecstacy-fueled rave) period, giving a good deal of prominence to the dance music.
For an introduction to the city, this book was probably too much for me to fully absorb—especially since my interest in any popular music simply ceased in 1985 and my knowledge of Manchester’s geography and demography was at near zero when I began—but I found the read worthwhile. Haslam has researched his book very well, and he’s provided extensive endnotes, along with playlists for each of the later chapters (each playlist highlighting the music of the period and Mancunian proponents). I used youtube as means to avail myself of the music on these playlists, impressed that so much was so good (as an older adult, I’m obliged to add, semi-ironically, “if you’ve got a taste for that sort of thing”).
March 29, 2018
Ein del bra her, men det er pakka inn i ganske mykje prat.
July 13, 2015
I wanted to like this book so much more, but unfortunately it was pretty dull. The premise is great, tracing Manchester's cultural history back to the 1800s, when the city emerged as one of the early centers of the Industrial Revolution, and through to the iconic pop music of the 60s-90s. It seems like there could be some great stories here, especially if the same subject matter was handled by someone with a better knack for narrative history, say Bill Bryson. But unlike Bryson, Haslam's writing tends toward lists of facts -- "this DJ had a night at this club, this DJ had a night at this other club" and so on. It's actually a bit incomprehensible to anyone who's not already familiar with the subject matter. The Oasis book I recently read by Paul Gallagher gives a much more vivid and personal account of the city.
June 10, 2008
Painstakingly researched and passionately presented by the author (a Manchester DJ/scenester), this book suffers from being too specifically aimed at the demographic of the subject matter, to the point that it's largely boring to anyone not intimately acquainted with the city. It would probably be worth another star--maybe two--if I lived in the UK, or better yet, Manchester.
February 23, 2009
I've lived in Manchester for 22 years, and learnt an awful lot from this book. It appealed to me from the nostalgic aspect of me arriving here around the whole Madchester thing.
It was great to get a real insight from an insider of that time.
Not for everyone maybe, but if you like music anecdotes then this is good stuff...
It was great to get a real insight from an insider of that time.
Not for everyone maybe, but if you like music anecdotes then this is good stuff...
February 19, 2014
The story of my hometown and its reputation as a cult music city. This book takes you on journey from the early days of industrialization to the beginnings and endings of rave culture and the famous Hacienda nightclub. As someone who lived through the "Madchester" years I am filled with nostalgia every time I dip back into this book
May 8, 2007
If you have any interest in Manchester music culture, this is essential reading. If you don't, it's still great! Really interesting history of youth culture from the 19th century onwards, compellingly written by someone who was right in the middle of it in the 1990's. 'Ave it!
Read
July 26, 2011This is how you write properly about popular culture - Haslam has knowledge of and passion for his subject. A brilliant and much-needed musical history of the city that has provided us with some of the most influential music of the last century. A must-read.
May 14, 2013
The story of a City, from roman Mancunia, centre of the Industrial Revolution through to the post punk music capital of the world onto the birthplace of the worlds first superclub. A loving tale written by legendary Hacienda DJ Dave Haslam. Really enjoyable!
July 23, 2014
Ok book about history of Manchester music scene, unfortunately showing its age (it was written in 2000)as it has a chapter praising Jimmy Saville!!
May 3, 2011
Informative, well documented, fun. In my opinion, the best way to know more about the history of Manchester.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews