Status Updates From Groovy, Laidback and Nasty:...

Finally finished ‘er in the searing heat, sweating through my Pulp tee.

I appreciated (and got unexpectedly emotional at) the conclusion’s acknowledgement that Sheffield’s musical history is all but unrepeatable for the working class of today. That sense of inaccessibility—of space, “both physical and mental” per Wray—was keenly felt half the globe/century away from me.

Sheffield enters the new millennium: Pulp bow out (for now), Hawley reluctantly takes center stage, spangly “greasers” ‘n’ “blondes” hit the scene, and ‘90s clubs come crashing down as the Boardwalk blokes and their bands are on the rise…

Bye-bye to the ‘90s: Britpop, NOS, “Pulp Prime”, and decentered DJs make way for Gatecrashers, radio pirates, Niche music, and DJ deification.

Sheffield remains a mecca for misfits, a place for people to make owt outta nowt.

Accidentally set this down for a month. Oof.

Into the ‘90s: simmering Pulp is about to boil; Dahmer digs DVA; house music and post-disco house parties pop off. (Oh, to be a young Northerner, cutting a rug every night of the week, with or without the E!)

Back-to-back dives into the Sheffield scene with my first Waterstones purchase, ‘cos I’m the Steel City equivalent of a Koreaboo, I fear.

The introductory prose hasn’t gripped me so far, but I’m greatly anticipating some of these interviews with the figures of note.