Rage Against The Machine

[Barnabas]

I dont like the "singer" (rapper?) , but I like the guitar

[Solly]

Originally posted by Platypus Rex
killing in the name
wake up
Testify
Guerrilla Radio
Renegades of Funk

get your juices flowing....

oh god don't remind me. There was nothing worse than getting right into a load of Madchester tunes when all of a sudden that Killing in the Name of shite started playing. The dance floor empties and loads of idotic knuckleheads go on it and make the place look like a bunch of gorillas have joined the party.

[Drake Tungsten]

Madchester was for queers. I guess you're not one of the butch gym rats...

[Solly]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Madchester was for queers. I guess you're not one of the butch gym rats...

You don't know a thing about it.

[Drake Tungsten]

Whiny boys moaning incoherently over boring dance beats is hardly music for a real man...

[Solly]

The term Madchester was coined for an alternative music scene that developed in Manchester, England, at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s.

The scene mixed indie rock and dance music. Artists associated with the scene included The Stone Roses, the Happy Mondays, the Inspiral Carpets, 808 State, James and A Guy Called Gerald. At that time, The Haçienda nightclub was a major catalyst for the distinctive musical ethos in the city.

Contents [hide]
1 Before Madchester
2 Madchester artists' early careers
3 Madchester begins
4 "Baggy"
5 Madchester hits the big time
6 Commercial success
7 Decline
8 Legacy
8.1 Musical legacy
8.2 Impact on Manchester
9 Discography
9.1 Key Madchester recordings
9.2 Madchester-era "best of" compilations
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links



[edit] Before Madchester
The music scene in Manchester immediately before the Madchester era had been dominated by indie bands such as The Smiths, New Order and A Certain Ratio. These bands were to become a major influence on the Madchester scene, but just as important was the Haçienda nightclub.

The Haçienda had been opened by Factory Records in 1982. For the first few years of its life it played predominantly indie music, but gradually began featuring more disco, hip-hop and electro (in this respect, the club enjoyed a relationship of mutual influence with its part-owners New Order).

In 1986, it became the first club outside the US to take house music seriously, with DJs Mike Pickering and Little Martin aka MP² hosting the Nude night on Fridays. This night quickly became legendary, and helped to turn around the reputation and fortunes of the Haçienda, which went from making a consistent loss to being full every night of the week by early 1987.

Other clubs in Manchester started to follow the Haçienda's lead: The Boardwalk, Konspiracy, House, Soundgardens and Man Alive in the city centre, the International (and later the International 2) in Longsight, Bugsy's in Ashton-Under-Lyne and the Osbourne Club in Miles Platting.

Another key factor in the build-up to Madchester towards the end of that year was the sudden arrival of the drug ecstasy in the city - legend has it that a friend of the Happy Mondays was a pioneer in bringing the drug into the country from Amsterdam. According to Haçienda DJ Dave Haslam: "Ecstasy use changed clubs forever; a night at the Haçienda went from being a great night out, to an intense, life changing experience" [1].

During 1988 Acid House became popular throughout the UK, another influence on the club culture building in Manchester.


[edit] Madchester artists' early careers
Although the Madchester scene cannot really be said to have started before the autumn of 1988 (the term "Madchester" would not be coined until a year after that), many of its most significant bands and artists were around on the local scene before then.

The Stone Roses were formed in 1984 by singer Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire, who had grown up on the same street in Timperley, a leafy suburban town to the south of Manchester. They had been in bands together since 1979, when they were both 16, but the Stone Roses was the first to release a record, "So Young", in 1985. The line-up was completed by Alan "Reni" Wren on drums and, from 1987, Gary "Mani" Mounfield on bass. The band disliked being associated with Madchester, but the media - which is always responsible for bringing regional scenes to a vastly wider public - places them solidly at the heart of the movement.

The Happy Mondays were formed in Salford in 1985. The members between then and the break-up of the band in 1992 were Shaun Ryder, his brother Paul, Mark "Bez" Berry, Paul Davis, Mark Day and Gary Whelan. They were signed to Factory Records, supposedly after Haçienda DJ Mike Pickering saw them at a Battle of the Bands contest in which they came last. They released two singles - "45", produced by Pickering in 1985, and "Freaky Dancin'", produced by New Order's Bernard Sumner in 1986 - before putting out an album produced by John Cale and bearing the snappy title Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) in 1987.

The Inspiral Carpets were formed in Oldham in 1986. The line-up was Clint Boon (organ), Stephen Holt (vocals - Tom Hingley would not join up until the beginning of 1989), Graham Lambert (guitar), Martyn Walsh (bass) and Craig Gill (drums). They released a flexi-disc a year later, and in 1988 the Planecrash EP (on their own Cow Records) brought them to the attention of John Peel, placing them well in the frame for the onset of Madchester.

James were formed in 1981 by Paul Gilbertson and Jim Glennie (after whom the band was named), recruiting Drama student Tim Booth on vocals and Gavan Whelan on drums (Gilbertson and Whelan were to leave the band before it attained commercial success). They released their first EP, Jimone on Factory Records in 1983, and attracted critical enthusiasm, as well as a loyal local following and the patronage of Morrissey. However, sales of their two albums for Sire Records, Stutter in 1986 and Strip-mine in 1988, were disappointing and, at the time Madchester hit, the band was using t-shirt sales to fund its own releases through Rough Trade Records. Madchester helped bring them their belated commercial success and the single "Sit Down" became one of the most popular anthems of the era.

808 State were formed in 1988 by the owner of the Eastern Bloc Records shop on Oldham Street, Martin Price, together with Graham Massey and Gerald Simpson. The three put together an innovative live acid house set, performing at various venues around town, and releasing an acclaimed and inlfuential album Newbuild on Price's own label. Simpson left soon after the release of Newbuild, but went on to record as A Guy Called Gerald.


[edit] Madchester begins
In the autumn of 1988, a series of record releases came together as the first rumblings of a serious new music scene in Manchester.

In October, the Stone Roses released "Elephant Stone" (produced by Peter Hook of New Order) as a single. Also in October, Happy Mondays released the single "Wrote for Luck" (followed by the Bummed album, produced by Martin Hannett, in November). In November, A Guy Called Gerald released his first solo single, "Voodoo Ray".

Although none of these singles achieved mainstream success, all three got attention in Manchester, and "Wrote for Luck" and "Voodoo Ray" were recognised as significant records nationally within the indie and dance communities respectively.

The growth of the local scene had been boosted by the success of the Haçienda's pioneering Ibiza nights in the summer of 1988 and the launch of the Hot acid house night (hosted by Mike Pickering and John Da Silva) in November.

By December, some sense had started to develop in the British music press that there was something going on in the city. According to Sean O'Hagan, writing in the NME (17/12/88): "There is a particularly credible music biz rumour-come theory that certain Northern towns– Manchester being the prime example– have had their water supply treated with small doses of mind-expanding chemicals ... Everyone from Happy Mondays to the severely disorientated Morrissey conform to the theory in some way. Enter A Guy Called Gerald, out of his box on the limitless possibilities of a bank of keyboards" [2].

However, the enthusiasm of the media at this stage shouldn't be overstated. The idea that the whole country should be focussing on Manchester developed slowly.

Interest in the Stone Roses increased as they gigged around the country and released the "Made of Stone" single in February 1989. This didn't chart, but was well received and the band were looking like they were on the brink of being the biggest thing in the country by the time they release their eponymous debut album (produced by John Leckie) in March.

Bob Stanley (later of Saint Etienne), reviewing the album in Melody Maker (29/4/89) wrote: "this is simply the best debut LP I've heard in my record buying lifetime. Forget everybody else. Forget work tomorrow" [3]. The NME didn't put it quite so strongly, but reported nonetheless that it was being talked of as "the greatest album ever made".


[edit] "Baggy"
In May, the Happy Mondays released the single "Lazyitis" and the Inspiral Carpets put out their first single with new singer Tom Hingley, "Joe". Like the Stone Roses, the Inspiral Carpets were producing sixties - inspired indie music. All three of the main players in the emerging scene took a dance influence, particularly from 70s funk, with disco basslines and wah-wah guitar being added to their indie jingle-jangle. The Inspiral Carpets added the distinctive sound of the Farfisa organ.

This sound, which was to become known as "baggy", generally includes a combination of funk, psychedelia, guitar rock and house music. In the Manchester context, the music can be seen as mainly influenced by the indie music that had dominated the city's music scene during the 80s, but also absorbing the various influences coming through the Haçienda.

Alongside the music, a way of dressing emerged that gave baggy its name. Baggy jeans (often flared) alongside brightly coloured or tie-dye casual tops and general sixties style became the standard uniform of young people first in Manchester and then across the country - frequently topped off with a fishing hat in the style sported by the Stone Roses drummer Reni. The fashion, like the music, was somewhere between rave and retro.

The majority of bands on the Madchester scene would produce music that could be described as "baggy", including James, The Charlatans and The Mock Turtles. However, in the early 1990s the sound spread across the country, with bands such as The Farm, Flowered Up, Candy Flip and (early on) Blur treading where mancunians had gone before.

Baggy wasn't restricted to Manchester, but it should be remembered that Manchester wasn't restricted to baggy either. The return of 808 State with the seminal "Pacific" single later in 1989 reminds us of the role electronic music played, but the Madchester scene also gave a home to hip-hop artists Ruthless Rap Assassins and MC Tunes.


[edit] Madchester hits the big time

The Stone Roses. From left: Mani, Ian Brown, John Squire and Reni.During the summer of 1989, interest in the Manchester scene continued to grow, and media hype was well underway by the time the Happy Mondays released a Vince Clarke remix of "Wrote for Luck" as a single in September.

November was the month when Madchester seemed to have conquered the consciousness of the country, though, with four of the defining singles of the movement being released: "Move" by the Inspiral Carpets, "Pacific" by 808 State, The Madchester Rave On EP by the Happy Mondays and "Fools Gold"/"What the World is Waiting For" by the Stone Roses.

The Happy Mondays record, featuring the lead track "Hallelujah!", coined the term "Madchester" - it had originally been suggested by their video directors the Bailey Brothers as a potential t-shirt slogan.

November was a further triumphant month for the Stone Roses in particular, who performed an ecstatically-received gig at London's Alexandra Palace, and were invited onto BBC2's high-brow Late Show (where they caused a stir when the electricity cut out during their performance and they stormed off). On 23rd November, one of the defining moments of Madchester occurred when the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays appeared on the same edition of Top of the Pops. The "Fools Gold" single made number 8 in the UK singles chart, at that time a major feat for an indie band.

Madchester's role as an industry bandwagon from this time on is hard to deny. James were amongst the first beneficiaries of this. The local success of their self-financed singles "Come Home" and "Sit Down" (the latter becoming something of a Manchester anthem during 1989, with clubs full of people ritually sitting on the floor to it) led to a deal with Fontana, and they were to score chart hits with "How Was it For You" and a re-recorded version of "Come Home" (sounding distinctly baggier) in the summer of 1990.

The Charlatans were originally from the West Midlands, but their singer, Tim Burgess, was from Northwich in Cheshire. They came to prominence through appearances in Manchester, particularly as a support act to the Stone Roses, and given simlarities in their sound to several Madchester bands, they became strongly associated with the scene in the minds of both fans and the press. They released a debut single "Indian Rope" in January 1990 and their second "The Only One I Know" quickly became seen as a classic, making the UK top ten.

A number of other bands joined the fray during 1990, including World of Twist, New Fast Automatic Daffodils, The High, Northside, Paris Angels, and Intastella. These bands are sometimes seen as bandwaggoners (Northside in particular are sometimes, probably unfairly, seen as a cynical invention of Factory Records to cash in on the Madchester scene). Others would point to a pioneering exploration of the possibilies of indie-dance crossover - a journey to which minor players gave an invaluable contribution.


[edit] Commercial success
Due to its limited promotional resources and its predominantly anti-commercial ethos, indie music had, for the most part, represented a specialist market during the 1980s. For example, The Smiths, probably the most prolific and successful indie band of the mid-80s, had struggled to make the UK top ten singles chart.

It is in this context that the chart success of Madchester bands should be measured. It should not be seen as confusing that on the one hand a review of the UK music press of the time would give the impression that Madchester was an all-conquering cultural force, whilst on the other hand, sales of records by the bands involved seem decent but unspectacular by the standards of 2005. There is no doubt that the scene broke new commercial ground during 1990.

"Step On" and "Kinky Afro" by the Happy Mondays both made number 5 in the singles charts, whilst James scored the biggest Madchester hit, making number 2 in 1991 with a re-recording of "Sit Down". In the album charts, the Happy Mondays made number 4 with Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, and the Inspiral Carpets got to number 2 with Life. The Charlatans were the only Madchester band to take the number 1 spot, with the album Some Friendly in the autumn of 1990.

Outside the UK, the success of Madchester was limited, although some releases gained recognition in specialist charts around the world. In the US, the albums The Stone Roses, Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches and Some Friendly reached the lower echelons of the US album chart. The Happy Mondays toured the US in 1990 and were alone amongst Madchester bands in troubling the Billboard 100, with "Step On" reaching number 57 (The band would however, reach #1 in the US dance charts for their single "Stinkin, Thinkin", from Yes Please!, in 1992).

The film '24 Hour Party People' by Michael Winterbottom (and to an extent the documentary 'Shadow Players') accurately and amusingly semi-fictionalises both the Madchester period (second half of the film focussing on Happy Mondays) as well as giving an overview of the Manchester scene through a depiction of the rise and fall of Factory Records (especially Joy Division) and the Hacienda.


[edit] Decline
The peak of Madchester was in the summer of 1990. On May 27th, the Stone Roses performed at Spike Island in the Mersey Estuary, supported by DJs Frankie Knuckles and Dave Haslam. This concert was seen by many as a one-band Woodstock for the times.

A rapid succession of chart hits followed during the summer, including "One Love" by the Stone Roses, "This Is How It Feels" by the Inspiral Carpets, "The Only One I Know" by The Charlatans and "Kinky Afro" by the Happy Mondays.

After this, however, Madchester's recorded output slowed. The end of the year saw triumphal concerts by James and a double-header with the Happy Mondays and 808 State, both at Manchester G-Mex, which seem, in retrospect, to mark the end of the era.

The Stone Roses cancelled their June 1990 tour of the US, issuing a press statement saying: "America doesn't deserve us yet". The real reasons are probably more complicated - the Roses also cancelled a gig in Spain and an appearance on the UK chat show Wogan. They would not face the public again until the end of 1994, spending the intervening time in and out of studios in Wales (where they recorded at leisure a second album, Second Coming) and fighting in court to release themselves from their contract with Silvertone Records.

The making of the next Happy Mondays album, Yes Please! was also problematic, and it would not be released until October 1992. The band flew to Barbados to record it, making repeated requests of Factory Records for extra time and additional funds (almost certainly in part to fuel growing drug habits). This is reputed to have been the major factor in the bankruptcy of the label in November 1992.

With the two bands seen as the most central to the scene out of action, media fascination with Madchester dwindled. James, Inspiral Carpets, The Charlatans and 808 State continued to record, with varying degrees of success, during the 1990s, but ceased to be seen as part of a localised scene.

Local bands catching the tail-end of Madchester, such as The Mock Turtles, became part of a wider baggy scene. The music press in the UK began to place more focus on shoegazing bands from the south of England and bands emerging through US grunge.


[edit] Legacy

[edit] Musical legacy
The immediate influence of Madchester was in inspiring the wider baggy movement in the UK, with bands from various parts of the country producing music in the early 1990s heavily influenced by the main Madchester players. These bands included Flowered Up (from London), The Farm (from Liverpool), the Soup Dragons (from Glasgow) and Ocean Colour Scene (from Birmingham). Blur, from Colchester, certainly adopted a baggy style in their early career, although in an interview with Select Magazine in 1991 they claimed, rather implausibly, to have "killed" the genre.

Subsequently, the influence of Madchester on Britpop in the mid-1990s was fairly clear, depending on which bands are discussed. Oasis are a clear example, and their guitarist Noel Gallagher worked as a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets during the Madchester era and vocalist Liam Gallagher had been a long time fan of Ian Brown. Both Gallagher brothers are self-professed fans of The Stone Roses.

The "big beat" dance music movement of the late 1990s also owed much to Madchester's eclectic approach to clubbing, with the Manchester DJ-ing duos the Chemical Brothers and Mint Royale being heavily inspired by their experiences in the Manchester clubland of the early 1990s.

More generally, the Madchester scene was groundbreaking in the way it brought together dance music and alternative rock, in particular the combination of the types of drumming found in funk and disco music (and sampled in 80s hip-hop music) with jingle-jangle guitar. In the 1990s, this became a commonplace formula, found frequently in even the most commercial music.

From a marketing point of view, it might be speculated that the Madchester experience taught the music industry a number of lessons in the selling of alternative music. Some might find it tempting to suggest that there is no coincidence in the development of hype around the grunge bands in Seattle, Washington soon after Madchester died down.

[Drake Tungsten]

Speaking of Madchester, is it just me or is The Stone Roses' eponymous debut one of the most overrated albums of all time? It's got three good but not great songs (I Wanna Be Adored, She Bangs The Drum, Fools Gold), but the other ten tracks are completely forgettable. That's a .230 batting average, yet people still seem surprised that they couldn't manage a successful followup album. I don't get it.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Drixnak
RATM is probably one of the worst bands of all time. The people who listen to RATM are the same people who listen to Britney Spears. Go listen to some real rock like SevenDust, Godsmack, Lacuna Coil, or any other of the 100 other good bands out there.

I'll pretend you didn't just say I listen to Britney Spears.

[Saras]

Originally posted by Dis


I'll pretend you didn't just say I listen to Britney Spears.

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Speaking of Madchester, is it just me or is The Stone Roses' eponymous debut one of the most overrated albums of all time? It's got three good but not great songs (I Wanna Be Adored, She Bangs The Drum, Fools Gold), but the other ten tracks are completely forgettable. That's a .230 batting average, yet people still seem surprised that they couldn't manage a successful followup album. I don't get it.

It's just you.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

I'm picturing you headbanging and accidentally singing.

Singing? Have you ever even listened to Rage?

You're a victim of the in house drive by. You got a bullet in your head. They say jump, you say how high.

[Solly]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Speaking of Madchester, is it just me or is The Stone Roses' eponymous debut one of the most overrated albums of all time? It's got three good but not great songs (I Wanna Be Adored, She Bangs The Drum, Fools Gold), but the other ten tracks are completely forgettable. That's a .230 batting average, yet people still seem surprised that they couldn't manage a successful followup album. I don't get it.

You forgot at least five other great songs you clown.

[Drake Tungsten]

You forgot at least five other great songs you clown.

the other ten tracks are completely forgettable

[RGBVideo]

you need to work on your routine

Originally posted by Drixnak
RATM is probably one of the worst bands of all time. The people who listen to RATM are the same people who listen to Britney Spears. Go listen to some real rock like SevenDust, Godsmack, Lacuna Coil, or any other of the 100 other good bands out there.

0.5/10

[Spec]

Feeling generous VJ?

Spec.