If you're in Manchester you may have noticed the launch of FAC251, a new club that Peter Hook has started up in the Paradise Factory. There have been a few comments saying that this is a nostalgic, backwards move which is preventing the city from moving on from the halcyon days of Madchester.
On one level I agree, but on another level I'm not a Mancinuan, I wasn't in Manchester in the early 90's but the legacy of Madchester drew me to the city. The music and culture of Madchester heavy influenced me as an 18 year old, and when a job opportunity came up in the city I was drawn to it. The legacy of Madchester is that is still serves to draw people to the city and this I think is why the city doesn't ever shut up about it!
It'd be like Nottingham shutting up about Robin Hood, or Liverpool shutting up about the Beatles. Madchester has helped to shape the contemporary cultural identity of the city. Does it hold us back though? No, I think that it pushes us forward - it reminds us of what we once were, it shows us what we can still be, it means that people like me are drawn to the city, and start to talk about the city as my home. Maybe when Hooky starts his latest venture it's painful for us, it's a reminder that only 20 years ago Manchester was the centre of a musical and cultural revolution - which we're not in the same way now.
Don't get me wrong I love Manchester, but it's not the centre of a movement in the way it was 20 years ago. It still pioneers, it still leads in innovation but it does not have razzamatazz of Madchester...
On one level I agree, but on another level I'm not a Mancinuan, I wasn't in Manchester in the early 90's but the legacy of Madchester drew me to the city. The music and culture of Madchester heavy influenced me as an 18 year old, and when a job opportunity came up in the city I was drawn to it. The legacy of Madchester is that is still serves to draw people to the city and this I think is why the city doesn't ever shut up about it!
It'd be like Nottingham shutting up about Robin Hood, or Liverpool shutting up about the Beatles. Madchester has helped to shape the contemporary cultural identity of the city. Does it hold us back though? No, I think that it pushes us forward - it reminds us of what we once were, it shows us what we can still be, it means that people like me are drawn to the city, and start to talk about the city as my home. Maybe when Hooky starts his latest venture it's painful for us, it's a reminder that only 20 years ago Manchester was the centre of a musical and cultural revolution - which we're not in the same way now.
Don't get me wrong I love Manchester, but it's not the centre of a movement in the way it was 20 years ago. It still pioneers, it still leads in innovation but it does not have razzamatazz of Madchester...
I *was* living and working in Manchester and didn't notice much difference to Manc before or after that era. "Madchester" was only influential on a niche and what makes it famous is that it did then what many other cities have done since. (At the same time, for example, Bristol's Dugout Club was giving rise to the likes of Massive Attack and Portishead.) The capacity to mythologise an era is what unites M/cr with Robin Hood's Nottingham. In the modern era, this is a function of the ability of some very clever people to self-publicise their (considerable) talent. But in nearly all cases, the numbers affected in the real place at the real time are comparatively small. Then nostalgia and selective memory kicks in, and suddenly we were all part of it...
Posted by: Paul Roberts | February 12, 2010 at 07:27 AM