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...
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