IN TERMS of the sheer abundance of talent that has emerged from the city, as well as its diversity, it's difficult to deny Manchester's claim as the one of the foremost musical cities in the world.
As The Mersey Beat was exploding down the motorway from Liverpool in the 1960s, Manchester retorted with The Hollies and later, The Bee Gees.
It was during the white heat days of punk rock though that the city firmly established itself with The Buzzcocks, The Fall, Joy Division and punk's poet laureate John Cooper Clarke all breaking through. Up into the 1980s and The Smiths brought indie music to mainstream attention and at the turn of that decade "Madchester" emerged thanks to the dual chart attack of The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays.
Just as that scene collapsed, were becoming the biggest band in the country and kick-starting the Britpop movement. More recent luminaries to emerge include Elbow, and now The Ting Tings.
The diversity of acts over the years has been astounding: From Simply Red to
A Guy Called Gerald, Take That to David Gray, and M-People to The Charlatans. Throw in all those fabled Northern Soul all-nighters, Factory Records and the whole "24 Hour Party People" vibe and you're looking at England's real musical capital.
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