Manchester Post-Punk

Before the baggy trousers: basslines, empty space, and a city building its own outlets.

What you're really asking

There isn't one Manchester post-punk sound. Joy Division's tension, A Certain Ratio's funk and the Durutti Column's delicate guitar all came through a shared local infrastructure.

What joins them is the permission to rebuild a band from its basic parts.

Where it sits

Manchester's punk activity in the late 1970s created opportunities for bands, promoters and independent releases. Factory began in 1978 around Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus; producer Martin Hannett, manager Rob Gretton and designer Peter Saville helped shape its identity.

Records by Joy Division, A Certain Ratio and the Durutti Column took very different directions. New Order carried part of that history into electronic dance music.

The Haçienda, opened in 1982, later became a major bridge to the club culture associated with Madchester.

The scene

Who: Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Durutti Column and the wider Factory circle. Places: the Russell Club's Factory nights and later the Haçienda.

What: prominent bass, unusual space, rhythm experiments and a strong visual identity. The network reaches beyond the city: Section 25 came from Blackpool.

The Smiths are a neighbouring Manchester indie route, rather than a core Factory post-punk act.