Madchester: Encyclopedia II - Madchester - Madchester hits the big time

Madchester - Madchester hits the big time

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 Birmingham, but having a singer (Tim Burgess) from Northwich in Cheshire and some support slots with the Stone Roses, they became accepted as a central band to the Manchester scene. 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 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.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Madchester hits the big time", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki