Manchester, April 1990. The ‘Madchester’ movement is in full bloom.
Throbbing speakers pump high decibels through thick plumes of cannabis smoke. Crowds dressed in baggy t-shirts congregate to sip cans of lager.
Gangs of men strip off their clothes and throw shapes in their birthday suits to the tune of uproarious laughter.
And this was just at Strangeways Prison.
Madchester – the cultural scene that had put Mancunia on the world map – had consumed the city at the turn of the nineties. But it had also found a way inside the region’s maximum security facility.
When the spring of 1990 rolled around, inmates had grown sick of the Victorian conditions at Strangeways. On 1 April they launched a revolt; fighting off the guards and climbing onto the roof to stage a protest.
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Not for the first (or last) time, every eye in Britain was on Manchester.
And one man watching the city vibe permeating prison walls was David Nolan – a young journalist covering the story for Piccadilly Radio.
“Madchester was the perfect backdrop for the riots; if you were to get the footage of the guys on the roof, you could cut it to a Happy Mondays song,” David tells The Manc.
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“The whole thing had this psychedelic, surreal weirdness. It was quite rock and roll – and very much of its time.”
“It was weird how quickly you got used to the surrealness of it all; this carnival atmosphere.
“There were people selling weed, beer, even Strangeways t-shirts. Helicopters used to fly over and cast shining lights. Fire engines would be hosing down the rooftops.
“When the prisoners would shout messages they wanted to get to the outside world, the home office would try and stop them by playing music at a deafening level, and their favourite song of choice – this is the British government – was Mr Blue Sky by ELO.
“The prisoners were forever taking their clothes off and getting naked on the roof, too – you never saw on that on the tele, of course.
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“Can you imagine that as a mix: The drugs, the beer, the water jets, the light and the music?”
Image: Youtube
Image: Youtube
David was stationed at Strangeways morning, afternoon and night, but he and his fellow journalists were never alone.
This was the biggest show in town – and every man, woman and child seized each opportunity to come and take a peek.
“You’d have waves of people just coming down to watch,” David explains.
“Some would come before work, then bring their sandwiches and watch the rioters at lunchtime. At half past three kids would visit after school, then you’d have people visiting when the pubs kicked out at eleven o’clock.”
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Whilst the public came and went, journalists were compelled to stay put as long as the prisoners roamed freely on the rooftops – scrambling to make notes whenever movement occurred above.
“It was a bit like lockdown in a weird way,” David recalls.
“Occasionally we’d go to a press conference, but for the most part journalists were stuck there.
“We saw a lot. Some it quite funny. There were so many bizarre things happening in and out of that jail.
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“Sometimes they’d unfurl these daft banners – like one that said ‘Ken Dodd is innocent’.”
Image: Youtube
Image: Youtube
Dozens of prisoners set up camp atop of Strangeways throughout the month – but two quickly became the faces of the riot.
“Out of all the men on the roof, there were a couple that were most visually distinctive and easy to spot,” David tells us.
“Paul Taylor was seen as the ‘ringleader’, although he didn’t like that term. He was an extraordinary guy in some ways; very articulate with this flowery way of communicating.
“I remember him shouting from the roof: ‘This is my decision and I am steadfast in my decision.’ What a peculiar way of putting it.
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“He would scrawl out all these long messages and some were quite lyrical. He was almost Shakespearean sometimes.
“When I interviewed him years later he told me the riot happened because he’d ‘decided it was going to happen’. So this must have been in his mind for some time.”
Taylor has since repeated this claim when interviewed by the BBC, but admitted he was “regretful” the protest had turned into a full-scale riot.
“As well as Taylor, there was also Alan Lord,” David explains.
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“He was this big, muscular, good-looking guy who was serving a long sentence at the time.”
Lord was often caught on the cameras due to his sheer physique, and became well-known among the press after taking responsibility for carrying messages between the inmates and the Home Office.
The protest ran out of steam when Lord was captured en route to a negotiation on 23 April.
Two days later, the remaining protestors called it quits and descended the roof via cherry picker – bringing the curtain down on the 25-day “carnival.”
But of course, it wasn’t just three weeks of fun and games. The prisoners hadn’t battled their way to the summit of Strangeways just to put on a party for those below.
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“We use the word ‘rioters’, but we could reframe it and change it to ‘protestors’,” says David.
“Conditions were bad in there. The jail was horrifically overcrowded and they were still ‘slopping out’ (defecating in a bucket).”
There were several explosions of violence during the riots that resulted in almost 200 injuries and even one death. But despite the prospect of larger sentences the longer they protested, many inmates couldn’t face returning to the squalor that waited for them down below.
The prisoners were up on that roof because they had something to say – although the authorities were reluctant to let them articulate it to the press; proceeding to crank the music up to eleven whenever Taylor began to reel off one of his infamous speeches.
At times, David said the scene was extremely sinister.
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“One evening it was very loud. All these horrible noises were erupting in the middle of the night and as it started snowing I got quite upset.
“I was thinking: ‘‘What on earth is going on inside that jail?’ It doesn’t even bear thinking about.
“At times it was incredibly frightening.”
“Maybe it was coming. Twenty-four hours before Strangeways were the poll tax riots in London – which saw wooden polls being shoved through police car windows.
“Did that possibly tip it over the edge? I just think it’s a really interesting coincidence that it happened the day before.”
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Whilst David has retold his experience of Strangeways on multiple occasions during a long writing career, he also used the setting as inspiration for the backdrop of his Manc Noir novel ‘Black Moss’.
“I cannot remember doing any other story of any description during Strangeways. Everyone was looking at that one place,” he tell us.
“That was partly behind the idea for my book. A child murder happens during a riot, and with the media, police, public all over in one spot, something horrible happens elsewhere.
“I also heard a story about a murder taking place during 9/11. Someone saw an opportunity to do something when everyone was looking the other way.
“It’s about distraction. But all the Strangeways stuff in the book is all absolutely accurate.”
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On April 25, the Strangeways Riots ended. In the months and years that followed, Madchester, as a movement, fell into decline. Factory Records went bankrupt, and the scene gradually blurred into the ‘baggy’ vibe of the nineties, before the emergence of Britpop at the backend of the decade.
Manchester is a strikingly different place today, and whilst Strangeways has been home to more rooftop protests since, the sight of a lone figure scaling the prison wall in jogging bottoms in 2017 did not conjure up the same kind of circus atmosphere.
As David attests, the madness of the 1990 riots can be attributed to how it represented an uncanny little time capsule of a chaotic era in history.
“If the riot had happened in Gloucester or something, I just don’t think it would have had the same vibe or attention,” he says.
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That infamous pandemonium at Strangeways was Madchester in the sky.
Featured image – Youtube
Feature
Inside Sifters Records, the time capsule record shop that inspired Oasis
Harry Quick
The date the world never thought was coming is set. Manchester’s most famous brothers have against all the odds put their differences aside for music’s greater good. Oasis are BACK.
I suppose it is only good news at the moment if you were one of the lucky few who managed to secure a ticket to one of the 17 gigs (actually, now 19 with two new dates added) in the Oasis 25′ Tour. If you didn’t – hard luck – but there is arguably one shop owner who deserves one more than most.
Fans of our most iconic band from all around the world should show their gratitude to a little record store in Burnage for helping to make that happen. Some might say, Sifters Records is the home of the Gallaghers’ love for music. The two brothers were brought up just a stone’s throw away from here on Cranwell Drive and were regular visitors of Sifters throughout their teenage years.
Noel has previously mentioned how he used to stroll around to Sifters on Fog Lane and pick up records by the likes of The Smiths, Joy Division and The Happy Mondays, which would help inspire some of the world-renowned anthems Oasis would later go on to create. The relationship between the Gallaghers and Sifters Records is emblematic of their deep roots in Manchester’s music scene.
If you feel like you’ve heard the name before, you probably have as Liam mentions the store in the song ‘Shakermaker’. In the final verse of the song – before the closing Shake Along with Me / Them interlude – he gets his special mention.
The lyrics “Mr Sifter sold me songs when I was just sixteen, now he stops at traffic lights but only when they’re green” pay homage to its main road location and the lads’ musical upbringing before the international stardom.
Sifters Records inspired Oasis’ love of music – and gets a namecheck in Shakermaker. Credit: The Manc GroupSifters Records inspired Oasis’ love of music – and gets a namecheck in Shakermaker. Credit: The Manc Group
If the lyrics alone don’t put an image in your head, the official music video for the song pictures Liam stereotypically swaggering towards the shop front in a parka and shades on the hunt for some new music. After flicking through a few 12″ vinyls he shows Red Rose Speedway to the camera by Paul McCartney’s – Wings. I wonder if he bought it that day or could it still be in there?
In a brand new 30-minute interview filmed ahead of the 30th anniversary of Definitely Maybe, Noel revealed how he wrote the infamous lyric in an off-the-cuff moment directly outside the shop.
“I have to say this shop has not changed a bit. I bought a lot of my records in here, it’s where I discovered my love of ‘best of’ albums.
“Every time I hear Shakermaker I remember pulling up in that car and looking over and seeing the song.”
It’s no wonder this was Noel’s favourite place to scope out new tunes growing up. It’s still one of Manchester’s most impressive collections with hundreds, if not thousands of vintage LPs.
Most of these are from the personal collection of ‘Mr Sifter’ himself Pete Howard who has run this musical mecca since 1977. The building itself has an unchanged charm – a time capsule of fading band posters, windows of unrelated local advertisements and well-trodden carpet from the thousands of feet on a pilgrimage from far and wide.
Fans from across the globe have rocked up for a word with Pete and the admiration for his store only keeps growing, which he sometimes struggles to believe how fortunate he got. If you pop in looking for any Oasis discography, good luck, it doesn’t stick around long.
When ‘Definitely Maybe’ dropped in ’94 he said he recognised the members of the band straight just from the album cover.
Now, with a deluxe edition re-release 30 years later, and a reunion tour around the corner, it’s undeniable that the whole world does – let’s just hope they stay mates this time!
Blossoms’ wonderful Wythenshawe Park show proved they’re ready to headline the big leagues
Danny Jones
Ok, full disclosure: as a fellow Stopfordian, this review was always going to be heavily biased, but I still wholeheartedly believe that Blossoms are some the best performers on the British music scene right now and, as far I’m concerned, their Wythenshawe Park gig was yet more proof of that.
The landmark show was their biggest to date with roughly 30,000 people packed into a Greater Manchester field for what was just the second year of the Wythenshawe Park gigs which looks destined to be a must-visit annual Manchester music event.
For starters, not only is being the second name chosen to headline this still relatively new event after Noel bloody Gallagher quite the achievement, but playing to what felt like an entire town full of people on your home turf is the kind of stuff usually reserved for, you know, GOATs…
Now, we’re not going to be so bold as to claim they’re at that point in their careers already, however, when you’re collecting the kind of support acts they are, playing to crowds this big and making music lovers of all ages sing about a giant fibreglass gorilla called Gary, you’re clearly doing something right.
🚨 Be advised: GMP are on the lookout for an eight-foot fibreglass Gorilla – first name Gary, second name trouble. 🦍
He was last spotted on stage as @BlossomsBand were playing absolute bangers at Wythenshawe Park.
Let’s kick off with the supports, shall we? That’s one of the best things about this Live From Wythenshawe Park series: these dates are closer to mini-Manc festivals than they are standalone gigs, and with such an impressive roster of so-called ‘warm-up’ acts, we were truly spoiled rotten.
From more fledgling artists like The Guestlist and Ttrruuces, fast-rising up-and-comers like Seb Lowe and The K’s, to UK veterans like Shed Seven and the always sensational indie stars Inhaler, it was a stacked lineup spanning several generations.
Before Inhaler got the crowd bouncing and ready from Blossoms, we even got special appearances from two incredible female voices during Shed Seven’s set as Issy Ferris and fellow Manc music royalty Rowetta took the stage for some supreme harmonies and what felt like a bit of a Sunday service moment.
But then it was time for the big guns and it really does feel like they’re among that calibre now. They’ve smashed Leeds, Glastonbury, Kendal – they even turned the Plaza and Edgeley Park back in Stockport into fully-fledged music venues – and they look more at home than ever on the big stages.
Blossoms’ Wythenshawe Park gig felt almost like a coming-of-age gig. (Credit: The Manc Group)
It feels mad to think that these lot have been going for 11 years when you first think about it, but when you actually sit back and look at the regular stream of top-quality indie bangers they’ve been putting out every couple of years, it starts to click into place.
Perhaps it’s because they’re still young men and have decades of releasing new music to come but they’re no longer the new kids and they haven’t been for ages – in fact, they’ve released some of the most popular contemporary releases in the genre consistently for a long time now.
Even in the final promo for their now landmark Wythenshawe Park concert, they did a spoof version of ‘Gary’ where one of the lines simply said ‘Honey Sweet’s a tune’ and, you know what, they’re right but the list goes much further than that.
‘Getaway’, ‘There’s A Reason Why’, ‘I Can’t Stand It’, ‘Your Girlfriend’, ‘What Can I Say After I’m Sorry?’ and on and on it goes. We heard them all in their very best iterations, with the band’s on-stage production now at a new level and Tom Ogden’s frontman chops up their with the best right now.
One thing we really enjoyed as a group of old mates from SK was that the set wasn’t the hits either; we got to roll back the years and enjoy the tracks from that debut album when we first started getting excited about a new band coming out of our hometown.
The big extended versions of ‘Blow’ and ‘Cut Me and I’ll Bleed’, in particular, felt rather special.
Blossoms also treated Wythenshawe to some seriously good solos and breakout instrumentals. (Credit: The Manc Group)
But then you look at where the style has gone since then and you genuinely have to just step back and applaud their evolution since that breakout record.
It’s very hard for any band to find that balance of developing their sound and actually changing whilst still managing to nail that instantly recognisable feeling that lets you know it’s one of their songs but they always seem to manage.
Whether it’s those surviving 80s influences that have stood them in good stead since the start, those poppy keyboard riffs from Myles that help keep every tune as catchy as the last, they can collaborate with the likes of Jungle and CMAT whilst still sounding unmistakably like themselves. It’s quite the skill.
That’s why they very quickly went from the one current band from Stockport that people could name to one of the most recognisable modern names in British music with hordes of fans all over, not just Greater Manchester. Just look at the energy coming off that crowd, not to mention the sheer size of it:
Now, all that is simply to say that, at this point, if you’re still someone who only knows ‘that first one’ and is under the presumption that Blossoms are another indie band who fell into that trap of all their songs sounding pretty similar, you’re wrong and the sea of fans at Wythenshawe Park will tell you the same.
Whether you’ve been there from day one and have watched these lads, well, blossom into fully graduated performers and festival-toppers like this currently very sappy Stopfordian, or you got hooked after dozenth irresistible indie anthem, we’re sure you’re all in agreement: they’re proper headliners.
‘Charlemagne’ will forever be a favourite but make no mistake, they’ve come on leaps and bounds in every department since it helped launch their career, and even if it is still their biggest song when they’re headlining the likes of Glasto one day (you heard us), it’ll still sound incredible.
In fact, who cares: here it is from another angle – we’re off to do a bit of research about some reunion people are talking about…