When you think of Manchester music, you probably think Oasis, The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays and not quite the pop and Clubland-style bangers of the 90s and 00s. And really, we wouldn’t blame you.
But there are a ton or artists to come out of our great city, aside from the bucket hat wearing Madchester crowd, too with pop, dance, garage and house tracks from back in the day that are still played now.
So, here’s a selection of oldies, goldies and a couple of newbies to unlock the nostalgia of those forgotten nights and festival moments. Scroll to the playlist at the bottom to listen to them all.
LMC vs. U2 – Take Me to the Clouds Above
Forever a summer anthem in our eyes, the 2004 hit ‘Take Me to The Clouds Above’ by Manchester trio LMC was the most played track on UK radio at the time of its release. It peaked at number one in the UK charts for two consecutive weeks.
The song is actually a mash up of Whitney Houston’s 1986 hit ‘How Will I Know’ with a sample of U2’s ‘With or Without You’, which most people don’t know. Nor Whitney Houston or U2 were ever present when the song was recorded, but U2 are still listed as one of the song’s artists.
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it became LMC’s most popular track of their own. But they’ve since produced for the likes of Avicii, Jessie J, New Order, Craig David and Jackson 5 – a seriously diverse catalogue if you ask me.
Sweet Female Attitude – Flowers
Sweet Female Attitude.
When Manchester duo Sweet Female Attitude released this garage classic in 2000, it landed itself in the top 40 biggest selling songs of the year and was awarded platinum certification with more than 600,000 sales and streams.
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It’s experienced a resurgence in more recent years though, with multiple covers and samples bringing it back into our lives thanks to DJ Spoony, the Sugababes and by Nathan Dawe and Jaykae.
Unfortunately for them, it was dubbed a bit of a ‘one hit wonder’. But what a hit to bow out with.
JP Cooper & Jonus Blue – Perfect Strangers
Jonas Blue’s huge track ‘Perfect Strangers’ featuring vocals from JP Cooper went platinum in 2016 and Cooper’s solo single ‘September Song’ followed. You know them both too well, you couldn’t escape them on the radio – and you could probably instinctively still sing along to every word.
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But, did you know JP is Mancunian?
Born and raised in little old Middleton, now the soulful singer boasts a whopping 11.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Go on, lad, for representing the boroughs.
Dario G – Sunchyme
Okay, Dario G actually formed in Cheshire but we’ll let that slide because it’s a banger. This summery one, ‘Sunchyme’, was the debut single from electronic music trio, released in 1997.
Now just one of the original members remain, Paul Spencer. He’s recently made a comeback in the charts working with the likes of Clean Bandit and Jess Glynne on his 2020 album, ‘Hola’ which got to number 3 in the UK Dance Album chart.
A proper summer classic. If you don’t think about drinking cocktails on a European beach whilst listening to this, there’s something wrong with you.
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Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl
Forming whilst at Manchester Uni in the late 80s, the Chemical Brothers rose to fame in the 90s to become some of the ultimate pioneers of electronic music. The absolute belter that is ‘Hey Boy Hey Girl’ came in 1999, and remains (arguably) one of the most iconic dance tracks to grace the UK charts.
M People – Moving On Up
This one needs no introduction. The soulful sounds of M People have been around since 1990. You only need to hear the intro to ‘Moving On Up’ and it’ll be stuck in your head all day – oops, sorry.
But the name M People is taken from the first letter of the first name of band member Mike Pickering, who over the years has also become synonymous with the Haçienda years. Whilst in December 2016, Billboard ranked them as the 83rd most successful dance artist of all time with over 11 million records sold worldwide.
N-Trance – Set You Free
Dance group N-Trance.
Originating in Oldham, N-Trance were one of the biggest-selling UK dance artists of the 90s and the legendary song ‘Set You Free’ is a certified clubland banger.
N-Trance’s Kevin O’Toole has said the song was inspired by a night out at the Haçienda a couple of years prior to producing the song. The first release of it only made it to number 39 in the Top 40 UK Charts in 1994 though. But a re-release in 1995 gave it a bump all the way to number 2. And rightly so because this is iconic stuff.
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K-Klass – Rhythm Is A Mystery
K-Klass met in the 1980s at The Haçienda. They soon became known for their remixes of popular songs like . But the first hit of their own was ‘Rhythm Is A Mystery’ in 1991. It sort of flopped when it was first released, however upon a re-release later that year, it charted at number 3 un the UK singles chart.
Calvin Harris & Alesso – Under Control ft. Hurts
If this doesn’t bring back clubbing memories amongst the under 30s, then nothing will. Hurts provide the vocals on this monster dance track ‘Under Control’ produced by Calvin Harris and Alesso.
Made up of vocalist Theo Hutchcraft and instrumentalist Adam Anderson, Hurts formed in Manchester more than 10 years ago. And their debut album ‘Happiness’ in 2010 achieved platinum states thirteen times over across Europe.
Ben Pearce – What I Might Do
The debut single from Manchester producer Ben Pearce went straight to the top of Beatport’s Deep House chart. If you frequented the clubs on Deansgate Locks circa 2013, ‘What I Might Do’ one was played on repeat so this surely has to bring back some memories of £2 vodka and Red Bulls. This deep house track with bluesy vocals was – and still is – a personal fave.
Have a listen to them all below!
Featured image: Chemical Brothers/Getty Image Archive
Music
Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month | March 2025
Danny Jones
Oh, hello there. Did you think we’d forgotten to do our Manchester artists round-up for March? Don’t be daft, it was just a joke – a silly little April Fool’s joke.
This is, without a doubt, one of our favourite times of the month because we get to look back at our music habits in more bitesize pieces rather than feeling like we have to defend a whole year’s worth every time Spotify Wrapped rolls around.
If you don’t know the drill by now, for one, where have you been? Secondly, welcome to the listening party: it’s the period we set aside to spotlight the best up-and-coming, underrated and veteran musicians from Greater Manchester alike – so long as they’re good, we’re happy.
Let’s get into it then, yeah?
Manchester bands and artists we’ve been listening to this month
1. Lusaint
First up on our list for March is a very talented woman by the name of Lusaint – real name Lucy Hopkins, but trust us, this is a stage name set for stardom as far we’re concerned. Manc born and bred, she has the voice and vibe of an old soul with all the talent and style to go up against the biggest around today.
She started gaining followers through her stunning covers of everyone from Kings of Leon and Whitney Houston to Fleetwood Mac, Jason Mraz and many more. That being said, her pop-forward original solo material is hitting our ‘Sweet Tooth’ and then some, so we tried to keep it cool when we met her recently.
If you’re looking for where to start, her latest single ‘Neon Lights’ has an almost laid-back, neo-soul vibe; ‘Sober’ has a bit of Winehouse and Bailey Rae to it, but the best way to sum her up is soulful R’n’B with plenty of jazz and contralto moments sprinkled in there. The piano version of ‘Dark Horse’… Oof.
You’re damn right we’re putting them back amongst our Manc artists of the month list because not only have we’ve been listening to their new album non-stop but, in case you hadn’t heard, it’s just gone to number one – their second to date!
Leigh’s very own Lottery Winners need no introduction at this point: they’re becoming an increasingly big name in the indie, pop and Northern scene in general, but they also might just be up there with the hardest working bands going right now.
We could recommend tonnes of songs to kick off with but we’d like to give a big shout to ‘Superpower’, a real bit of genre whiplash that really works, ‘You Again’ with Jon McClure of Reverend and the Makers because it’s just a banger and ‘Turn Around’ because same and it has the cutest music video ever.
Now, this next one pains us slightly because Push Baby, as eclectic and interesting as they, are currently inactive as of 2022 following the release of their second full LP, Wow, That’s What I Call Push Baby!, which is brilliant subversion of modern mainstream music.
Made up of lead vocalist Jake Roche, the son of British household names, Coleen Nolan and Shane Richie, as well as multi-instrumentalist Charley Bagnall – both formerly of the boyband Rixton too – this alternative duo were pushing plenty of boundaries before they took a pause to pursue other projects.
Song wise, ‘WHAT YOU GONNA DO?’ is the closest thing to a new NSYNC track as you’ll find, ‘thenineteenseventyfive’ genuinely feels like it could fit on Notes On A Conditional Form if you just swapped out the vocals, and you simply have to start with the first song we ever heard from them: ‘thor’
You get a much different level of production on the studio version than this equally beautiful live recording. We hope they come back.
4. Tim Burgess
Our penultimate pick for this month is a Manc music legend whose music we’ve been exposed to most of our lives, but it pains us to confess were relative latecomers to his solo stuff. The Charlatans frontman had such a large body of work but we’ve finally cracked into properly for the first time.
It won’t surprise you whatsoever to learn the Salfordian icon’s own singer-songwriter records are just brilliant asd everything else he’s done in his career and we’ll feel daft to have waited this long to dive deep. There’s plenty to get through, put it that way.
Everyone’s heard ‘OH My Corazon’ (in fact, we’d wager you’ve heard even more Burgess than you realise), but we’d grown a particular soft spot for ‘Sure Enough – Eyedress Remix’, ‘White’ and ‘Empathy For The Devil’ where he voices go real Ian Brown-esque. We’ll keep digging and get back to you.
Yet more evidence that he deserves your attention and respect for what he’s done/doing for Manc music
5. Dirty Blonde
Last but certainly not least is another duo that unlike Push Baby aren’t just active but are absolutely rip-roaring through the infancy of their alt rock story already and have all ferocity of a pair of Manc music pioneers that are going to go far – Spill The Sound seem to think so too.
Modern girl rock that kicks you in the face with punchy riffs, catchy hooks, great vocals and plenty of confidence and all-round swagger that makes you think they’re made for this business. You could probably draw all manner of comparisons to contemporaries, but put simply they just sound sick.
There’s not absolute reams to get through yet as the two are ones for the future, but we’ve particular enjoyed ‘Rush’, ‘Run (When I Tell You)’ and you’d be a fool not to take a look at their new single ‘Adore Me’ which achieves exactly what the title says. Love ’em and we look forward to hearing more.
And we’re sorry to say that’s all she wrote for another month and we apologise to any of you die-hard readers for being a day late to it this time around, we promise we won’t make a habit of it.
In the meantime, you can always go back listen to our Manc music favourite from February to keep your playlists feeling refreshed – and all the other lists prior, come to think of it.
Featured Images — Audio North/Wow, Big Legend (press shot)
Music
Manchester’s iconic Vimto statue to be removed for repair – with Aitch-sponsored sculpture in its place
Daisy Jackson
One of the city’s most familiar landmarks will soon be leaving its spot in town, as the iconic Vimto statue is removed.
The sculpture has been in Vimto Park off Sackville Street since 1992, and consists of a giant Vimto bottle surrounded by oversized fruit.
But the art piece dedicated to Manchester’s most famous drink has weathered (it’s made of wood, after all) and will have to be dismantled in the coming months for an undisclosed period of time.
This will be the second time the Vimto statue has undergone maintenance work, having last received a colourful paint job in 2011.
Worry not, though, Manchester – a new sculpture, dedicated to another local drinks brand, is already in the works until our beloved Vimto statue returns.
Local rapper Aitch, who launched his own drinks brand SYPS last year, has decided to make good use of the space.
A gigantic statue of a SYPS can is to be installed later this year in place of the Vimto statue, created by a local artist.
I don’t know why any of you are surprised – there haven’t been many product launches or marketing opportunities that Aitch hasn’t jumped on this year.
Rave in the Super Awesome Deluxe burger takeaway? Done it.
‘Launching’ Joe & The Juice back into Manchester? Done that too.
Performing on a train to launch a limited-edition Southern Comfort called ‘Northern Comfort’? Yes, that also happened.
Aitch is funding a temporary SYPS statue in place of the Vimto statue in Manchester
He’s now announced that he’ll be funding a new statue for the city centre while our beloved Vimto statue is gone.
A spokesperson for Manchester City Council said: “While it’s a shame to see our beloved Vimto statue leave the city centre, it’s important that this landmark is preserved for the future before it’s too late.
“When Aitch kindly offered to fill the space in Vimto Park with a SYPS sculpture, how could we say no?”
Aitch said in a statement: “I couldn’t leave my Manny without a drinks statue, could I? Also happy April Fool’s day you idiots.”
Hannah Starkie -
18th June 2021 
