Popular Music of Manchester - Factory Records and The Post-punk Period

Factory Records and The Post-punk Period

Taking the Industrial Revolution as its model, Factory Records played upon Manchester's traditions, invoking at once apparently incongruous images of the industrial north and the glamorous pop art world of Andy Warhol. While label mates A Certain Ratio and The Durutti Column each forged their own sound, it was Factory's Joy Division who managed to grimly define what exactly it was to be a Mancunian as the 1970s drew to an end. At the same time, and out of the same post-punk of Joy Division combining rock, pop, and dance music to earn much critical acclaim while selling millions of records. The group that would ultimately become the definitive Manchester group of the 1980s was The Smiths, led by Morrissey and Marr. With songs like "Rusholme Ruffians" and "Suffer Little Children", Morrissey sang explicitly about Manchester, creating songs that are as iconic of Manchester as the paintings of L.S. Lowry.

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