Liverpool vs Manchester

[the science eel]

Liverpool gave us the Beatles, but also some pretty good bands like the Bunnymen, the Teardrop Explodes, the Coral, Shack, FGTH, the La's, Clinic...

but Manchester? The Smiths, Stone Roses, The Fall, Joy Division, New Order, Buzzcocks, Magazine, Happy Mondays, Oasis,  Inspiral Carpets, James, A Certain Ratio - a higher overall average?

[Norton Canes]

Liverpool gave us the Beatles

Congratulations Manchester. Close the thread.

[The Culture Bunker]

From your list, you should change the title to "Liverpool v Greater Manchester".

In the case of Joy Division, not even that as half the band were from Macclesfield, in Cheshire.

Also, you missed out Durutti Column.

[shiftwork2]

Some proper clunkers towards the end of your Manchester line up but, it pains me to say it, Manchester wins the 1962-2018.  The night is still young though.

In terms of global reach obviously The Beatles conquer all of the other bands added together.

Let's chalk it up as an astonishing win for England's North West.  30 miles apart and so much antagonism from those try-hard chippy Mancunians everyone involved.

[non capisco]

Yeah well Dartford had The Rolling Stones (better than The Beatles, I reckon) and the band I used to be in called Blind Fury where I liked The Beastie Boys and everybody else liked Reef (better than at least Maxwell's Silver Hammer by The Beatles, I reckon)

DARTFORD WINS, I THINK YOU'LL FIND. ADD IT TO THE POLL, PLEASE.

[DrGreggles]

Liverpool win the title, but Manchester sweep up the rest of the European places.

[jobotic]

Yeah well Dartford had The Rolling Stones (better than The Beatles, I reckon) and the band I used to be in called Blind Fury where I liked The Beastie Boys and everybody else liked Reef (better than at least Maxwell's Silver Hammer by The Beatles, I reckon)

DARTFORD WINS, I THINK YOU'LL FIND. ADD IT TO THE POLL, PLEASE.

Pfft, you need to go a bit further East along the A2 if you ask me. Mind you, I did see Bo Diddley in Dartford.

[Stoneage Dinosaurs]

Birmingham wins hands down. Black Sabbath, Napalm Death and UB40 ffs

[Nowhere Man]

Yeah well Dartford had The Rolling Stones (better than The Beatles, I reckon) and the band I used to be in called Blind Fury where I liked The Beastie Boys and everybody else liked Reef (better than at least Maxwell's Silver Hammer by The Beatles, I reckon)

DARTFORD WINS, I THINK YOU'LL FIND. ADD IT TO THE POLL, PLEASE.

Well hang about, make it Bromley and you could have Bowie, Peter Frampton, Siouxsie Sioux AND Fatboy Slim.

Fuck it, just make it all of Kent and we could combine both and also have Kate Bush, Robert Wyatt, The Pretty Things ect.

David Bowie
Rolling Stones
Kate Bush
Siouxsie and The Banshees
Peter Frampton
Robert Wyatt
The Pretty Things
Shane McGowan

KENT beats the rest of England into a cocked hat.

[hummingofevil]

When visiting Manchester you don't have to put up with the utter cunts that are Merseyrail. In life had probably two run-ins with utter cunts in public transport and both times it's been Merseyrail staff. Last week's highlight was being stopped from travelling from Central  as I was "unstable on my feet" only for a half-cunt copper to "helpfully" advise me to run to Lime St to get train - which would have been mearly fucking ridiculous apart from fact I then missed my connection so left 12 miles from home in a fucking thunder storm. Cunts.

If you mean specifically music then neither as the best thing about both cities from musical perspective is their embracing of music from elsewhere. When I lived in Manchester you could go out and see different stuff every night but the bands that come out of their seemed to be universally Uninteresting.

It has to be Manchester just because it's so much bigger with more variety and bigger pull for acts but historically, if I had to put together rival playlists I think Liverpool of 80s might just pip it.

[easytarget]

When visiting Manchester you don't have to put up with the utter cunts that are Merseyrail.

well, you do if you come in from Liverpool :)

Liverpool : Carcass, Half Man Half Biscuit.
please close thread.

[buzby]

From your list, you should change the title to "Liverpool v Greater Manchester".

In the case of Joy Division, not even that as half the band were from Macclesfield, in Cheshire.

And the other half came from Salford (and for New Order Gillian is from Macclesfield as well). Same with the Stone Roses (Brown & Squire come from Warrington & Altrincham). The Fall were from Prestwich, Buzzcocks were from Bolton, Inspiral Carpets were from Oldham and ACR were from Flixton in Trafford. Before anyone says 10cc they all came from outside of Manchester too (Godley & Creme are from Prestwich, Gouldman is from Salford and Stewart is from Droylsden).

For Liverpool you can add Billy Fury and Frankie Vaughn, and other Merseybeat acts like Gerry & The Pacemakers,  Billy J. Kramer, The Swinging Blue Jeans and of course The Merseybeats (though Cilla can piss off), plus from later eras A Flock Of Seagulls, Black, Pete Wylie/Wah! Ian Broudie/Lightning Seeds, China Crisis, Dead or Alive, Icicle Works, The Christians, The Pale Fountains (the precursor to Shack), It's Immaterial, The Wild Swans/Lotus Eaters, Ooberman, Ladytron, Miles Kane, The Zutons, The Real Thing, The Farm and Apollo 440. Outside the pop genre there's  George Melly and Simon Rattle as well.

Liverpool : Carcass, Half Man Half Biscuit.

Only if you go with Merseyside vs. Greater Manchester, as HMHB are from the Wirral. In that case you can also add OMD, The Coral and The Boo Radleys, Gomez (Southport) and from  St. Helens The Beautiful South and the good half of The Verve (Nick McCabe and Simon Jones)

[bgmnts]

I thought The Beautiful South were from Hull.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Liverpool has a.P.A.t.T. and The Laze and White Blackula and Indica Ritual.

[buzby]

I thought The Beautiful South were from Hull.

It's a tenuous link, but Heaton is orignally from Bromborough and Jacqui Abbot is from St. Helens. St. Helens can also claim 25% of Siouxsie & The Banshees and 50% of The Creatures though Budgie. I think Liverpool can also claim Bill Drummond, as his musical career started with the Eric's punk scene (he was another member of Big In Japan who went on to greater things) and much of The JAMs/KLF's mythology is based on his exposure to the Illuminatus Trilogy while working on Ken Campbell's Liverpool Science Fiction Theatre production of the books.

[Norton Canes]

Julian Cope's Welsh, though I like to think he's a Midlander at heart. We need to add 808 State to the Manchester roster.

[sevendaughters]

Liverpool has a.P.A.t.T. and The Laze and White Blackula and Indica Ritual.

lol Indica Ritual became Outfit yonks ago.

[Neville Chamberlain]

True, I forgot to put Indica Ritual in the past tense.

Such a great band, they were.

[sevendaughters]

True, I forgot to put Indica Ritual in the past tense.

Such a great band, they were.

yeah they were, played with 'em in...2008? 2009? can't remember.

Liverpool wins for me. The Beatles is a huge headstart and then when you factor in that two of Bogshed were scousers...well, checkmate.

[Neville Chamberlain]

yeah they were, played with 'em in...2008? 2009? can't remember.

I saw them in Nottingham in 2008/2009-ish. Shame they never got round to releasing an actual album. I seem to remember reading on myspace I think that their album even got as far as having a title.

[yesitsme]

No love for The Hollies yet?  They're only the band The Beatles wish they were.

If you want to be picky about things you can say 'Neither of them were from Manchester' or you could say 'They were trying to be the Beatles' but I think most right minded people would poke you in the eye and ignore you.

Being 'from' Manchester doesn't seem to be such a thing as say being from Liverpool/the Wirral is.  The borders of yer actual Manchester are so small that I think most people from the satelite towns would happily say 'Manchester' if they were asked where they were from without any of the Newcastle/Gateshead 'don't get this wrong' nonsense.

So I'm adding The Hollies,

And Bez.

[buzby]

Being 'from' Manchester doesn't seem to be such a thing as say being from Liverpool/the Wirral is.  The borders of yer actual Manchester are so small that I think most people from the satelite towns would happily say 'Manchester' if they were asked where they were from without any of the Newcastle/Gateshead 'don't get this wrong' nonsense.

The borders of Liverpool city are even smaller than the borders of Manchester.

[holyzombiejesus]

Glasgow.

[Norton Canes]

Of course only half of Ladytron are from Liverpool.

[maett]

For me Liverpool pips it. But west London alone would destroy Iver either.

[Sin Agog]

I voted Liverpool, mostly for Julian Cope, but also 'cause I associate it with a jangly glissando sound, redolent of tooting ferries and cargo crates and the dulcet tones of Yozzer Hughes barking Gizza Job, whereas Manchester's music scene had a bit of a wide-boy swagger to it that I can't quite connect with as much.  Then I remembered reading in his biography that Copey was born in Wales.

[the science eel]

No love for The Hollies yet?  They're only the band The Beatles wish they were.

I love them and I almost mentioned them, but they don't fit in with all that Factory/Rough Trade/post-punk business.

I was waiting for someone to come out with that line you'd sometimes hear in the 80s about The Smiths being our Beatles - maybe you're not as daft as I thought....

[Maurice Yeatman]

I voted Liverpool, mostly for Julian Cope, but also 'cause I associate it with a jangly glissando sound, redolent of tooting ferries and cargo crates and the dulcet tones of Yozzer Hughes barking Gizza Job, whereas Manchester's music scene had a bit of a wide-boy swagger to it that I can't quite connect with as much.  Then I remembered reading in his biography that Copey was born in Wales.

Joy Sarney is from Liverpool, so that makes up for it.

[yesitsme]

The borders of Liverpool city are even smaller than the borders of Manchester.

Yeah, but I don't think there's the... animosity isn't the right word but y'know that ill feeling towards the large city of Manchester from it's suburbs that you get with other cities.

You get short shrift if you say someone from the Wirral is from Liverpool.  Perhaps it's that these places are feverishly proud of their local heroes and they don't like their success being attributed to anywhere else?

I dunno.

I do think Liverpool is better for a day/night out.  It doesn't have the unearned swagger that Manchester thinks it has.

And I'm from Manchester.

Well Salford. 

[yesitsme]

Surely with The Jesus and Mary Chain AND Aztec Camera East Kilbride has to go down as one of the most musically important towns in the land....?  No?  Aye, you're right.

I like Coatbridge's Walk of Fame.  It has three stars one for Fred West who may have used a guitar string to stangle his victims during his brief stay there and one each for Hue and Cry who may/may not have come from, visited or driven through the area.

John Hannah's parents used to be our neighbours.

He never visited them though, he left that task to his sister.

Miserable twat.