Manchester...so much to answer for

[kalowski]

I nipped into town today and for some reason got really pissed off with the way the city seems to trade in a handful of lyrics. Maybe it's true of other cities and I've never noticed but around the Northern quarter and Oldham street there were loads of shops with shit like "Stop crying your heart out...love will tear us apart so remember there is a light that never goes out" on little signs or painted in the window.
I know it's been like this for years but it really annoyed me today. Why doesn't MC Tunes get a little quote?

[The Culture Bunker]

When I first moved to Manchester, in 2004, fellow musicians would all scoff about how Liverpool was nothing but a Beatles museum these days. At the time I thought Manchester was heading down the same road, with pretty much every other band an Oasis/Stone Roses clone outfit: a process that seems to have only accelerated since.

There's a grim irony that the image of Tony Wilson has become part of the heritage industry, which (from what I know about him) he would have been horrified by.

[Kankurette]

I guess it's better than 'son I'm 30, I only went with your mother cos she's dirty' but I know what you mean, Madchester nostalgia is our equivalent of Scousers and the Beatles.

[Icehaven]

I'm not from Manchester or anything but I grew up a fan of a lot of it's "iconic" bands that are part of this whole thing (particularly Joy Division/New Order) and felt a rot setting in ages ago when there seemed to suddenly be loads of random products based on the Unknown Pleasures artwork, stuff like this;



and this



popping up everywhere. I mean it's harmless enough but it's just so deeply at odds with the album itself, almost to the point of satire. While I can't swear I'd never wear that cat Tshirt myself, I think soft furnishings are a step too far.

[Huxleys Babkins]

I'll admit, I'm quite a fan of this t-shirt:

https://www.nme.com/news/music/joy-division-34-1271466

[Jockice]

I'm not from Manchester or anything but I grew up a fan of a lot of it's "iconic" bands that are part of this whole thing (particularly Joy Division/New Order) and felt a rot setting in ages ago when there seemed to suddenly be loads of random products based on the Unknown Pleasures artwork, stuff like this;



and this



popping up everywhere. I mean it's harmless enough but it's just so deeply at odds with the album itself, almost to the point of satire. While I can't swear I'd never wear that cat Tshirt myself, I think soft furnishings are a step too far.

I have a cats one. It's just the cover picture with added moggies on it, not covering the whole t-shirt like that one though. I originally bought it as a birthday present for the mate who feeds Lotte while I'm away as his two favourite things on earth are Joy Division and cats, then decided to get one for myself.

Mind you, I also have my Unknown Pleasures t-shirt I bought in the early 80s (before I actually owned the album). It's a bit bedraggled but still wearable.

[Pauline Walnuts]

I have been tempted to get The Cure T-shirt with the Joy Division pulsar or Quasar image under it.



Also Joy Division Oven Gloves etc etc.

[Tikwid]

[jobotic]

Nowhere near enough Medway tat round my way. Well there is a lot of tat but not music related.

[Pauline Walnuts]

[shiftwork2]

Edit: walnuts already mentioned it

[Pauline Walnuts]

These?


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Division-Oven-Gloves-Pair-Mitts/dp/B07SC9DNTG

Or if you prefer:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Division-Oven-Gloves-Double-Version/dp/B07S8WGC28

[The Mollusk]

My fave UP parody shirt

[Steven88]

These?


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Division-Oven-Gloves-Pair-Mitts/dp/B07SC9DNTG

Or if you prefer:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Division-Oven-Gloves-Double-Version/dp/B07S8WGC28

Glove will tear us apart.

[idunnosomename]

Oh you think PSR B1919+21's radio pulses look cool do you? Bet you don't even know what constellation it's in

[sevendaughters]

I lived in Manchester for a bit and it absolutely wallows in its own self-myth generated by a handful of bands only bald dads like, many of whom were actually from Stockport, Macclesfield, Leigh, Salford ACTUALLY.

In a few years it'll be castings of Aitch and Sweet Female Attitude.

[Memorex MP3]

RE SFA
Flowers is surely already regarded as _the_ 2-step anthem at this stage?

The mix by London-based Sunship, I mean. I'm not sure I've ever heard the original! Is this it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwkSJ8GL7ww

[popcorn]

I'm not from Manchester or anything but I grew up a fan of a lot of it's "iconic" bands that are part of this whole thing (particularly Joy Division/New Order) and felt a rot setting in ages ago when there seemed to suddenly be loads of random products based on the Unknown Pleasures artwork, stuff like this;



and this



popping up everywhere. I mean it's harmless enough but it's just so deeply at odds with the album itself, almost to the point of satire. While I can't swear I'd never wear that cat Tshirt myself, I think soft furnishings are a step too far.

Before I saw this post I never even realised that genuinely is the album art on all the shirts etc. It's become such a cliche at this point, used in such strange ways, that I've been thinking "huh, there's that design that looks confusingly like the Joy Division record" for years.

[sevendaughters]

it was definitely the most popular one round my ends (Wigan) but if you'd asked before that post what the definitive 2 step banger was Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty) by Oxide and Neutrino. Will their name be uttered with the same reverence as the name Crispy Ambulance in 20 years? Sadly not.

[the science eel]

I lived in Manchester for a bit and it absolutely wallows in its own self-myth generated by a handful of bands only bald dads like, many of whom were actually from Stockport, Macclesfield, Leigh, Salford ACTUALLY.

Aye.

Which is why I had to make a pilgrimage to Prestwich to see the MES mural. Nothing much Fall-related in Manchester itself (which is of course how he wanted it)

[Icehaven]

I was going to say "it's a shame all the Madchester nostalgia didn't kick in in time to stop the Hacienda from being levelled and turned into flats" but is it? It'd most likely have shut down by now anyway and be an Ikea or something.

[purlieu]

To be fair, Manchester-associated bands were at the forefront of British alternative music from punk through to the end of the century, which makes it slightly more forgivable than all the 'home of music' stuff said about Liverpool. Other than the Beatles, the city's not really provided that much more than most other big British cities, has it? They didn't get the status off the back of the Lightning Seeds and The Coral.

[Goldentony]

any city celebrating it's own cultue comes across as aggressively shit comittee led shite for cunts in nice raincoats who have live music as part of their personality, the sort of people who look at each other during the chorus of a Cure song and raise a can in the air and grimace. How anybody who likes any of these bands can look at a fucking painting on a wall that a local councl has paid to have there so instead of whatever that Joy Division line or sound means to you, you now instead have it there every time you have to go and put fucking electricity on the meter. Lyrics people have died for given all the respect of a fucking Cathedral City Cheese monologue. Fucking awful. Awful awful awful shit. MANCHESTER - A CITY THAT THINKS A TABLES FO DANCING ON! fuck off you cunts, FUCK OFF,  fucking FALL OFF THE FUCKING TABLE and CRUSH A KID ACCIDENTALLY

[druss]

To be fair, Manchester-associated bands were at the forefront of British alternative music from punk through to the end of the century, which makes it slightly more forgivable than all the 'home of music' stuff said about Liverpool. Other than the Beatles, the city's not really provided that much more than most other big British cities, has it? They didn't get the status off the back of the Lightning Seeds and The Coral.

Yeah this thread is a bit weird, Manchester has produced lots of great music.

any city celebrating it's own cultue comes across as aggressively shit comittee led shite for cunts in nice raincoats who have live music as part of their personality, the sort of people who look at each other during the chorus of a Cure song and raise a can in the air and grimace. How anybody who likes any of these bands can look at a fucking painting on a wall that a local councl has paid to have there so instead of whatever that Joy Division line or sound means to you, you now instead have it there every time you have to go and put fucking electricity on the meter. Lyrics people have died for given all the respect of a fucking Cathedral City Cheese monologue. Fucking awful. Awful awful awful shit. MANCHESTER - A CITY THAT THINKS A TABLES FO DANCING ON! fuck off you cunts, FUCK OFF,  fucking FALL OFF THE FUCKING TABLE and CRUSH A KID ACCIDENTALLY

Yeah, this thread is a bit weird.

[Goldentony]

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[druss]

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

....kid?

[Mr Banlon]

"The only good thing to come out of Liverpool was The Beatles." says manc in Oasis t-shirt

[kalowski]

Yeah this thread is a bit weird, Manchester has produced lots of great music.

Yeah, this thread is a bit weird.

I didn't say Manchester hadn't produced great music, just that the tourist driven mythology had reached saturation point. Tonnes of shops with This Is The Place, Don't Look Back in Anger or Mersey Paradise painted on them just got me annoyed.
My shop would have I'm In Love with a Girl on the Virgin Manchester Megastore Checkout Desk painted on it.

[Pauline Walnuts]

I didn't say Manchester hadn't produced great music, just that the tourist driven mythology had reached saturation point.

I knew what you meant, It's all old dead music that's being celebrated, not the exciting new sounds of Afflecks Palace or whatever they're called.

[the ouch cube]

Most of the stuff Manchester is famous for is total shit, and the few musicians who aren't, you can bet never get any tribute.

Are there any rose tinted Barry Adamson homages? Bet there are fuck all.