Ok, today we’re going to talk about bands and musicians.
I discovered today quite randomly that Mani, the former Stone Roses and Primal Scream bassist, died in November of last year. I once saw him on a train in Stockport, he gave a strong impression of wanting to be left in peace so I didn’t say hi. I probably would have waffled a load of nonsense anyway :) I mean, have you read this blog 😅
Anyway, that got me thinking again about the Manchester scene in the 80s - you had bands like The Happy Mondays, Joy Division, The Smiths, and of course the Stone Roses.
The latter became strongly associated with a kind of ’townie’ lager lout culture, in the same way as their 90s brethren Oasis.
Yet, despite that I occasionally find myself seeking a bit of Made of Stone or Fools Gold. Cos they had an aweome energy and sound really.
since then
I am very cautious not to fall into the ‘when I were a lad’ trap of saying that all music now is rubbish and not like it was back in the day. Because every generation has had people who say that and they’re always wrong.
Some things have changed though. The acts I mentioned above were all bands, and let’s face it that’s less of a thing these days?
I think because being in a band is really hard - its a kinda micro-anarcho-commune where you’re forced to spend 24 hours a day together on a tour bus and somehow not fall out.
going deeper
Right, I’m going deeper into sweeping generalisation territory - it’s safe to say that music as a social phenomenon is largely consumed via a dj and sound system nowadays. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I went to a nightclub in Essaouira once and they alternated each half hour between a band and a DJ, which was interesting and something that just wouldn’t happen in the UK.
Anyway, are there a lot fewer bands and band venues/events now? I think so?
I mentioned in a previous post about how you don’t need to form a band to make music any more. Anyone with a computer can do it now. Either by multi-track recording or simply doing everything ‘in the box’.
I see a lot of awesome acts at EMOM events, they’re always solo musicians using a variety of devices and sometimes their voice too, to peform great stuff.
Which is amazing. In fact it surprises me how long this scene has taken to pick up, and it’s still slow.
Come to think of it - I do still see bands - I saw this great dub act at ‘Club Silly’ in Brixton last autumn - it’s a monthly event(?) if you’re interested.
And Steam Down formerly in Deptford and then Peckham has been great over the years.
But still, it always make me wonder how there was so much musical output from Manchester in the 80s into the 90s, did that stop?
It could be that I live under a rock, which I very much do, and I just haven’t heard about any cool stuff. If that is the case then please do enlighten me, I’d love to hear it.
According to legend, in the 60s and 70s bands would make a living just touring round loads of venues in the UK and releasing the occasional single - they didn’t need to do more than that.
You no longer need a record deal with some evil industry behemoth to make music anymore, which is great.
If we’re going to say that music has changed and there is somehow a lot more of it, but also a lot fewer acts playing much bigger venues, why is that?
The obvious thing to point the finger at is neoliberalism.
Making music is incredibly hard when you face a life of 9 to 5 drudgery. That’s just a fact. If your soul is being crushed every week there’s no way you’re going to be able to magically spring creativity from that.
It was only when I decided that I didn’t give a toss about having any money or owning a house and then started working less, that I was able to carve out some spirit in order to write.
Stupid idea perhaps, but yolo.
dole out
The state used to distribute unemployment benefits with basically no checks so if you wanted to be a layabout and get stoned all day then you could. Which is also a waste of human life. But it did mean that if you wanted to make music, you were free to.
There’s a high tide mark when the dole was stopped in ‘97? When the musical output of the UK falls off - soon you had to be of wealthy fine breeding stock to be a rock’n’roll star. cough the libertines
So we’re crushing our souls, but why?
We are the ones who won. We extract three trillion dollars annually from the global south. We have a constant stream of cardboard packages and cooked food flowing in our front doors. We have cars (meh), foreign holidays and long kitchen extensions propped up by RSJs. I’m speaking collectively here, as a society. I personally try to spend as little as possible, substisting mainly on porridge and muesli lol.
It could be that we’re all idiots. (spolier: we are.)
I for one would trade a thriving music scene for internet deliveries and home furnishings any day of the week.
If you agree, then you could try working and spending as little as possible and get busy with some creating instead.
Am I barking up the wrong tree here? What do you think?
updated on: 3 / 3 / 2026