Nostalgia: The music maelstrom in the wake of Madchester

Photo: Bernard Sumner with a dance-floor bollard from the Hacienda club © Mirrorpix

There was something of a music maelstrom in Manchester in the wake of the Madchester era.

Established groups like 10cc and Inspiral Carpets broke up while firm favourites like the Bee Gees, the Charlatans and Elkie Brooks enjoyed a renaissance.

The influential Hacienda Club finally closed its doors in 1997 while the Twisted Wheel reopened as a monthly Northern Soul venue in its original Whitworth Street premises in 1999.

One Manchester band - Black Grape featuring Shaun Ryder and Bez from the Happy Mondays - was formed and folded within three short years from 1995.

Other Black Grape members included guitarist Paul Wagstaff, previously with Ashton-under-Lyne group Paris Angels, and Kermit from Hulme hip-hop outfit Ruthless Rap Assassins.

Black Grape’s debut album, It’s Great When You’re Straight, spent two weeks at Number One as well as producing two Top Ten hits – The Name of the Father and Reverend Black Grape.

The group split when Ryder fired the rest of the band on tour in 1998. Kermit was the first to go and Bez the last.

Stockport band 10cc had been in existence a lot longer when they split up in 1995. Original members Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman, Kevin Godley and Lol Crème formed the group in 1972.

After breaking up in 1983, the band reformed to record together again in 1991. But relationships were still uneasy, with problems coming to a head after the 1995 album Mirror Mirror.

Godley and Crème had not been involved in its production – and Stewart and Gouldman had recorded their contributions in separate countries.

Gouldman also disagreed with the inclusion of an acoustic version of the band’s 1975 monster hit I’m Not in Love which went to No. 29 in the 1995 charts.

After the group’s tour of Europe and Japan in spring 1995, Stewart decided he’d had enough.

Gouldman, however, has carried on touring as 10cc with new band members including Rick Fenn, drummer Paul Burgess and Mike Stevens.

The year 1995 also saw the break-up of Oldham band Inspiral Carpets, formed in 1983 by school pals Graham Lambert and Stephen Holt.

The band achieved commercial success after signing with Mute Records and producing the debut album Life which reached No. 2 in the UK charts in 1990.

After the albums The Beast Inside and Revenge of the Goldfish, the band released Devil Hopping in 1974. It went to No. 5, but the final single from the album – Uniform – failed to make the Top 50.

Inspiral Carpets were dropped by Mute and broke up. Lead singer Tom Hingley formed a new band called The Lovers.

There was no such problem for the Bee Gees, originally formed in Chorlton-cum-Hardy by the brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb before the family emigrated to Australia.

The band were riding high in 1997 with their biggest chart success in 15 years.

Their album Still Waters went to No. 2 in the UK and No. 11 in the USA, selling more than 4.5 million copies.

Alone, a single from the album, peaked at No. 5 in the UK charts while another track, I Could Not Love You More, climbed to No. 14.

Opened in 1982, the Hacienda Club was at the heart of the Madchester music scene.

The roll call of bands playing there included Happy Mondays, the Stone Roses, Oasis, Chemical Brothers and Sub Sub to name but a few.

But by 1994 the club, subsidised by the band New Order, was struggling financially.

It eventually closed down in June 1997 and the building was demolished in 2002 to make way for new luxury apartments.

The name Hacienda was retained by the developers under licence from the club’s owner – New Order bassist Peter Hook.

Our photo shows New Order’s Bernard Sumner holding one of the original 20 bollards that used to ring the dance floor in Whitworth Street. They were presented to music industry VIPs.

Fans had their chance to buy bits of the club in a charity auction in November 2000.

Lots ranged from radiators to exit signs and even included the famous DJ booth box which was sold for an undisclosed sum.

While the Hacienda’s star was fading, the Charlatans were back in the big time in the late 1990s.

Fronted by Salford-born lead singer Tim Burgess, their self-titled fourth album The Charlatans went to Number One in the UK in 1995.

There was also comeback success for fellow Salford singer Elkie Brooks, whose compilation album The Very Best of Elkie Brooks reached No. 23 in the charts in March 1997.

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