Artwork by Danny Cookney
Conference at Geoffrey Manton Building, Manchester Metropolitan University, 19th and 20th June 2025
Cities tell stories about themselves. Manchester likes to tell a story about itself that’s often summed up in the alleged words of Tony Wilson, founder of post-punk label Factory Records: ‘We do things differently here’…But do we really?
Recent research suggests that Manchester might not be as much an exception as it is an illustration of broader urban trends. The city’s vibrant cultural legacy has played an important role in shaping its identity and has been used as a form of ‘place marketing,’ celebrating its creative spirit and contributing to its growth. Popular music and subculture have been key elements of this narrative. Yet in this process, popular music and subcultures often suffer. Certain people get to tell their stories; others don’t. Certain stories are told and retold and others forgotten. Even the stories we do hear become homogenised, easily digested clichés of friendly Northerners and historical firsts. When some stories dominate, others may fade or remain untold. Even the narratives we celebrate are often simplified and mythologised, focusing on familiar themes and collective historical milestones.
This conference asks: what do we find when we critically examine the dominant stories of Manchester music, or when we shift our focus to those stories less often told?
The conference invites papers, research and creative submissions/performances related to (but not limited to) the following themes:
- Subcultures, scenes, bands, people, nightlife etc. that fall outside or complicate dominant narratives about Manchester’s cultural past and present (we are keen to avoid a ‘tokenistic’ approach here that perpetuates existing myths while making them appear more ‘inclusive’).
- Reclaiming ‘the popular’ e.g. nightclubs, cabaret clubs, ‘fun pubs’.
- The effects of neoliberal urbanism on cultural production and consumption in the city.
- The popular/subcultural culture(s) of Greater Manchester and its peripheries.
- Post-Punk and beyond – How post-punk influences have shaped the city’s identity and its impact on current musical and subcultural expressions.
- From ‘Madchester’ to present-day scenes – The “Madchester” era to contemporary musical movements.
- The role of DIY and independent labels – How independent labels and DIY practices have fostered alternative musical communities in Manchester.
- Exploring the intersection of visual arts, performance, and music in shaping Manchester’s subcultural identities.
- Music and activism – Examining how music and subcultures in Manchester have intersected with political activism and social change.
- Global influences and local adaptations – Investigating how global music trends (and migration flows) influence Manchester’s scenes and how these musics are adapted locally.
- Heritage and memory in music scenes – The role of memory in preserving, celebrating, or distorting Manchester’s musical histories.
- Who gets to speak, who/what is funded, and how – Critical examinations of heritage projects and practices, and the funding processes (public and private) that make these possible.
- Community, spaces, and venues – The significance of and threats to physical spaces in shaping subcultural communities, past and present.
- Musical and subcultural northernness within and beyond Manchester – Critical examinations of dominant notions of northernness and alternate understandings of The North.
- Engaging with The Second City – Exploring sub/cultural engagements with and rejections of Manchester.
For the full programme, see here. There is a reduced rate of £45 rate for lower waged, students etc; the full rate for academics is £195
