by Jackie Holmes

Created on: March 08, 2009

Manchester, in northern England, is one of those cities that has historically oozed musical ability from its viens. In fact there have been so many successful bands from Manchester that I can write this piece without resorting to naming those that are not know internationally. The problem is, where do I start? It probably isn't necessary to go back any further than the sixties.

The sixties really put Manchester on the map as a world important hotbed of creativity in the industry, with The Hollies and the trio of brothers The Bee Gees being the main stand out artists. Are there any English speaking adults in the developed world that would not know who The Bee Gees are? their success internationally was to be phenomenal, first as a 'soft rock' act of the 1960's and then equally as memorable as the leaders of the disco music era of the 1970's. Technically the trio were born in the Isle of Man but spent the bulk of their childhood living in Chorlton in Manchester, what cannot be disputed is that they have reached the absolute pinnacle of musical success.

The Hollies were, admittedly, not quite as successful as The Bee Gees and certainly did not gain the same level of international recognition. They did however hold there own during the decade in a genre most notable for The Rolling Stones. It was not until the early 1970's that The Hollies achieved notable chart success over the pond in the United States. Other bands from the city in the sixties included Herman's Hermits, Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders and Freddie and the Dreamers. The significance of those bands should not be underestimated, with those three bands topping the US Billboard top 100 between mid April 1965 and the end of May 1965 and there was one week during this period where the three bands occupied positions 1,2 and 3 in the charts. Herman's Hermits actually outsold The Beatles in 1965, selling over 10 million records in just seven months.

The seventies saw a new wave of Manchester bands, the most notable of whom were the melodic rock group Barclay James Harvest and art rock group 10cc. The former did not manage to crack the United States market but did manage success in Europe, playing in front of 250,000 at their peak in Western Germany. The latter also failed to find the level of international success achieved by their predecessors from the decade previous. The seventies looked set to become a bit of a disappointed for the Manchester scene, which was dominated by small time Sex Pistols influenced

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