The Rise and Fall of ...

BBC Radio 6 Music
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Get to know the shocking highs and lows of the biggest stories in music.

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  1. 1. Wilderness

    Episode 1

    1. Wilderness

    Manchester in the late 1970s is a city in retreat. Industry is collapsing and jobs are disappearing. Whole neighbourhoods feel abandoned. Out of that stillness comes a stark, unsettling new sound. Joy Division capture the mood of a city that has lost its rhythm. Their music is tense, mechanical and unflinching. When Ian Curtis dies in May 1980, just as the band stand on the brink of America, it feels like the end of something fragile and important. A month later, Love Will Tear Us Apart is released. But this story does not end there. Tony Wilson, television presenter and cultural instigator, has already opened a club night called The Factory. Within two years, the surviving members of Joy Division return as New Order and take a huge gamble to open a cavernous nightclub by the canal. On opening night at The Haçienda, a white grand piano sits in the middle of a vast, echoing room. Almost nobody dances. Episode 1 of The Rise and Fall of Madchester tells the story of how a broken industrial city began to rebuild itself through sound. From the Russell Club in Hulme to the birth of Factory Records, from the stark poetry of Joy Division to the uncertain promise of the Haçienda, this is where Manchester finds a room… and the faintest hint of a new pulse. Featuring archive interviews from Tony Wilson, Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner, Ian Curtis and Stephen Morris and a new interview with Mike Pickering. A BBC Audio Production.

    18 min

  2. Episode 2

    1. Bring It On Down: The Fight On The Ferry

    Oasis is Liam Gallagher’s band, and after their first gig at the Manchester Boardwalk he asks his brother, Noel, to be their manager. Noel instead suggests joining as songwriter. Episode 1 focuses on the exciting and breathless start of the band - new experiences and new dynamics. Yet turbulence, chaos and confusion is never far away with Oasis... as a disastrous trip to Amsterdam proves.

    21 min
  3. 2. Movement

    Episode 2

    2. Movement

    March 1983. New Order take to the stage on Top of the Pops to perform their new single, Blue Monday. The machines misfire, the sequencer slips and Bernard Sumner glances upwards as if waiting for help that never comes. On national television, it looks like chaos. Within weeks, Blue Monday becomes the biggest selling 12 inch single in British history. Inside the Haçienda, the early nights are sparse and uncertain. The building is vast, expensive and half empty. Almost nobody dances. But beyond Manchester, in the clubs of Chicago and New York, a new sound is transforming dance floors into places of collective release. That pulse begins travelling across the Atlantic, carried by DJs, white labels and restless curiosity. As house music seeps into Hulme community centres and Moss Side blues parties before reaching the city centre, the rules begin to change. Door policies loosen. Guitars make room for groove. Episode 2 of The Rise and Fall of Madchester charts the moment Manchester finds its rhythm. From the uneasy birth of Blue Monday to the early reinvention of the Haçienda, this is the story of how a city that had stood still began, tentatively at first, to move. Featuring archive interviews from Bernard Sumner, Gillian Gilbert, Peter Hook, Shaun Ryder, Ian Brown and Tony Wilson alongside new interviews with Mike Pickering, Angela Matthews and Steve Atherton. A BBC Audio Production.

    22 min
  4. 3. Twenty Four Hour Party People

    Episode 3

    3. Twenty Four Hour Party People

    In 1985 two Manchester bands release their first records on the very same day. The Stone Roses and The Happy Mondays barely register beyond the city. They are promising, scruffy… and largely ignored. But elsewhere in Manchester, something far more seismic is taking shape. In community halls, tower blocks and semi-legal parties, imported house records from Chicago and Detroit begin changing the temperature in the room. A new chemical arrives and with it a new way of feeling. Strangers embrace. Dance floors dissolve old boundaries. The Haçienda, once awkward and half empty, starts to pulse. Episode 3 of The Rise and Fall of Madchester tells the story of the moment when guitars collided with house, when ecstasy rewired a generation and when Manchester stopped documenting its decline and started losing itself in the dark. Featuring archive interviews from Noel Gallager, Liam Gallagher, Shaun Ryder, Bez, Peter Hook, Mani, Chris Jam, and Tony Wilson alongside new interviews with Angela Matthews, Mike Pickering and Kermit. A BBC Audio Production.

    20 min
  5. 4. Loose Fit

    Episode 4

    4. Loose Fit

    By 1989, Manchester is no longer underground, it is now unavoidable. Baggy jeans, bucket hats and loose jumpers become a uniform. Market stalls and record shops replace boutiques and fashion houses. The look travels as fast as the music and the city has found its silhouette. The Happy Mondays record Bummed in a blur of ecstasy and mischief, then quietly redraw the indie rulebook by handing a track to a club DJ for remixing. The Stone Roses release their debut album to modest chart impact, but something else is happening beneath the numbers. Coaches roll out of Manchester bound for Blackpool. Inside the Empress Ballroom, chandeliers shake as a crowd bounce before the band even appear. Within weeks, Madchester is on prime time television. The Late Show. Top of the Pops. Living rooms across Britain are introduced to a city no longer asking for permission. Episode 4 of The Rise and Fall of Madchester captures the moment the movement breaks through. When fashion becomes identity, when dance becomes pilgrimage and when Manchester steps from dark rooms into the national spotlight. Featuring archive interviews from Mani, Clint Boon, Shaun Ryder, Ian Brown, John Robb, alongside new interviews with Leo Stanley, Mike Pickering, Tim Booth from James and Steve Atherton. A BBC Audio Production.

    25 min
  6. 5. World in Motion

    Episode 5

    5. World in Motion

    1990 does not begin quietly. London burns during the Poll Tax riots. Strangeways prison erupts in Manchester. Margaret Thatcher stands outside Downing Street for the last time. Britain is shifting politically, socially and culturally. At the very same moment, Madchester explodes into the mainstream. The Happy Mondays release Step On as smoke rises over the city. Ecstasy fuels a new chemical confidence. Indie and rave collide. What began in dark rooms is now national news. Then comes an unlikely coronation. The Football Association asks New Order to write England’s 1990 World Cup anthem. World in Motion goes to number one and Manchester owns the summer. At Glastonbury, The Happy Mondays arrive with a thousand mates and a bootleg pass printer. In the charts, The Inspiral Carpets and The Charlatans surge forward. And in Widnes, on a former chemical works surrounded by factories and wind, tens of thousands gather for Spike Island. The Stone Roses take the stage as fireworks burst overhead. The sound system falters. The crew threaten to strike. The wind shifts…. but it barely matters. This is the peak. The moment Madchester becomes too big to contain. Episode 5 of The Rise and Fall of Madchester tells the story of the year politics, football, rave and pop culture collided. A BBC Audio Production.

    19 min

  7. Episode 6

    5. Be Here Now: Blair, Blur And a Backlash

    In the lead up to the release of Be Here Now, Oasis tabloid mania is at fever pitch, but what should be the crowning glory of their career is slowly unravelling. The band faced a series of challenges, many of their own causing, and the album is released to massive fanfare... and industry paranoia. We learn about the chaos that followed the group at the time, the backlash that came after the release of Be Here Now, the Australian tour affair that almost resulted in a major diplomatic incident and how Noel’s visit to number 10 changed everything.

    21 min
  8. 6. Shoot You Down

    Episode 6

    6. Shoot You Down

    Barbados was supposed to save them. In early 1992, The Happy Mondays are flown to the Caribbean to record their next album. Fresh from the success of Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches, this should be consolidation. Instead, Shaun Ryder drops his methadone at Manchester airport, the studio fills with smoke rather than songs and the budget disappears pound by pound. A sun lounger is sold for drugs. Back home, the gold rush continues. James score a number two single with Sit Down and a wave of new bands flood the charts. A&Rs circle the city nightly, desperate for the next Madchester success. But at The Hacienda, the mood has changed. Security tightens as gangs move in. Tony Wilson announces the club’s temporary closure. When it reopens, it does so under suspicion and noise complaints from new city centre flats rising around it. Meanwhile, the Stone Roses vanish into courtrooms and contracts. By 1992, Factory Records is running on fumes. The Hacienda is bleeding money. And in a final, almost absurd twist, Shaun Ryder sells the master tapes of Yes Please! for £50, a moment that tips the label into bankruptcy. Episode 6 of The Rise and Fall of Madchester is the story of the comedown and how the movement that once felt unstoppable begins to fracture under its own weight. A BBC Audio Production.

    24 min
  9. 7. Regret

    Episode 7

    7. Regret

    In 1995, after five years of court cases, silence and mounting expectation, The Stone Roses are finally back. The Second Coming has been released, and a Glastonbury headline slot awaits. Then on a rare day off in America, guitarist John Squire falls from his bike and breaks his collarbone. The momentum snaps. Meanwhile, Britpop storms the charts. Blur and Suede set the tone and Oasis inherit Manchester’s swagger and carry it into a different decade. Then, on 15 June 1996, a bomb detonates in Manchester city centre. The physical damage is vast. The city rebuilds quickly, shinier and safer, the rough edges that once nurtured experimentation begin to disappear. By the time The Stone Roses limp onto the stage at Reading Festival in August 1996, expectation outweighs belief and the performance falters. Within months, the band are finished. The Happy Mondays have already collapsed under the weight of addiction and excess. Factory Records is gone. The Hacienda is fading. The party is over. Episode 7 of The Rise and Fall of Madchester charts the slow unravelling of a movement that once felt unstoppable. This is the story of how Madchester dissolved and how the city it transformed, moved on without it. A BBC Audio Production.

    18 min
  10. 8. What the World is Waiting For

    Episode 8

    8. What the World is Waiting For

    As Tony Wilson once told Newsweek Magazine in 1990 - "If there is any idea at all, it is about community and collective strength. There is power in people being lovely to each other." It might be more than 30 years ago but today, Madchester both made its mark and left its mark. Madchester did more than just transform the music of its own city – it rewrote the rule book on how a movement could emerge, free of music industry controls, and produce the sort of bands, DJs and records that labels could never create. It brought dance culture to the masses and laid the foundation for Britpop. In this final episode of the The Rise and Fall of Madchester, presenters Steve Lamacq and Alison Bell share their take on what it stood for, who it influenced, the changes it brought about and the legacy that still lives on, featuring archive interviews with Tony Wilson, Mani, Shaun Ryder and Noel Gallagher. “The Rise & Fall of Madchester’ is a BBC Audio Production for BBC Sounds. It was presented by Steve Lamacq and Alison Bell. It was produced in Salford by Catherine Earlam. The Editor for BBC Audio was Helen Hobday. It written by Philip Smith, Catherine Earlam and Steve Lamacq. Technical Production by Philip Smith. The Commissioner was Will Wilkin, and the Commissioning Producer was Hannah Clapham. The producers wish to thank all the contributors and archive interviewers and interviewees.

    22 min
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Get to know the shocking highs and lows of the biggest stories in music.

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  • Creator
    BBC Radio 6 Music
  • Episodes
    42
  • Seasons
    5
  • Rating
    Clean
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    © (C) BBC 2026
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