Video
Broken Glass, Karl Brockbank
2025

In this episode of Manchester Scene Stories, I sit down with Karl Brockbank, one of the early names from Manchester’s breakdance and electro scene.

Karl came up in the early 1980s — long before the rave explosion — when crews were discovering body-popping, lino floors, and a new sound taking over from funk.

He was part of Broken Glass, the Manchester crew that became known nationwide for their explosive routines. They performed everywhere from Legends to The Haçienda, supported by Greg Wilson, who helped bring electro to Manchester.
Broken Glass toured the country, performed at Camden Palace, and brought a new street energy into the clubs.

Karl recalls those early days — carrying rolls of lino on trains to Rill, Blackpool, and Bolton, battling on the streets, and performing before crowds who’d never seen anything like it. Broken Glass were among the first to show that street dance had a home in the North.

He also talks about Manchester nightlife at the time: Genevieve’s, Brewsters, The Gallery, Legends, Applejacks — long before the acid-house boom. It was a time when the city moved to funk, electro and soul, and nights were about pure dancing, not drugs.

From there the story flows into the rise of electro: Buffalo Gals, Hip Hop Be Bop, Man Parrish — the tracks that blew open new possibilities. Karl explains how these sounds inspired a generation, before Chicago house and the Haçienda came along.
He connects the dots between electro, early hip hop, and the Manchester dance culture that followed.

The interview is full of vivid memories:
• the night Richard Pryor turned up at one of their shows
• teaching body-popping classes at Strawberry Studios
• watching the shift from early 80s street culture to Hot Night, Dry Bar and the Mondays era

Karl also shares his personal journey — growing up in Manchester, starting clubbing at 13, losing his mum young, and finding community through music and dance. His stories carry humour, warmth, and a strong sense of time and place.

We close with Karl’s favourite record — Hip Hop Be Bop by Man Parrish — the track that still gives him that same rush 40 years later.

This episode captures a side of Manchester often forgotten: the pre-acid, electro-funk roots that fed into the city’s dance culture. Before the Haçienda, before the raves — there was Karl Brockbank, Broken Glass, and a generation who built the foundations.

Filmed at Gullivers Manchester