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In the last 30 days the archive has grown by 462 new artefacts, 20 new members, 19 new people and places.
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19 Apr 2024

Artefact of the day

Photograph
Dukinfield Drifters Club
9th July 1982
Added 29th August 2022
by Neil Donaldson
Some shots of band Disorder along with some acquaintances

This week's video

Woman: Breaking the Rules. Part 1: Yvonne Ellis

Woman: Breaking The Rules is a project celebrating women in Manchester music. The project, which comprises 5 short films, a pop-up exhibition and several events, is part of our HLF-funded Rebel Music programme and is led by MDMA co-founder Alison Surtees.

Through our online networks we held a vote to determine which 5 inspiring women in Manchester music we approach to feature in our 5 short films. A whopping 718 people voted.

Projects

Connecting Manchester's Music Archives

This is the digital space where archival repositories and projects containing Manchester’s music heritage can connect up, share stories and promote their collections.

MDMArchive Research Lab

MDMArchive member and hardcore data-fiend Kate Mullen has been working on plugging our database into electronic frogspawn. Stick your hands in and have a swirl.

Telling Stories Conference

17-19 November 2022
Registration, Speakers and Schedule

Lapsed Clubber Audio Map

Recording the memories of Greater Manchester's rave community, 1985-1995

Online Exhibitions

Don't Mention The Hacienda - The Adventures Of Alan Wise

We Are Dynamite! Northern Carnival 1978

The Northern Carnival against the Nazis, a rally and concert held on 15 July 1978 in Moss Side.

RNCM50: Throwing Open the Concert Doors

Queer Noise

Exploring the hidden history of Manchester’s LGBT+ music culture and club life.

The Roadhouse closes its doors

Huge exhibition of photos and memories from the Manchester music institution.

Moss Side Stories

Inspired in part by MDMArchive’s hugely prolific member, ‘Dubwise-er’, who uploaded almost 1000 artefacts to our website.

Mole Express - A Magazine for Manchester's Counter Culture

A truly alternative, grass-roots publication first issued in 1970 which ran for seven years.

Andrew Weatherall A Herbal Tea Party Celebration

A celebration of the dearly missed Andrew Weatherall.

In celebration of the life of CP Lee

A place to collect all the wonderful stories, memories and images of our founder member.

Record Shops of Greater Manchester

An ongoing project aiming to document every record shop of Greater Manchester, past and present.

City Fun: The Hidden History of Manchester's Favourite Fanzine

Comprehensive fully transcribed archive of City Fun.

Suffragette City - women in Manchester music

Exhibition celebrating women in Manchester music developed in tandem with our physical Suffragette City exhibition at The Refuge.

Manchester Academy Memories

Concerts & Club Life at the University of Manchester - full of great stories from true music fans 1954-2016

A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music

Founded in 1920 by Hilda Collens, the school specialised in training music teachers until it merged with the Royal Manchester College of Music to form the RNCM.

Kate O'Donnell (Trans Creative)

A personal archive of Kate's flyers, posters and press articles.

Electric 50: Bob Dylan at the Free Trade Hall Redux

Manchester Digital Music Archive celebrated this outstanding event with a fundraising concert to mark its 50th anniversary.

Square Peg, Round Hole: decades of (gay) involvement in Manchester.

Huge personal collection of flyers, photos and articles from designer / promoter duo Glenn & Brendon.

Paradise Factory, January 1998

A photo diary of a night out in Paradise Factory.

Rave in Greater Manchester, 1985-1995

To celebrate the launch of the Lapsed Clubber Audio Map, we've started an exhibition about rave in Greater Manchester.

25 Years Of Paper Recordings: 1994 - 2019

A quarter of a century of music, parties, good times & many memories of Paper Recordings.

RNCM Archives

Welcome to the Royal Northern College of Music Archives

Making Music in Manchester during WW1

This exhibition showcases some of the archives of the Royal Northern College of Music, the Hallé Concerts Society and the Henry Watson Music Library.

Defining Me: A Musical Adventure in Manchester #1

Michael Barnes-Wynters (aka Barney Doodlebug, and MDMArchive trustee) snapshot of a musical journey.

Fanzine: Ghast Up

How to make a fanzine. Behind the scenes photos and letters including all issues of seminal fanzine.

Fanzine: God Is A Newt

Another great punk fanzine.

Fanzine: Out There

Paul Morley's self-published fanzine 'Out There'.

Fanzine: Manchester Rains

Another great DIY fanzine.

The Mancunian Gay Magazine

Uncovering Manchester's LGBT music history within the pages of the Mancunian Gay magazine.

Oh Manchester, so much to answer for

M20 Festival, Withington 2018

Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Founding of Factory Records

Melanie Smith - Mudkiss Photography

Manchester-based music photographer Melanie Smith shares some random photographic memories.

King Kayak: 2006 to 2009

Manchester Postcards

A collection of early 20th Century postcards illustrating brass bands and old venue spaces.

Manchester, North of England

Cherry Red Records box set as selected by members of MDMArchive.

Licktronica : a design aesthetic and an electronic music night

A collection of Rob Bailey's iconic poster designs from Licktronica.

Manchester Musicians Collective

Late 1970s Manchester musicians-led grass-roots movement.

Cry Wolf 1975-1980

Lifting the lid on late 70s gig scene of Poynton, Cheadle and beyond.

Fictitious Names

A treasure trove of images of this Radcliffe-based band.

Manchester, Punk and Beyond...

OT's punk nuggets - it is good to own a Shy Talk and a Ghast Up, a John Cooper Clarke poster and the Electric Circus flyers.

My Smiths and Morrissey collection

Since stumbling across The Smiths on the Old Grey Whistle Test I've never looked back.

Latest Artefacts

Latest Discussion

“Thanks for posting this up!”
Written by Simeon Davies, view artefact
14 Apr
“exeists an mp3 version?”
Written by hel77, view artefact
10 Apr
“Longshot question ... I was at this gig at the Ritz and there was a band who supported them who I thought were brilliant, but I cannot remember the name for the life of me. It was a male band, does anyone know who they were?”
Written by Dan Waghorn, view artefact
09 Apr
“Julien Robinson's name spelled incorrectly.”
Written by scherben, view artefact
08 Apr
“It's been seventeen years, so you've probably already sorted it, but their single is available to buy on Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/4028444-The-Days-Fly-EP”
Written by scherben, view artefact
08 Apr
“Are you related to Albert Tatlock?? (Joking)”
Written by bradshawvincent, view artefact
02 Apr
“I was there. Definitely very hot. Everyone dripping in sweat. What an amazing evening. Best of times.”
Written by Marla, view artefact
30 Mar
“Would you part with either of the two posters uploaded?”
Written by DomesticBliss80, view artefact
28 Mar
“quote from Alan's notes for the book he never wrote: Dougie James is my dear dear friend. He trained me in every aspect of absurdity.”
Written by The Editor, Alan Wise Project, view artefact
21 Mar
“RIP Stan the Man”
Written by Bladesy1, view artefact
18 Mar

Latest People & Places

John Delaney - Person Artyfarty 18 Apr
Stroke Club - Place yvw 17 Apr
Nigel Maitland - Band / Artist yvw 17 Apr
Jeff Bridges - Band / Artist martineane 16 Apr
Martine Hilton - Band / Artist martineane 16 Apr
Lynn Howe - Band / Artist martineane 16 Apr
Shytalk - Band / Artist yvw 16 Apr
Shytalk Legacy - Person yvw 16 Apr
Leaky Mosaics - Band / Artist yvw 16 Apr
Apollo Theatre Manchester - Place customsynth 08 Apr
Ultravox - Band / Artist customsynth 08 Apr
Wendys - Band / Artist Mystical Kenny 05 Apr
Jan Johnston - Band / Artist Mystical Kenny 04 Apr
Peter Donohoe - Band / Artist rncmarchives 03 Apr
RNCM Symphonic Wind Band - Band / Artist rncmarchives 02 Apr

News
05 Apr 24
Re-Membering Music Worlds: Exhibiting the Rebel Women of Manchester’s Suffragette City
14 Oct 23
Beyond the Music - October
05 Sep 23
Echo Salford interactive music trail launches
26 May 22
Hulme Jubilee Weekender - A fun filled Celebration of Our Culture & Diversity
11 May 22
Manchester Histories Festival
05 Jan 21
Help Shape Our Future-Complete our Survey
MDMArchive in city-wide 50 Windows of Creativity exhibition 26 Oct 20
Abigail Ward steps down 10 Sep 20
CP Lee 1950-2020 26 Jul 20
Suffragette City raised £5300 for local women's charities 17 Mar 20
Suffragette City Set Times 03 Mar 20
SUFFRAGETTE CITY 2020 Tickets Available! 15 Jan 20
19 Apr 2024

On this day in history

Michael Holland
Common
Crispy AmbulanceSection 25
Ruby Lounge
Throwing Stuff
The Bay Horse
MoonbootsDanny WebbThe Bears
Green Room
Danny Webb
Green Room
GoldbladeJohn Robb
Academy 3 (Hop & Grape)
Buzzcocks
3
Caesar LoungeWhite CubeYouCircus GirlsShep
Night and Day Cafe
The Fall
Elliot EastwickMiles Hollway
The Roadhouse
The Hacienda
808 StateElectronicNew Fast Automatic DaffodilsRigCraig Cash
Rig
Rig
Rig
Dave Haslam
The Hacienda
RowettaVanilla Sound CorpsMike PickeringJon DaSilva
The Hacienda
The Apollo
Bamford Blues Band
Band On The Wall
1
Happy MondaysNew Order
Happy MondaysNew Order
New Order
Macclesfield Leisure Centre
The Hacienda
3
The Hacienda
The Apollo
The Fall
The Apollo
The Naughty Boys
West Indian Centre (Carmoor Road)
Magazine
Our archive currently contains 3955 Bands / Artists, 776 DJs, 1505 Places, 368 People and 32129 artefacts contributed by 4382 members.
Manchester Digital Music Archive is licensed under an
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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