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In the last 30 days the archive has grown by 104 new artefacts, 19 new members, 25 new people and places.
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3 Jun 2025

Artefact of the day

Garment
1988
Added 9th May 2023
by Sue Taylor
Piccadilly Radio, Manchester’s first commercial radio station, launched the careers of amongst others Chris Evans, Andy Peebles, Gary Davies, Timmy Mallet, Mark Radcliffe, Karl Pilkington and featured exclusive sessions by many of Manchester’s most groundbreaking bands. Station T-shirt after the 80's waveband rejiggle.

This week's video

Louder than Words - 50 Years of Hip Hop panel

MDMArchive was proud to bring two important panels to Louder than War Festival in November 2023, hosted by our very own Karen Gabay, Trustee and award-winning producer for TV and Radio. On the Sunday we celebrated 50 years of Hip-Hop and shone a light on two important women in Hip-Hop culture from Manchester, and the amazing previously unheard stories of starting out, changes in perceptions of women in the industry and in hip-hop more centrally. Celebrating the first black hip-hop woman to be signed to a record label from Manchester, Martay McKenzie,- who was signed at the age of 13 and is now an in-demand songwriter, performer and West End star - and OneDa, who is currently breaking down barriers for women and non-binary artists in Manchester and gaining great acclaim with her unique lyrical and performance style.

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Latest Discussion

“Blimey I had absolutely no idea this existed. I was the singer in the days and now a vocalist in Stepford Wives, with my daughter being the other vox, keeping the faith x I must have a root around in the attic to see if I've got anything that might add to this collection of artefacts.”
27 May
“The Hoax , The Liggers, The Enigma.... where's Steve the bass player?.”
27 May
“I remember it well I was the parade sergeant major in the 1960's”
08 May
“Let me know if you'd consider selling?”
07 May
“You can see my Dad had written out a rhythm in th etop right hand corner”
06 May
“This was excellent. My strongest single memory of this gig was Colsk The Terrible Latter singer of Flux objecting to being spat on and said "anymore and I'm off". 😁😁”
03 May
“That poster was created by John Barratt of Seven Miles Out. He sells them online. It is not original to the period. Bowie’s short tenure with The Riot Squad was casual and unofficial. He didn’t play every show with them during that period. The assumption that he did is just that: an assumption based on wobbly logic. There is no primary evidence to support it. Secondary sources are not evidence, no matter how credible they may seem. Information gets repeated on the Internet without being fact-checked. A good friend of mine, and one of the world’s leading Bowie collectors, knows The Riot Squad’s drummer, Derek “Del” Roll. Del kept the band’s booking diary and he made detailed notes of which band members played which shows, so they could divvy up the money fairly. Bowie is not listed against the Stockport or Liverpool shows in April 1967. That is primary, contemporary, written evidence.”
30 Apr
“David with The Riot Squad did indeed play The Tabernacle Club, on the 9th April 1967. It is documented via a number of highly credible sources. David was never an actual member of the Riot Squad, he did however 'join' them onstage, the reason being by this time David had signed with Deram (Decca) records and was recording ('The Laughing Gnome' single and his debut album 'David Bowie' which were released shortly thereafter. As to the poster, this one displayed here https://www.manchesterbeat.com/venues/venues-stockport/the-tabernacle-later-sgt-peppers-hillgate-stockport with a comment from someone who actually attended the Riot Squad gig of 9th April 1967”
30 Apr
“This is a later fantasy poster produced by a Stockport resident and shared on social media a couple of years ago. It is not an original advert from 1967. An original advert wouldn't advertise upcoming shows over a six month period. Also, there is primary evidence, in the form of the Riot Squad's contemporary booking diary, that Bowie did not accompany the band to either the Stockport or the Liverpool shows that April.”
30 Apr
“Sad to say, I'm informed Steve died in a care home, late 2024 or early 2025. RIP Steve.”
28 Apr

Latest People & Places

Engine Boogie Rock Band - Band / Artist drummerdave 20 May
Tony Hawkins - Person archivesplus 20 May
Philip Birch - Person archivesplus 20 May
Roger Finnigan - DJ archivesplus 20 May
Phil Griffin - DJ archivesplus 19 May
Tony Emmerson - DJ archivesplus 19 May
Tom Tyrell - Person archivesplus 19 May
Timmy Mallett - DJ archivesplus 19 May
Brian Beech - DJ archivesplus 19 May
Tim Grundy - DJ archivesplus 19 May
Susie Mathis - DJ archivesplus 19 May
Steve Penk - DJ archivesplus 19 May
Steve England - DJ archivesplus 19 May
Phil Wood - DJ archivesplus 19 May
Phil Sayer - DJ archivesplus 19 May

News

Manchester Histories Festival 11 May 22
Help Shape Our Future-Complete our Survey 05 Jan 21
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
3 Jun 2025

On this day in history