Launching the British Pop Archive

On May 18th I was very happy to attend the launch of the British Pop Archive at John Rylands Research Institute and Library, which, if you don’t know Manchester, is a wonderful late Victorian neo-gothic building, built of red sandstone and featuring lots of ornate arched windows and doorways, which opened in 1900 on Deansgate.

I couldn’t believe how many other guests there were – it was a big turn-out. But the organisational team behind it, notably Jon Savage, Mat Bancroft and Professors Hannah Barker and Christopher Pressler, all deserve many congratulations for all the work they’ve put into establishing this nationally-important resource in Manchester.

The archive’s opening exhibition, entitled Collection, rightly focuses on Manchester. It features much unique material including Ian Curtis’s handwritten lyrics to Joy Division songs including She’s Lost Control, a pair of very colourful trainers designed for the Hacienda, a brilliant badge collection, and several items to remind you of how important Granada Television was for Manchester between the late 1950s and the 1990s. It was great to see several items from my archive (mostly alternative and countercultural magazines including Grass Eye, Mole Express, New Manchester Review, City Fun, and Manchester Women’s Paper) which are currently displayed in glass cases, having been lying around in various cardboard boxes for years. At least now I know they’ll be preserved properly.

I enjoyed catching up (in some cases after gaps of several years) with old friends including Kevin Cummins, Steve and Judith Kelly, Bruce Mitchell, Mark Radcliffe, John Robb, and Andy Spinoza.

The Rylands is free to visit, and Collection is on show till January 15th, 2023.