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Liverpool named England's 'most musical city'

Beatles' hometown tops new poll

June 17, 2008 | 42 Comments
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Liverpool has been hailed as England's most musical city, beating Sheffield in an Arts Council poll.

The current European Capital Of Culture took 49 per cent of the vote, with Sheffield second and Manchester in third.

As part of the poll, unsigned Liverpool band The Affection will play this year's End Of The Road Festival in Dorset.

So did Liverpool deserve to win for the likes of The Beatles, The La's and even The Zutons, or should the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Pulp have pushed up Sheffield's ranking?

Plus, what about Oasis and New Order in Manchester, or other cities with vibrant scenes like Bristol or London? Have your say on the vote by commenting below.

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Comments (42)

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Brit101

Jun 17, 2008

Liverpool the most musical city??? Bull shit! Manchester is the most musical by far! Oasis, Stone Roses, The Smiths, The Inspiral Carpets, Joy Division. I mean the list goes on for ever! Manchester is the best so there.

the.affection

Jun 17, 2008

We agree heartily with this vote!Cheers England Arts Councilxwww.myspace.com/theaffection

paranoid_android

Jun 17, 2008

on the whole the north produces the best bands, very true!

prettylittleholeinthehead

Jun 17, 2008

What a load of b******s...I'm from Liverpool and I disagree with this!The city has produced one decent band ever (ok, so that was the Beatles but hey...) and has rested on it's laurels ever since. there may be some good small bands wihtin the city itself but none of them ever actually make it out and don't give me any of that rubbish about the Coral (not from Liverpool), the Zutons (a joke to most music lovers in the city), or the Las (one hit wonders anyone?)...Sheffield can just about claim the Arctics.Manchester has produced more artists on more scenes than the top two combined. Then trebled. London and Birmingham too.Acid house, rave, Madchester, Twisted Wheel (home of Northern Soul), the Hacienda, Sankeys Soap, the Academy, Warehouse Project... Sex Pistols at FTH, Oasis, Happy Mondays, more world class DJs than you can scratch a deck at-DO I HAVE TO GO ON?!The only way I can explain this result is that musically incompetant children who live for HMV have made up most of the voting populace. They require an immediate education.Buy a map, go to a real record shop and cut your b****y fringes so some of the music gets to your ears!!!!!!

timbribe

Jun 17, 2008

Top job to the Affection boys, a quality band, check them out!

Adam2625

Jun 17, 2008

liverpool did diserve to win. the liverpool has many new and up coming bands like the Zutons and Wombats not to mention the older classic bands like the beatles and the las....all you have to do is walk around liverpools clubs like the cavern and bar fly and it is obvious liverpool eradiates music

Theboywithathorninhisside

Jun 17, 2008

Manchester is clearly number one when it comes to music: The smiths started indie, new order started techno and the stone roses are just awesome, also The ting tings got number one a few weeks ago, something which a liverpool band hasnt goet in long long time!!!

mattwroe180

Jun 17, 2008

I am a student in Sheff and I would say personally that it has one of the best music scenes around at the minute. Also look at the great bands it has produced Arctic Monkeys, Milburn, Rev + The Makers, Plulp etc.

Gregblade05

Jun 17, 2008

Im from Sheffield and even I can not understand how Manchester has not won this.....Dont get me wrong the Beattles are untouchable, but how can Manchester be so overlooked to come 3rd. The Smiths, Morrisey, Stone Roses, Ian Brown, Oasis, Happy Mondays, Joy Division, New Order, The Buzzcocks, The Charlatans and even Take That and Simply Red...........

jonnysrocks

Jun 17, 2008

That's a joke! The Beatles, that's it!I mean I'd say Manchester or Birmingham.Manchester: Oasis, Verve, Happy Mondays,Stone Roses, Smiths, James, Inspiral Carpets, Joy Division, New Order, Buzzcocks, Bee Gees, Simply Red, Charlatans, Chemical Brothers, Take ThatBirmingham: Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Napalm Death, Half of Led Zeppelin, Electric Light Orchestra, UB40, Duran Duran, Wizzard...and don't forget The Streets and Jamelia!

shaunyeah

Jun 17, 2008

im from liverpool an thats a load of bollocks to be honest, manchester definately should have won it, lets face it, its only because of the beatles liverpool did. brit101s list proves that x

JoeMCFC

Jun 17, 2008

WHAT ? how can this be ? Liverpool is only no.1 because of The Beatles! who else is there (apart from The La's)??? Also i like the sheffield music scene, but ... where's mighty Manchester ? Oasis, Stone Roses, The Smiths,, New Order, Joy Division, Ian Brown, Inspiral Carpets ..... and The Courteeners will be massive in a few years!

doherty49

Jun 17, 2008

haha up urs u manc shite liverpool deserved to win just for the beatles alone

nickjcray

Jun 17, 2008

How did Manchester not win???? Only third!!! Who voted? bet it was the Atomic Kitten lot!!!!!!!!!!!!

TomTheLikelyLad

Jun 17, 2008

Yeah I mean Liverpool have The Beatles and the ermmm... errr.. The Wombats. What about Bedford?!

TheCowboyJunky

Jun 17, 2008

The Affection... without a doubt the best unsigned band around at the moment. Good luck to them, they deserve to be up there with the best. Its about time they had some recognition. As for LIverpool winning the competition... everyone is entitled to an opinion... www.myspace.com/theaffectionGive them a listen.

lil miss emileee

Jun 17, 2008

how can you say that one place is the best just coz of the beatles ?? yeh liverpool has wombats racsals beatles ... but manchester has the stone roses , oasis , courteeners and ell sheffield ....... arctic monkeys !!!!!!!

explosivedog

Jun 17, 2008

Manchester deserved to win for Joy Division and the Smiths alone.

airza

Jun 17, 2008

I think there's a fantastic connection. I don't think Liverpool is the greatest city musically.. but it was bands like the beatles who infulenced the roses and oasis among others.

Soundedd

Jun 18, 2008

I'm a Brummie and I can be the first to say we shouldn't have won haha. I think either Liverpool or Manchester should have won. Manchester has provided the likes of Oasis, The Stone Roses etc and more recently the brilliant The Courteeners, but Liverpool as well as producing two top quality modern day bands in The Wombats and The Zutons they have produced the greatest band of all time for me in The Beatles so i'd give it to Liverpool.

itsverymalty

Jun 18, 2008

The Coral, The Zutons, The Beatles, The Boo Radleys, Cast, The Dead 60s, Echo And The Bunnymen, The Farm, Elvis Costello, Gomez (albeit from Southport), Gerry And The Pacemakers, Hot Club De Paris, Ladytron, The Rascals, The Wombats, Shack, Space, The Teardrop Explodes, The Searchers, Clinic, The Bandits... I'm not sure that list can be argued with. Thats not to say I'm necessarily into all these artists but in terms of pop culture and collective number of Top 10 hits, Liverpool tops the chart.

robjj5292

Jun 18, 2008

rightmanc bands have all been influenced by the beatles, something which they have openly admitted. Also, living near them both and going out in both the places a rather large amount of times I can safely say that ok, manchester have a lot of signed famous musicians, but in Liverpool there is a massive music scene with hundreds of acts every night, the large majority of which are quality and just havent been able to obtain some luck to get them signed. In terms of musicality in this sense, Manchester has some catching up to dop.s. jonnysrocks claims the verve where from manchester, which is wrong as they are from wiganpps. the beatles arent really that good

waterbob22

Jun 18, 2008

agree manchester should have won and dont forget the like of elbow and doves as well. however there is more to liverpool than the beatles - omd, julian cope, echo and the bunnymen, the mighty wah, cast, lightning seeds, gerry and the pacemakers, frankie goes to hollywood, icicle works, the farm, boo radleys have all produced some decent stuff

zoso83

Jun 18, 2008

Im not even from Manchester but seriously disagree with this, Manchester bands = 808 State, A guy called Gerald, Altern8, Oasis, Stone Roses, New Order, Joy Division, M-People, Simply Red, Northside, James, Inspiral Carpets, Happy Mondays, Black Grape, 10cc, Badly Drawn Boy, Buzzcocks, Ian Brown, The Chemical Brothers, The Courteeners, John Cooper Clarke, Doves, Elbow, Electronic, The Fall, David Gray, The Hollies, MC Tunes, The Smiths, N-Trance, Mr Scruff, Simply Red, Starsailor, The Sea Horses, Sub Sub, Take That, The Verve, Van Der Graaf Generator, The Ting Tings, Jim Noir, The Bee Geeâ€™sLiverpool = Ladytron (fair play) Atomic Kitten, Apollo 440, Cilla Black, The Boo Radleys, The Lightning Seeds, BB Mak, China Crisis, The Dead 60's, Frankie goes to hollywood, The Farm, The La's, The Zutons, the Wombats, Cast. Did i mention the beatles?? the beatles are from liverpool you know! did you know that.. the beatles.. liverpool?

bark12

Jun 18, 2008

People please, why no mention of London??? Do you have to be Northern to be considered any good? Let me throw a few names your way: Kinks, Stones, Who, Bowie, Madness, Jam, squeeze, and of course The Clash. Birmingham and Sheffield - Do me a favour!! Liverpool should also come behind Manchester. Atomic Kitten voting....probably, with a bit of help from Sonia!!

randomgirl666

Jun 18, 2008

Liverpool have the Beatles, but that's it. There's only been average indie nonsense from there since. I think the sad truth is that London probably has the biggest proportion of bands, simply because it's the biggest city.

Mancunia!

Jun 18, 2008

Oasis, The Stone Roses, The Smiths, The Verve, The Courteeners (next big thing), The Buzzcocks, Happy Mondays, James, Take That (as much as I detest them, they're huge), Simply Red, The Charlatans, The Chemical Brothers, New Order, Joy Division, Ian Brown, Morrissey, Inspiral Carpets, Northern Soul, and no-one's mentioned the greatest band in history, Slaughter & The Dogs!

stewhe1979

Jun 18, 2008

Come on - New order, Joy Division, Stone Roses, Charlatans, Happy Mondays, Oasis, Smiths, Ian Brown, Black Grape! Liverpool - Beatles and La's fair enuff. Sheffield okay, London okay, but come on who's the Daddy! Who voted for this? Ken Dodd.

domthemod

Jun 18, 2008

bloody hell when are they going to get over the beatles

nobletoast13

Jun 18, 2008

Let us not forget The Mighty Wah!, Teardrop Explodes, Half Man Half Biscuit, A Flock of Seagulls, Dead or Alive, Elvis Costello, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and the whole Mersey beat scene. Thereâ€™s more to Liverpool bands than all this recent 'lets-be-like-The-La's-shit. Be it 60's pop, post-punk, new wave or Britpop Liverpool have always had a presence of some sorts. And the greatest band of all time does add some more credit as well. AND i'm from Manchester. Most of you people's musical knowledge probably comes from when VH2 was on the air and ran a top 20 bands of all time list.

binstig

Jun 18, 2008

Northampton surely! I mean we had Bauhaus... Jokes aside it should have been Manchester (The Fall, Joy Division, Autechre) or London in my opinion.

wesley1

Jun 18, 2008

gotta agree with 'Brit101' and the majoirty of other comments, surely manchester has to be the place ???i'm from west brom myself so its not a biased opinion, just based purely on fact. got the best venues in country as well.yeah sure liverpool gave us the beatles, of which i'm eternally grateful being a huge fan, but what else ?? gerry with his pacemaker? the zutons? boo f*ckin radleys? cilla f*ckin black?? (forgive me if i've missed other greats such as 'space') get real. when compared to the likes of oasis, roses, smiths, james, mondays, joy division / new order, etc, the list is incomparible!liverpool is generally remember for bands that disappear from memory nearly as quick as they arrived, whereasmanchester produces artists and music that lasts

definetly_music

Jun 18, 2008

first of all, they forgot to put the wombats, and second, i think sheffield is the most musical city, bue probably i think that 'cause i love arctc monkeys, and that's not fair, tha only for one band, but the same happend with liverpool, only the beatles are very important.i read the others coments, and i realised that there are thousends of band in manchester, that i didin't know they were from there! so I agree that Manchester is the gratest city music.

Conrad1981

Jun 18, 2008

Manchester should definately have been nÂ°1, but where's London? The Jam, The Who, Rolling Stones, Blur, The Clash, Libertines,....

cpbrophy

Jun 18, 2008

Its hard choice for me Liverpool have had some great bands like the Zutons, The coral and The Beatles but Manchester has had great bands like the smiths oasis and the stone roses either way I'm glad for liverpool they deseve it.

lincoln88

Jun 18, 2008

I think it is ridiculous that Liverpool won, yeah The Beatles were revolutionary, the La's had a moment, The Coral are listenable and The Rascals are a good night out. But The Zutons and The Wombats should be shot. Manchester should have won for the great music by, Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, The Charlatans, Happy Mondays, Oasis, The Courteeners are ok, James are good, The Buzzcocks, Sheffield being 2nd is a laugh, I mean who wants to thank them for bringing Human League, Milburn, The Reverand and The Makers into this world, Pulp, Arctic Monkeys are good, I feel it is the younger Arctic Monkey fans who voted in this poll, and they probably voted for Liverpool based on the legacy of The Beatles alone. Manchester should win just for their sheer consistancy in producing the best musicians for the past 30 years. But no one takes this poll seriously, do they? if so why didn't we vote? I know I didn't.

01ca0501

Jun 18, 2008

totally agree with itsverymalty, for all you people saying liverpools only the beatles. and in shack they have another one of the greatest most underrated bands ever

Blueheart

Jun 18, 2008

What city has produced the variety and ingenuity of Frankie Goes to Hollywood to Echo and the Bunnymen, The Real Thing to OMD, Space to Lightening Seeds to Elvis Costello and Wombats to Clinic (not to mention the obvious)? I don't see any other city coming close to that. The Mancs have great bands but they're all ploughing the same field.

Republic of Mancuinia

Jun 18, 2008

Well it's clear what city should of been number 1, and it aint Liverpool. Manchester is in the top three in the world not just the Uk. For the size of the population Manchester is argubly number 1in the world. London and New york have 6 or 7 times the population. 10cc, Bee Gee's, Buzzcocks, Joy Division, New Order, 808 State, The Smiths, A Certain Ratio, James, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Oasis, Insiral carpets, Elbow, Doves, I Am Kloot, Badly Drawn Boy, Ting Tings, Courteeners, Morrissey and Ian Brown. If you put Manchester and Liverpool together as the North West then that is the hot bed of world music, no arguments.

nolan122

Jun 18, 2008

i am pretty sure liverpool only won that because it is capital of culture. doesnt explain why manchester was third though

capitalofthenorth

Jun 18, 2008

human league,abc,moloko,pulp,deff lepard,joe cocker,arctic monkeys,beautiful south, thats sheffield compare that with liverpool (who should have won again) and as for manchester most of those bands come from places like rochdale salford oldham areas.

Grendel

Jul 6, 2008

Let's get a few things straight here,The Verve had two members from Wigan,(closer to Liverpool than Manchester)one from St Helens (Merseyside) and a lad from LIverpool (yes Liverpool) So how exactly are they a manc band? Where do they fit in?Ian Brown is from Warrington (Cheshire) in the middle of Liverpool and Manchester,he's no manc either.The Bee Gees are all born in the Isle of Man,lived in Manchester for about 5 years and then moved on,so how exactly are they mancs? Ian Curtis of Joy Division was from Macclesfield (Cheshire) again a different County altogether.For Members of The Charlatans are from Wolverampton so how are they mancs exactly lol? Only two members of Take That are born in Manchester as crap as they are and Tim Booth of James is from Leeds,God knows how many others are from elsewhere,take all of this away and you're already seeing that it's all an illusion.Liverpool's scene was the only one to be recognised Worldwide,even Cream's gone Global.