ABC Wednesday: "S" is for Strawberry Studios Stockport

Stockport's Strawberry Recording Studios (photo P.Wadsworth)

Although Greater Manchester has sometimes been described as a musical desert from the late 1960s to mid 1970s, one small Stockport building of the time embodied much of the spirit and attitude associated with later generations of Manchester musicians and the development of a Manchester music scene. From 1967 until 1992, Strawberry Studios provided recording facilities for a wide variety of artists from the Syd Lawrence Orchestra, through Neil Sedaka to The Smiths and New Order. Some of pop's greatest moments were created in Stockport - such as 10cc's classic Number 1 single "I'm Not In Love" and one of the greatest albums of all time, Joy Division's "Unknown Pleasures".

Peter Wadsworth of the University of Manchester is an expert on what made Strawberry such a success and how its history leads us to a revision of the conventional historical narrative of Manchester music, challenging the notion of a 'musical desert".

There is a dedicated Facebook page for Strawberry too, full of evocative photographs of the studio's heyday. With grateful thanks to Peter Wadsworth for today's post and for his permission to use both photos on today's Mancunian Wave. 

Taking part in ABC Wednesday.