Acid House the True Story by Luke Bainbridge
Being 17 in 1989, living in Manchester and being a regular at a lot of the Northern clubs in this potted history makes this a right blast from the past. The history of the house music explosion in the UK is well documented by a lot of the main players of the time in a series of interviews chopped up to make a timeline of the rapid rise of the music and the clubs.
It’s heavily focuses on London and Manchester with nods to Leeds, Liverpool and Blackburn, but for me this doesn’t detract from the wider picture as really, they were the two centres of the rise of the culture.
Some of the characters from down south seem to be solely concerned with claiming to be the first to do this, that or the other, or to have played a certain record first, and this did leave me a little cold, but overall it’s an enjoyable read that captures the mood and the optimism of the time perfectly. As a North Manc lad though, they were well harsh on the Thunderdome! Maybe… 🙂
Manchester vibes in the area!