On 15 March, Labour’s Andy Burnham launched his manifesto to be the first mayor of Greater Manchester. And in case we were in any doubt about which city he was campaigning to be mayor of, the event was very carefully stage-managed.

The food on offer included Manchester tarts and Eccles Cakes. The event began with a video highlighting Manchester’s history of radical left-wing thought, all set to the tune of “This is the one” by the Mancunian band, the Stone Roses.

And the playlist running in the background while attendees first gathered was composed entirely of songs from or about Manchester. All Madchester, all the time.

One can mock all this. In fact, one did:

But to be fair to the campaign, Manchester has produced some genuinely fantastic music. What’s more, the city’s music scene was at its peak in the late 1980s, when Burnham himself (b.1970) would have been at a particularly formative age.

Now the campaign is over, Burnham has won handsomely, and I won’t have to deal with any irritating criticisms that I’m showing unfair favour/taking the piss. So here, courtesy of his press team, is the Burnham campaign’s complete Manchester mix-tape. There’s a link to a Spotify playlist below.

  • One Day Like This – Elbow
  • Manchester – The Beautiful South
  • The Real Thing – Lisa Stansfield
  • This is How it Feels – Inspiral Carpets
  • Chocolate – The 1975
  • Half The World Away – Oasis
  • Sit Down – James
  • Love will tear us apart – Joy Division
  • This is the One – Stone Roses
  • Step on – Happy Mondays
  • Search for the Hero – M-People
  • Proud – Heather Small
  • Not Nineteen Forever – Courteeners
  • Charlemagne – Blossoms
  • Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve
  • Station Approach – Elbow
  • Regret – New Order
  • Ten Storey Love Song – Stone Roses

You can listen to the playlist here. As a wise man once said: “Mad for it.”

Jonn Elledge is the editor of CityMetric. He is on Twitter as @jonnelledge and also has a Facebook page now for some reason. 

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