Following on from band Haim teasing the cover of their new single Take Me Back with Manchester’s Portland Street in the background, a new, interactive map has emerged which shows all the Manchester locations behind some of the biggest hits. Launched by National Rail, the Musical Routes – Behind the Tracks map contains hundreds of places featured in the songs, music artwork and music videos of Britain’s favourite artists – with dozens of places across Manchester and the North West featured.
Would you believe us if we told you that big name artists like Timbaland, Liam Gallagher and Ed Sheeran have used Manchester as the backdrop for their music videos? Yeah, neither would we, but it’s true!
According to the Musical Routes map, a lock-up garage on Salford‘s Chapel Street was the setting for the music video for the Timbaland hit The Way I Are, and The Midland Hotel was used as a key location for the music video to Better Days by Liam Gallagher. Plus, suburbs such as New Moston are also included on the map, which featured in the music video for Take Me Back to London by Ed Sheeran.
The new map features other locations in and around Manchester with a connection to iconic artists such as Ian Brown, Oasis, Zayn Malik, The Smiths, The Courteeners and many more. From stations to stadiums, hotels to high schools, bars to record shops, the stories that connect these Greater Manchester spots to famous artists are all revealed on the map.
Locations in and around Manchester which feature in the Musical Routes map
- The Star and Garter pub, Fairfield Street
- Manchester Piccadilly Station
- AO Arena
- Manchester Victoria Station
- The Midland Hotel
- Stockport Pyramid
- Chapel Street
- The Hacienda Club & The Snug Bar
- Dry Bar, Oldham Street
- Stockport Train Station
- New Moston
- Boggart Hole Clough Park, Blackley
- Cheetham Hill
- Old Trafford
- Whalley Range
- Fallowfield
- Wilmslow Road
- Sifter Records, Burnage
- Rusholme
- Longsight
- Miles Platting
- Stockport Grammar School
- Ashcroft House, Saddleworth
- Southern Cemetery, Chorlton
- The Brick Community Stadium, Wigan
- Saddleworth Moor
- Toughsheet Community Stadium, Bolton
In addition, National Rail has launched a new series of audio guides, narrated by legendary broadcaster Jo Whiley, with contributions from DJ Yinka Bokinni and former All Saint Melanie Blatt. The guides cover key geographical areas of Britain and reveal the links they have with a range of homegrown and international acts – plus how music fans can explore these locations by train.
Manchester of course features again – with an insightful and revealing musical guide to Manchester, Liverpool and the North West. Rail travellers can hear the stories that go behind the record stores, streets and railways that inspired Northern legends from Oasis to the Beatles. Listeners will hear of the untold stories behind some of music’s most memorable moments, including the Cromford railway station which acted as visual inspiration for one of Oasis’ biggest hits.
You can find the Musical Routes map as well as more on the audio guides here.