5. World in Motion

1990 does not begin quietly. London burns during the Poll Tax riots. Strangeways prison erupts in Manchester. Margaret Thatcher stands outside Downing Street for the last time. Britain is shifting politically, socially and culturally. At the very same moment, Madchester explodes into the mainstream. The Happy Mondays release Step On as smoke rises over the city. Ecstasy fuels a new chemical confidence. Indie and rave collide. What began in dark rooms is now national news.

Then comes an unlikely coronation. The Football Association asks New Order to write England’s 1990 World Cup anthem. World in Motion goes to number one and Manchester owns the summer. At Glastonbury, The Happy Mondays arrive with a thousand mates and a bootleg pass printer. In the charts, The Inspiral Carpets and The Charlatans surge forward. And in Widnes, on a former chemical works surrounded by factories and wind, tens of thousands gather for Spike Island. The Stone Roses take the stage as fireworks burst overhead. The sound system falters. The crew threaten to strike. The wind shifts…. but it barely matters.

This is the peak. The moment Madchester becomes too big to contain.

Episode 5 of The Rise and Fall of Madchester tells the story of the year politics, football, rave and pop culture collided.

A BBC Audio Production.