Madchester
Madchester is the late 1980s and early 1990s Manchester scene that fused indie guitar rock with the rhythms of acid house and rave culture.
Bands kept jangly or psychedelic guitars but set them to loose, danceable drum grooves, funky bass and sometimes organ, with a laid-back vocal style. The scene grew around the Haçienda nightclub and Factory Records. Its mix of rock and dance music, often called baggy, set it apart from other British indie of the time and helped clear the way for Britpop.
Artists it is known for: The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets.
- Family
- Alternative & Indie
- On Spotify
- A current genre
- What it is
- A scene
- From
- Manchester, England, late 1980s
- Also called
- baggy
- Trackify listeners who play it
- 14%
About 11,000 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have madchester among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.
Madchester artists
The Smiths
Oasis
Blur
The Stone Roses
New Order
Joy Division
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Morrissey
Courteeners
Saint Etienne
The madchester artists most Trackify listeners have in their top fifty. Each opens on Spotify.
Sources
The definition is written for this site from open sources, and was checked against them on 13 November 2026.