Liverpool’s Music History

In 2001 the Guinness Book of Records named Liverpool 'City of Pop' due to the number of chart-topping records to have emerged from the city. 

It's a fitting accolade as Liverpool and the wider Merseyside region is certainly synonymous with music, great performances and inspirational songwriting.

From the sixties revolution of the city's favourite sons, the Beatles, to more contemporary artists such as Lapsley and the Mysterines, the success stories have continued to come. 

With ICMP launching its undergraduate music courses in Liverpool from September 2024, here's our overview of the Scouse artists who have caused a stir in popular culture and some of the music that made them.

The Sixties 

Merseybeat was the defining sound of the sixties, a musical style melding rock and roll, pop, skiffle and rhythm and blues. 

The musical style was led by the Beatles who rose to prominence in 1963 when they released their debut album, 'Please Please Me', in March. Their follow up, 'With the Beatles', came out later the same year. 

Other artists to push the Merseybeat sound included Gerry & The Pacemakers (who achieved a number one hit in the UK before the Beatles), the Searchers, and Cilla Black.

However, it was the Fab Four who dominated the musical landscape of the sixties with a series of iconic albums - including 'The White Album', 'Revolver' and 'Abbey Road' - before breaking up in 1970. 

The Seventies

While the Cavern was the music venue that Liverpool's swinging sixties focused on, in the seventies it was another club called Eric's that was at the epicentre of the city's music scene. 

Opened in 1976 by Roger Eagle and Ken Testi, the club acted as a catalyst for local musicians as well as those from the likes of Southport and the Wirral and many local artists to congregate.

Those who enjoyed gigs in the basement space went on to enjoy huge success, including Pete Burns' Dead or Alive, Echo & the Bunnymen, Julian Cope with The Teardrop Explodes, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (aka OMD). 

Probe Records was another alternative hub for the city's music scene during the seventies. Opened in 1971 by founder Geoff Davies, it proved to be a vital shop for the post punk scene and the bands and artists who achieved success. 

Artists such as Pete Wylie, Julian Cope, Pete Burns, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Paul Rutherford all spent a number of years working in the record shop between 1977 and 1984.

Probe Plus was the label side of the business and signed cult indie legends and John Peel's favourite band, the brilliantly named Half Man Half Biscuit. 

The Eighties

Liverpool during the eighties was a city in decline like so many across the UK, blighted by the collapse of its manufacturing and maritime industries. 

The Toxteth riots of July 1981 were a civil disturbance in inner-city Liverpool, which exploded due to simmering tension between the authorities and the Black community.

Amid this backdrop, Holly Johnson and Frankie Goes to Hollywood became one of the biggest bands, not just in Liverpool, but in the UK. 

Signed to ZTT Records, their 1984 debut album 'Welcome to the Pleasuredome' was a huge success, featuring three classic singles, 'Relax', 'Two Tribes' and 'The Power of Love'. 

They also courted controversy with their track, 'Relax' . The single was at number six in the UK charts when it was banned by the BBC. It subsequently topped the charts and ultimately became the sixth biggest-selling UK single of all time. 

The La's, formed by songwriting genius and publicity-shy frontman Lee Mavers, emerged during the eighties too and were a very different band to Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Featuring John Power on bass, a musician who would go on to great success during the nineties with his Britpop band, Cast, they released a series of great singles and one self-titled album in 1990. Lee has only emerged sporadically to perform since.

Echo & the Bunnymen, led by frontman Ian McCulloch, are another great Liverpool success story with a classic indie sound. Their 1980 debut album 'Crocodiles' went into the top 20 of the UK album charts. The band released a second album 'Heaven Up Here' in 1981, then achieved a top ten hit with their track, 'The Cutter'.

Ian began his career in 1977, as one third of the Crucial Three, a bedroom band which also featured Liverpool luminaries Julian Cope and Pete Wylie. 

Jane Casey is a key figure in Liverpool's music scene, a creative, influencer and disruptive thought leader who has played a role in the city's cultural landscape since the eighties. 

She formed Pink Industry, a synthpop band, at the end of 1981, who went on to release three cult albums. Jayne's influence has continued to the present day, working at Liverpool's legendary club Cream and having a key role in re-energising the Baltic Triangle. Her venue District now hosts many of the city's best gigs and club nights. 

The Nineties

The nineties were a decade of brilliant music in the UK with Britpop dominating the narrative. Liverpool certainly played its part in this with Cast, Space and the Lightning Seeds all achieving great success. 

However, one of the outfits to reset the way artists worked and challenge music industry were another band born out of Liverpool - the KLF. 

Scottish musician Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D) and English artists Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock) were at the helm of the group. Drummond had previous, having set up Zoo Records during the eighties and was behind the release of albums by Echo & the Bunnymen and the Teardrop Explodes. 

The pair started by releasing sample-heavy tracks as the JAMs before hitting the top of the charts as the Timelords with 'Doctorin' the Tardis'. They documented the whole process in their book, 'The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way)'.

Despite their outsider artist status, the KLF was named as the Best British Group at the BRIT Awards in1992. Their response was to give a notorious performance of their track, '3 a.m Eternal' , with grindcore group Extreme Noise Terror.

Drummond fired blanks from a machine gun into the audience, then dumped a dead sheep at the entrance to one of the post-event parties. 

Controversy and column inches in the media continued to follow them when, under the name of the K Foundation, the pair took their earnings as the KLF, and burned it at a boathouse on the island of Jura in Scotland.

The decision to torch the money has long been a subject of debate and a subsequent documentary following them on their journey to burning it was released. The pair continue to pursue various idiosyncratic artistic endeavours and projects to this day. 

One of the decades other biggest Liverpool success stories came in the form of club night Cream. The club was launched during the nineties in Wolstenholme Square in the city centre and grew into one of the definitive dance music brands of the era.

Initially launched by Darren Hughes, James Barton and Andy Carroll, Cream has since evolved into a label and huge festival business that runs events around the world, including its Cream Classical festivals (pictured above). 

The 2000s

In the aftermath of Britpop, musical styles became less defined and more fluid with artists sucking up influences from a vast array of sources.

The advent of digital music towards the end of the decade meant bands were exposed to more eclectic sounds and it was reflected in the weirder, less definable sounds of the bands and artists to emerge.

Clinic were signed to Domino and noted for wearing surgical masks and outfits in concert and press shots. Their 1997 EP 'I.P.C. Subeditors Dictate Our Youth' was released on their own Aladdin's Cave of Golf record label before they joined Domino as one of the weirder and more out-there Liverpool acts. 

Ladytron take their name from the Roxy Music track and broke through during the 2000s with their melodic synth pop. 

Now made up of trio Helen Marnie, Daniel Hunt and Mira Aroyo (their former fourth member Reuben Wu is now an acclaimed photographer), the band are on their seventh album, 'Time's Arrow' and have never sounded better. Just as their latest record was released in 2023, 'Seventeen', the main single from 2002's 'Light & Magic' went viral, exposing their music to a whole new generation. 

While other styles and genres have come from the city, timeless melodies are what Liverpool and one of the city's success stories, the Zutons, are best known for. 

The band, led by Dave McCabe, burst through with their debut album, 'Who Killed...... The Zutons?', in April 2004.

They achieved chart success with 'Why Won't You Give Me Your Love?' and 'Valerie', both taken from their second studio album, 'Tired of Hanging Around', in 2006. After disbanding and focusing on various projects, the band returned with their latest album, 'The Big Decider', in April 2024. 

The 2010s 

Stealing Sheep, a psychedelic pop trio, broke through in 2010 thanks to their unique, psychedelic take on electronic folk music.

In 2010 they released their first LP entitled 'Paper Moon', and have been on a creative musical journey ever since. Some of the highlights include releasing a sci-fi soundtrack as part of the Fire Records 'Imagined Scores Series' entitled 'La Planéte Sauvage' in collaboration with The Radiophonic Workshop.

The group also played a major role in Liverpool's hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023 with their 'Welcome to Eurotopia' performance. 

The show melded Ukrainian styles with classic sounds from the city and took place at the Pier Head on Liverpool's waterfront. 

Having been a member of several bands in the Merseyside area, Låpsley won the 'One to Watch' prize at Merseyside's GIT Awards in 2014, following over half a million listens of her solo bedroom-recorded 'Monday' EP on SoundCloud. 

She subsequently signed to XL and released a brilliant debut record in the form of 'Long Way Home'. 

R&B group MiC LOWRY are another Liverpool success story from the 2010s featuring Delleile Ankrah, Kaine Ofoeme, Ben Sharples and Michael Welch. 

The vocal group won the MOBO Unsung Award, in 2015 were nominated for the BET Best International Newcomer and in 2016 won Liverpool's GIT Award, going on to support Justin Bieber on an arena tour. They've continued to build a substantial following for their live shows and on social media.

The 2020s 

Eurovision was one of the biggest musical moments for Liverpool and the UK in 2023 as Ukraine were unable to due to the Russian invasion. 

Over the course of May 2023, 37 countries battled it out while open air live gigs took place on Liverpool's Pier Head with the likes of the Lightning Seeds and Miles Kane performing. 

Elsewhere, there are plenty of brilliant new artists pushing Liverpool's reputation for amazing music, artists and bands. The Coral, a psychedelic outfit, were born in the 2000s but are an ongoing success story, releasing over 10 albums and earning a Mercury Prize nomination early on in their career. 

The Mysterines are one of the best emerging talents in the city, having released their latest album, 'Afraid of Tomorrows' , in June 2024 to glowing reviews. Having supported the Arctic Monkeys on their arena tour of 2023, they are top of a bubbling local Liverpool music scene that continues to birth brilliant talent.