For most queer men (and women) of a certain age(!) The Smiths were the definitive band of the 1980’s that started to really get the city of Manchester in the North of the UK noticed as a major force in music. In the same decade, the city also gave birth to other groundbreaking bands that included New Order and Joy Division.

Factory Records were the driving force in this post-punk period and were behind all of these bands and more and it was they who encouraged Joy Division to grimly define what exactly it was to be a Mancunian as the 1970s drew to an end.  It was these band’s  combination of  rock, pop, and dance music that earned them much critical acclaim and made them firm favorites of the queer community 

They were followed by an ecstasy-fuelled dance club scene which played a part in the rise of Madchester. At the epicenter was The Hacienda Club, which was part of the Factory Records empire In the 1990s, where bands such as The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays,  and The Charlatans played gigs.

Most of this exciting history of the Manchester music scene over that period was dramatized in Michael Winterbottom’s 2002 film 24 Hour Party People and the life of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis was also dramatized in the 2007 film Control.

Now there is a new documentary which gives a much grittier and edgy account of the period and how it affected contemporary culture. Fleshback: Queer Raving in Manchester’s Twilight Zone has been directed by Stephen Isaac-Wilson and produced by Anais Bremond,  explores the vivid history of queer culture in the city and its legacy as well as celebrating the city’s long history of alternative queer raving in the North.

The new documentary explores this history as well as revealing all about those carrying the torch of alternative rave culture, featuring collectives such as Homo Electric, Meat Free, Body Horror andHigh Hopes.

You can stream the film for free here.