Abstract
To the casual observer, late 1970s Sheffield was a grim place, littered with the charred decaying remnants of post-industrialisation and humming with the urban renewal of brutalist post-war dystopian architecture. Framed by the harsh northern landscape, it was seen as either the spectre of a dire past, or the vision of a romantic, technological future.
Drawing inspiration from this environment and fuelled on a cocktail of Roxy Music and A Clockwork Orange, electronic musical pioneers Cabaret Voltaire and the Human League appeared. These bands would establish a music lineage encompassing bands, clubs and labels through to the 21st century and placing Sheffield at the centre of the UK’s electronic music story.