Manchester must dance

A life of music, madness and moving on up

By: Mike Pickering, Paul Morley (As told to)

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Hardcover | 28 April 2026

At a Glance

Hardcover
418 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.4 x 15.6 x 3.1

Hardcover

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From Manchester’s backstreets to global dancefloors – the untold story of a musical pioneer.

Beginning on the night in November 1963 when his mum took him to see the Beatles live at Manchester’s ABC Cinema, Mike Pickering takes the reader through sixty years of clubs, clothes, gigs, record labels, football matches and politics.

Pickering has lived through decades of rapid change in popular music. As an influential DJ he introduced house music into the legendary Haçienda. He signed Happy Mondays and James to Factory Records before working with Kasabian, Gossip and Calvin Harris at Sony. His Mercury Prize-winning, multi-million-selling group M People transformed the music industry's attitude to dance music. As he tells his remarkable story he introduces an array of friends and collaborators, many of whom would become important – and sometimes notorious – figures in music history.

Manchester must dance is a revelatory insider’s account that moves from the cramped back streets of 1950s north Manchester on a journey deep into music, the city and the wider world. It features forewords from some of those Pickering inspired: Martin Fry, Johnny Marr, Noel Gallagher and Calvin Harris.

About the Author

Mike Pickering is a musician and DJ. He began his career DJing at the Haçienda's Nude and Hot nights and was a founding member of the bands Quando Quango and M People. As an A&R executive he worked with a string of legendary artists, including Happy Mondays, James, Gossip and Calvin Harris. He is a lifelong Manchester City fan.

Paul Morley is a writer, broadcaster and cultural critic who has written about music since the 1970s. A founder member of Art of Noise and Art of This, his books include From Manchester with Love: The Life and Opinions of Tony Wilson, The North and Joy Division: Piece by Piece. He also collaborated with Grace Jones and Island Records' Chris Blackwell on their memoirs.

Industry Reviews

'Already my essential music book of the year. Mike Pickering is an unassuming God of popular culture, and nobody is better placed to tell the story of Manchester's ascent from post-industrial dereliction to the artistic fulcrum of these islands.'
Irvine Welsh

'Mike Pickering should be given a knighthood for services to clubbing.'
Noel Gallagher

'Like a musical Zelig, Pickering was there for fucking everything.'
John Niven, author of Kill Your Friends

'A playful, picaresque, impossible-to-put-down memoir that could only have come from one of Manchester's best-loved DJs.'
Audrey Golden, author of I Thought I Heard You Speak: Women at Factory Records

'The other side of Manchester: its dance culture. Mike Pickering was there, and he tells a great story.'
Jon Savage, author of The Secret Public

'Haçienda legend Mike Pickering sends postcards from his pioneering post-punk career. With highlights including Happy Mondays, James, the Mercury Prize and Brit Award-winning M People, Kasabian, Calvin Harris and Gossip (with a few spicy lowlights for contrast), shapeshifter Pickering reveals an extraordinary life making and playing music. If his mission was to change things and add to Manchester history, Anthony H. Wilson would have said Audaces fortuna juvat (fortune favours the bold). To that we can add "mission accomplished". I was in awe before and am more so now.'
DJ Paulette, author of Welcome to the club

'From the joyful mayhem of a Beatles show to youth culture's death-by-big-tech, Mike Pickering's life encompasses the era when pop music cracked open the sky to offer new horizons of mobility and meaning. He has spent it discovering, shaping and sharing the sounds that made the planet spin, and his tale is told with wit, honesty and revelation.'
Andy Spinoza, author of Manchester unspun

'Not sure I could get close to achieving what Mike Pickering has if I lived ten lifetimes. The man is an icon. If you need convincing of it then read this extraordinary memoir!'
Nihal Arthanayake, author, broadcaster, podcaster

'One of THE music books of the last few years.'
Andy Thomas, Faith Fanzine

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