A towering 1960s office block might not be the most obvious of muses, but Manchester’s CIS tower was the unlikely romantic inspiration for a love song by former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr.
The music legend and architecture fan has confirmed he wrote the song Dynamo, from his latest solo album Playland, with the Grade II-listed, 25-storey building in mind.
In an interview with Architects’ Journal, he said: “I wanted to write a love song without falling into the usual sentiments, so I did it about a building… You have to write about something I guess.”
Johnny, who was recently named patron of Manchester Modernist Society, also revealed some more local landmarks that had made an impression on him, including the Hexagon Tower in Blackley, where he shot the video for 2013 single New Town Velocity. Join us on our virtual tour around them, below.
Stewart Needham, facilities manager at the brutalist tower block, which houses science and technology labs and offices, said: “It’s not often that science parks are recognised by rock legends.
“Johnny’s latest mention is a double honour for us after we also featured prominently in his single New Town Velocity back in 2013.
“Many members of our staff are huge fans of his, and he is welcome to use our building again as backdrop for any of his upcoming singles.”
The CIS tower
The tower block, which houses the offices of the Co-operative Banking Group, was the country’s tallest building when it was completed in 1962. The 25-storey building is now dwarfed by Beetham Tower but remains the tallest office building in the country outside London. English Heritage granted it Grade II-listed status in the 1990s, describing it as ‘the best of the Manchester 1960s office blocks’.
Johnny says: “Dynamo is a song that I wrote as a love affair to a building. I was wandering around New York and came across a new building. I stood looking up at it with the royal blue sky behind it and it was awe-inspiring. I had a similar experience at the CIS building in Manchester – weird I know – and because I was recording by the Thames I saw the Gherkin a lot so I put them all together.”
Hexagon Tower, Blackley
Completed in 1973, the 14-storey vertical science park today houses offices and labs for some of the city’s leading science and technology firms. The building’s famous hexagon-shaped windows represent the chemical compound benzene, which is the basis of the synthetic dyes that the site was once famous for producing.
Johnny says: “The Hexagon Tower in Blackley, north Manchester, is great and features in a video I did for my song called New Town Velocity. That video is a psycho-geographical view of Greater Manchester. It starts off on the estate I grew up on and has some great buildings in it. I was trying to show my environment in a way that it isn’t usually shown, which is usually Victorian.”
Hulme Crescents
The concrete streets-in-the-sky development was the largest public housing project in Europe when it was built in 1972, and was intended to provide homes for more than 13,000 people.
But within just two years, serious design flaws became apparent and it was deemed unsuitable for families. Manchester council abandoned it altogether in 1984 and it was eventually demolished in the 1990s.
Johnny says: “The first Modernist buildings I noticed would’ve been the Hulme Crescents, which were very new and quite imposing.”
The Toast Rack
Getting its nickname from its distinctive shape, the brutalist building was designed by Leonard Cecil Howitt and completed in 1960.
It was originally home to the Domestic Trades College before becoming part of Manchester Polytechnic and later Manchester Metropolitan University’s Hollings Campus until its closure in 2013.
The Grade II-listed building was sold for £5m to developer Estrela Properties in October last year.
Johnny says: “I was always curious too about the Toast Rack.”
The Daily Express Building
The Grade II* listed former newspaper office and print works was built in 1939, although Sir Owen Williams’ futuristic design means it is often mistaken for a much newer building.
The newspaper, which has similar offices in London, left Great Ancoats Street in the 1980s and the building has since been converted into offices and apartments.
Johnny says: “[I like] all the obvious [Modernist buildings] I guess. The Daily Express building on Fleet Street. I used to love the one on Great Ancoats Street in Manchester but that got ruined.”
One Angel Square
One of the more recent additions to Manchester’s ever-expanding skyline, the Co-operative Group’s new headquarters were completed in 2013 and form the centrepiece of the new £800 million NOMA development.
The building, which has been nicknamed the ‘sliced egg’ is one of the most sustainable of its size in Europe.
Johnny says: “I personally like the classic Modernist style from America and how it’s influenced the Postmodernist architecture. I do like the Co-operative at 1 Angel Square in Manchester.”