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New Order, Oasis, The Smiths, blah blah blah... we’ve all heard their stories countless times before.

But what about the other Manc bands who didn’t quite crack the big time?

The cult acts and ill-fated nearly men who never got to headline Knebworth, and possibly never wanted to?

Here’s five Manc bands people don't seem to talk about very much any more - but definitely should.

World of Twist

Liam and Noel Gallagher don’t see eye-to-eye on many things, but the warring brothers both agree World of Twist were ace.

They only ever released one album - 1991’s Quality Street - but their technicolour pop is still influencing bands to this day.

Formed in 1985 by Gordon King and Tony Ogden, World of Twist are a classic case of what might have been.

Their first two singles, debut The Storm and the Martin Hannett-produced Rolling Stones’ cover She’s a Rainbow, both stalled just outside the top 40.

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And after a much-anticipated second album never materialised, the band imploded in 1992 never to record another note.

It could have been a case of wrong time, wrong place, record company incompetence or just dumb bad luck, but World of Twist never got the break many thought they deserved.

In many ways that’s only added to their mystique.

bIG fLAME

(Image: Facebook)

They were, according to Richey Edwards from the Manic Street Preachers, the only thing worth listening to in the 80s.

Named after a group of revolutionary socialist feminist Scousers, bIG fLAME’s sound has been described as ‘scratchy and untuned and stupidly loud’.

Simply Red they were not.

Formed in The Crescents, in Hulme, in 1982 and closely linked to, but never signed by, Factory Records, bIG fLAME wanted to be, according to guitarist Greg Keeffe, ‘the ultimate pop band’.

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In brief spurt of mid-80s creativity they would release just four 7ins singles, an EP and a 12ins compilation, stand out like a sore thumb on the NME’s mythologised C86 cassette compilation, and record four sessions for John Peel.

And then, on the preordained date of October 11, 1986, the band called it a day after a farewell gig at the Boardwalk, determined not to get ‘seduced into full time careerist stuff’.

Sweet Sensation

For a time in the mid-70s Sweet Sensation were far and away the biggest group in Manchester.

After springing to prominence by winning ITV talent show New Faces they were, in the words of the Manchester pop biographer John Robb, ‘absolutely massive’.

Heavily influenced by the Philly Soul sound of groups like The Stylistics, their second single Sad Sweet Dreamer topped the charts in the UK and cracked the US top 20.

It led the South Manchester eight-piece to be dubbed Britain’s answer to the Jackson Five.

But the group struggled to replicate their early success.

In 1977, after follow-up singles enjoyed success in the clubs but failed to top the charts, the band took part in A Song For Europe in a bid to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest. The song came eighth and shortly after that the band was dropped by its label and split.

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Lead singer Marcel King tried to launch a solo career in 1985 and signed to Factory Records. Bernard Sumner of New Order produced Reach For Love without huge success, even though it’s said to be one of Shaun Ryder’s favourite records.

Sadly, Marcel died of a brain haemorrhage in 1995.

Keyboard player, Leroy Smith, another of the founder members, died in January 2010 aged 56.

Speaking to the M.E.N. following Smith’s death Robb paid tribute to Sweet Sensation saying: “Manchester’s music scene has tended to be very dominated by white males and Sweet Sensation was one of the very few black acts to come out of Manchester. It’s a shame they’ve been largely forgotten.”

The High

It’s 1989 and the eyes of the music world are on Manchester.

Enter The High, playing Martin Hannett-produced psychedelia-tinged guitar pop.

They’re going to be massive, right?

They were signed after just one gig and then unfairly labelled as a bit of hype band.

But band members had earned their chops, with Chris Goodwin playing in the Inspiral Carpets and Andy Couzens in an early line-up of the Stone Roses.

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They were loved by critics and the NME made their records single of week three times and gave their debut album Somewhere Soon 9/10.

But despite playing sold-out UK and European tours, The High never quite made it big.

The backlash, when it came following the release of second album Hype, was perhaps inevitable and their career petered out after that.

But interest in the band never went away, and the lads reformed in 2015 for a triumphant comeback show at Manchester Academy.

MC Tunes

(Image: Joel Goodman)

Manchester’s not renowned for producing chart-bothering rappers.

But Moss Side’s Nicky Lockett AKA MC Tunes is perhaps the exception.

He first sprung to fame with renowned dance act 808 State, working with the group on debut album the North at its Height and top 10 hit The Only Rhyme That Bites.

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The Moss Side-raised rapper, who in a 1990 interview with the NME described himself as ‘just a white hoodlum from Manchester’, would go on to record a solo album with superstar producer Trevor Horn.

But, after a falling out with his record company, it wouldn’t see the light of day for 23 years.

Undeterred Tunes went on to form cult rap/rock band the Dust Junkys, and a rhyme taken from a little-known B-side recorded by the group would become recognised around the world after it was sampled by Fatboy Slim on his smash hit Gangster Trippin’.