When A Certain Ratio performed at New York’s Danceteria in 1982, the gig would be remembered by the Manchester band for a showdown with their up-and-coming support act. “I had a massive argument with Madonna,” says drummer Donald Johnson. Although it was one of her first performances, the 24-year-old singer insisted that the headliner clear the stage of instruments before she played. “I love that she stood her ground,” Johnson adds. “She knew what she wanted.”
For ACR, it was just another bracing experience during a formative stint in NYC where they witnessed early hip-hop shows, sweated by night at Studio 54 and slept by day on the floor of an apartment with Robert DeNiro as its upstairs neighbour. Their new album, 1982, isn’t so much nostalgic for that year as a way of communing with the eclectic, up-for-grabs spirit of the time: one the Manchester institution has drawn on to overcome a period of loss and personal reflection, as they discuss over video call.
