Many of these groups and artists have sought lyrical inspiration from their home city.
But it’s not just the artists hailing from Sheffield who have referenced the city in their music, with songs from famous Londoners like The Clash and Stormzy, and Watford’s Elton John, also paying musical homage to the Steel City.
We’ve put together a list of songs mentioning Sheffield.
One of the bands featured is even named after a city suburb, while others have penned lyrics dripping with nostalgia for the Sheffield of yesteryear and some of the tracks celebrate the here and now.
The likes of Pulp, the Arctic Monkeys and Richard Hawley have famously mined their Sheffield roots to spectacular effect when writing their songs, but not all bands from the city have taken the same approach.
Def Leppard’s lead singer Joe Elliott once reportedly described his native city as a ‘great place with great people’ but said 'there’s nothing in Sheffield to write songs about’.
Some of the band’s early songs were instead inspired by a bit of escapism from the drudgery of the members’ daily lives in Sheffield before they hit the big time.
Speaking of their 1980 song Hello America, Joe Elliott once said he and his bandmates had never even been to America at that point, and he was ‘working in a factory with lots of nuts and bolts and no natural light’.
After watching a glamorous US TV show, he recalled thinking ‘wow, this is a lot sexier than Sheffield’, and described the lyrics he subequently wrote about taking a trip to California as him effectively saying ‘get me out of here’.
1. This is England - The Clash
In This is England, punk rockers The Clash list the troubles facing the country in the 80s, from racism to high unemployment. The searing lyrics include the lines: "This is England/This knife of Sheffield steel/This is England/This is how we feel." | Peter Jordan Photo: Peter Jordan
2. 2006 - The Reytons
The Reytons may hail from Rotherham but they are no strangers to Sheffield. The band's song 2006, from their 2024 album Ballad of a Bystander, takes a nostalgic look back at the Sheffield nightlife of nearly two decades ago. They sing: "I'm talking that Leadmill vibe/That Boardwalk thing, that West Street life/Good times but I never got closure." The chorus features the lines: "Take me back, take me back/To when the music was a little bit better." But other lyrics appear to suggest this refrain is somewhat tongue-in-cheek and it's all too easy to look back through rose-tinted glasses. Referring to performing on the 'toilet circuit', the song continues: "Two pound every six pound ticket/And you get four pints, that's one per person." | National World Photo: Kerrie Beddows
3. Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured - Arctic Monkeys
The Arctic Monkeys have also mined their home city extensively for musical inspiration. Fake Tales of San Francisco famously name-checks Hunter's Bar but we've opted for the slightly less well-known Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured, which includes the lines: "It's High Green, mate/Via Hillsborough, please" After all, High Green is where the chart conquering quintet, who formed the band at Stocksbridge High School, hail from. | National World Photo: Chris Etchells
4. I Drove Her Away With My Tears - Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott
Paul Heaton lived in Sheffield for several years as a boy and is a big Blades fan. It seems some of the Sheffield vernacular rubbed off on him too. I Drove Her Away With My Tears, by Heaton and Jacqui Abbott, references the different dialect for crying around the UK, including in the lines: "In Sheffield we still call it 'roaring', in Glasgow they have a good 'greet'." | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images