Joe Elliott, lead singer of one of the Steel City’s most famous exports, Def Leppard, once reportedly said Sheffield was a ‘great place with great people’ but that 'there’s nothing in Sheffield to write songs about’.
While he was right on the first two counts, he’s been proved wrong countless times on that final assertion, with many of Sheffield’s most successful acts taking inspiration from their home city in their lyrics.
Sheffield has also been a muse for many artists not lucky enough to hail from among its seven hills, who have still chosen to reference it in their music, from Elton John to Stormzy.
How many of these songs namechecking Sheffield or its streets and suburbs have you heard, and are there any we’ve missed off our list that you’d recommend?
5. Coles Corner - Richard Hawley
If there's one artist who best embodies Sheffield, it's surely Richard Hawley. He has taken inspiration from his home city when penning countless classic songs over the years and his music can currently be heard in the acclaimed play Standing at the Sky's Edge, about life at Park Hill. One of his best known songs is Coles Corner, which takes its name from the junction of Fargate and Church Street in Sheffield city centre, where the old Cole Brothers department store once stood. The lyrics don't mention Sheffield by name but it brilliantly evokes the city in lines like: "Cold city lights glowing/The traffic of life is flowing/Out over the rivers and on into dark." Photo: Chris Etchells
6. Northern Industrial Town - Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg, pictured here performing at Record Collector, in Broomhill, sang about Sheffield in his song Northern Industrial Town. It's not about Sheffield, per se, but life up north and people's perceptions of it. He sings 'it's not Leeds or Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield nor Glasgow, it's not Newcastle-on-Tyne, it's Belfast, it's just a northern industrial town'. | Sheffield Newspapers Ltd Photo: Sheffield Newspapers
7. Can I Put You On - Elton John
The famous Watford fan's fondness for glitz and glamour makes him the last person you'd associate with the grit required of a Sheffield steelworker. But he did sing of life in the foundry in Can I Put You On, from the 1971 album Friends. In what is one of his lesser known efforts, Elton sings: "I work for the foundry for a penny and a half a day/Like a blind street musician I never see those who pay/It's dirty work in Birmingham/Better deal for a Sheffield man/If he can rivet then his kids can buy/Candy from the candy man." Photo: Kevin Winter
8. The Snake - The Human League
This song doesn't reference Sheffield as such but the picturesque Snake Pass road which winds its way between the Steel City and Manchester. The lyrics, inviting listeners to 'come and join us', mention how 'the moors stretch out along the way' and even describe alternative routes should Snake Pass inevitably be closed due to snow or high winds. The lines 'the sixty-two or six-two-eight will do if you cannot be late' relate to the more northerly M62 and the A628 Woodhead Pass routes which also lead to Manchester. | OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images Photo: OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images