Mothers

Mothers was a small club above a furniture shop on Erdington High Street in Birmingham. It opened in 1968 and closed three years later, yet in that short time it became one of the most important rock venues in the world. The building itself was nothing grand, just a few rooms above a shop, but what happened inside changed music history. Over four hundred bands played there, many before they became famous. Pink Floyd recorded part of Ummagumma there in 1969, and Traffic gave their first show. Deep Purple, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath played some of their earliest gigs at Mothers. The Who performed their rock opera Tommy on stage, and John Peel called it the best club in Britain for a few years. Today a blue plaque marks the spot where the club once stood. Visitors see a quiet high street with no trace of the music that once filled the rooms above. The plaque is small, but it tells a story of nights when Erdington High Street shook with the sound of guitars and drums.