Manchester-based film maker Nathan Jennings announced in 2017[7] that a documentary was in the works about the city's musical past and present, entitled The Rock of Newport.

Newport Art College produced many later successes, but also drew a cultural scene to the city associated with its students and young people, such as Joe Strummer of The Clash in the 1970s.

The now established Newport venues such as TJ's started to attract up-and-coming groups and artists, including many from the Sub Pop American label as they toured the UK.

The venue came to UK wide fame in the music video for "Mulder and Scully" by Catatonia and for being the location where Kurt Cobain proposed to Courtney Love.

[13] Sicolo died on 14 March 2010, aged just 66,[14] and a tribute concert in his honour was headlined by Goldie Lookin Chain in the city's John Frost Square on 10 July 2010.

In 1986 lead singer Morrissey brought the band to the Newport Centre following the release of their widely applauded album The Queen is Dead, only to be mobbed by a throng of hooligans.

Writer Craig Austin described that "the delicate Stretford flower recuperated in the A&E department of the Royal Gwent Hospital (while the) frustrated audience responded to this perceived indignity by commencing the wholesale dismantling of the venue with undisguised rage.

Most iconic for the city was the surprise success of Goldie Lookin' Chain, a hip hop outfit of forty-somethings reputed for their humorous views on South Wales life.

[21] Recent years have seen the particular revival of indie venues, with Le Pub moving to a new location on High Street, backed as a community co-operative and driven by the creative mind of owner Sam Dabb.

[22] Nathan Jennings, a Newport-born but Manchester-based film-maker, confirmed in 2017 that a crowdfunding effort would begin to help launch a documentary about the city's music past.