Manchester Pop Music of the NorthWest Region

Manchester
Popular & Rock Music (5 of 11)
Around Manchester and the Northwest Region

Ravers at the Hacienda

Anthony Wilson
(1950-2007)

The Haçienda & Factory Records

Photo Detail © Aidan O'Rourke 1999

The Haçienda was the product of Manchester - its people, its mood and its time. From an initial idea by Rob Gretton (manager of Joy Division), and the TV broadcaster and music entrepreneur Anthony Wilson, the nightclub was set up as a then "alternative" platform and venue for new bands, many of whom had found difficulty in performing due to a broad antipathy to their music, largely on account of its subversive qualities.

Bands like New Order and Joy Division got their first breaks at the club after it opened in 1982. It differed enormously from other more conventional discos. It was part of the Factory Communications organisation (FAC51) and included Salford born Anthony Wilson (chairman, promoter, shareholder of Haçienda, and Granada Television presenter), Howard Jones (part-founder and manager of the club), Rob Gretton (Director and shareholder of the Haçienda) and others involved in local music. It reflected local new trends in music and dancing - acid house, indie, punkish, wild and weird, encompassing gay and lesbian nights, it soon developed a devoted northern club culture following. It was at this time that he term 'Madchester' was coined to describe the new wave of Manchester music that was to dominate UK charts for the best part of a decade, and which had been largely promoted by the Hacienda club.

Anthony Wilson had started the Factory Records label in 1978, and it was his success in local music promotion which led to an association with and the concept of the new club. Factory's first record catalogue number had been FAC 1 and this name was assigned to the Haçienda - "FAC51".

Albums were distinctively impersonally packaged, and promoted groups like the Happy Mondays, New Order, OMD, Joy Division, Durutti Column, James and others (see below and following pages).

However, poor business acumen meant that by the late 1990s Wilson had been declared bankrupt, club finances were in meltdown and the Haçienda finally closed on Saturday June 30th 1997. Having failed to outlive the 1990s, the building went up for auction in December 2000 - the end of an era, and a boom time for Manchester music. Subsequently, the location became the site of swish executive apartments and part of extensive redevelopment of the canal area.

Footnote:
Tragically, Tony Wilson died on Friday 10th August 2007 after a long and losing battle with kidney cancer - 'Mr Manchester' had finally succumbed at the premature age of 57.

Anthony Wilson (1950-2007)

Joy Division

This Manchester-based post-punk group was originally known as Warsaw. It comprised Ian Curtis (vocals), Bernard Dicken/Albrecht (guitar and vocals), Peter Hook (bass) and Stephen Morris (drums).

Signed for Factory Records and albums produced by Martin Hannett. Joy Division appeared in 1978 and were quick to climb to universal popularity and to be regarded as one of the leading bands of that period.

Curtis was excitable and epileptic, and prone to fits on stage, and committed suicide in 1980. Despite some posthumous success, the band broke up and the remaining members formed the basis of the group New Order.

Music includes :

• Unknown Pleasures
• Closer
• Still
• The Peel Sessions

Ludus

This quartet was founded in Manchester in 1978 and consisted of Linda Mulvey ("Linder", vocals and lyrics), Arthur Cadmon (born Peter Sadler, guitar), Willie Trotter (bass) and Phil Tolman ("Toby", drums).

Strong jazz-influenced style, improvisational, political and frequently feminist lyrics, they formed part of Manchester's late 70s New Wave movement, though they actively sought anonymity, and shunned notoriety.

Linder reputedly had relationships with Howard Devoto and Morrissey.

Main albums include :

• Pickpocket
• Let Me Go Where My Pictures Go

New Order

The group formed after Ian Curtis of Joy Division committed suicide in 1980 and the three remaining members of that group formed as New Order.

They tried to sustain the following that the belated Joy Division had created with several early tours, but though the essential strengths of the earlier group were evident, without Curtis the vocals were weak.

Experiments with electronic gadgetry and a new rougher approach (in stark contrast to Curtis's poetic lyricism). They were crowned "the most miserable sods in pop". By the end of the 1980s they had established themselves at the forefront of British popular music, influencing many later British bands and bridging late 70s disco with early 80s dance house music.

Many chart-topping singles to their credit, produced by Factory Records with whom they remained as a leading independent group.

Main music includes :

• Movement
• Power, Consumption and Lies
• Technique
• Blue Monday
• New Order
• Peel Sessions
• Low Life
• Brotherhood

Oasis

Liam Gallagher

Noel Gallagher

The bad boys of 1990s music, the Gallagher brothers have established themselves as one of the leading British rock bands of the era. The Band actually comprises 5 players : Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs, born Manchester 23 June 1965, Noel Gallagher born in Manchester 29th May 1967, Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan born 9 May 1971, Alan White born in London 26th May 1972, and Liam Gallagher born in Manchester on 21st September 1972.

They played their first gig as Oasis at the Boardwalk in Manchester in 1991, and it was not until 2 years later, whilst playing at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow that they were spotted by a scout from Creation Records.

By April 1994 they had completed work on their first single "Supersonic" by Creation Records, which was released via the Sony Corporation. Other music followed fast. "Shakermaker" reached the UK Top 20 in July 1994 and the band where immediately recognised as potential top musicians.

Their career has been dogged by controversy - in-fighting by the two Gallagher Brothers, abandoned world tours and turgid personal lives have attracted constant media and tabloid newspaper attention, despite their winning many awards for their music.

Their stormy career has levied a heavy toll on the group members : in April 1995 Alan White took over as the new drummer, and later that same year Paul McGuigan retired through exhaustion, to be replaced by Scott McLeod from another local band. In February 1995, Oasis won the Brit Award for the Best Newcomers.

They have attracted an enormous fan following, due for the most part to the Gallagher's prolific songwriting and performing skills. Other awards include the 1996 Best Band Brit Award, and the Ivor Novello Songwriting Award for which Noel was nominated in May 1996, though he declined to accept it.

Other music by Oasis includes :

• "Live Forever" - August 1994 (first Top 10 Single).
• "Definitely Maybe" - August 1994 (Debut Album).
• "Cigarettes and Alcohol" - October 1994.
• "Whatever" - December 1994 (Christmas Single).
• "Some Might Say" - April 1995 (entered Charts at No.1).
• "Roll With It" - 14 August 1995 (Reaches No.1 within a week).
• "What's The Story - Morning Glory" - October 1995 (No.1).
• "Wonderwall" - October 1995 (No.2 Single).
• "Don't Look Back in Anger" - February 1996 (No.1 Single).

The band continue to write chart topping music even as this is being written.

Damon Gough - Badly Drawn Boy

Also known as "Badly Drawn Boy", Damon Gough was Bolton born and is currently living in Chorlton. Damon is rated as one of Manchester's most prolific musicians in recent years.

He won the Technics Mercury Music Prize for the year 2000 with his debut album "The Hour of Bewilderbeast", and in November 2001 composed and recorded the soundtrack and incidental music for Hugh Grant's 2002 released film, "About a Boy".

He has been working in Los Angeles during 2002 and made an appearance on California Radio's "Morning Becomes Ecclectic" Show.

He also has two exclusive tracks on Twisted Nerve's forthcoming "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Twisted Nerve - But Where Afraid To Ask" Album.

As a relative newcomer he seems destined to replace the likes of Oasis and other Brit Pop bands at the top of the music charts.

Find out more about him at www.badlydrawnboy.co.uk