Happy 65th Birthday Tony Wilson

Typical contrary forum bile.

Anyone with any understanding of Youth Culture respects the enormous contribution Wilson - and Gretton, Saville, Erasmus, Hannet, Pickering et al, made to Manchester.

We all thought he was a twat at the time, but he was our twat, and Factory were revolutionary. And he was the money man and the figurehead.

He made one enormous mistake: the biggest youth revolution In a generation took place right under his nose at the Hac, but he thought it was a flash in the pan and didn't cash in
But he has been canonised on the back of his contribution, and rightly so.
Why do you think he missed that?
 
Why do you think he missed that?
Because he was desperately seeking out the next New Order or Happy Momdays to pay the bills, and the dance scene wasn't producing one. THe Madchester thing, which was still rock based but with growing dance influence, was still producing cash, lots of it to others not Factory. The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Inspirals, James.808 State...more of those bands should have been Factory.

He'd come from punk, which was over in a year or so, but produced a bigger money making creative scene in its wake. I think he thought the same would happen with dance.I reckon he took his eye off the ball and misjudged it a bit.

He got wise after a while but he should have been putting out Factory compilations of the house sounds being broken in The Hacienda. His brand name was there. But the likes if Ministry of Sound got there before him and moneterised the music better.

I understand why people think he was a bellend. We all did back then too. He was in lots of ways. Pretentious, a bit silly, a bit up himself. The financial control he had on those businesses, whilst everyone laughs about the Factory chaos, in truth was pathetic.the amount of cash he generated and the amount he spunked through bad decisions.

But he was a bellend with massive bollocks, and front, and vision and flair, who didn't give a fuck what people thought...he went out and did it, and lived a life worth fucking living.

"Any fool can make money, but not many make history."
 
Because he was desperately seeking out the New Order or Happy Momdays to pay the bills, and the dance scene wasn't producing one. THe Madchester thing, which was still rock based but with growing dance influence, was still producing cash, lots of it to others not Factory. The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Inspirals, James.808 State...more of those bands should have been Factory.

He'd come from punk, which was over in a year or so, but produced a bigger money making scene in its wake. I think he thought the same would happen. I reckon he took his eye off the ball and misjudged it a bit.

He got wise after a while but he should have been putting out Factory compilations of the house sounds being broken in The Hacienda. His brand name was there. But he likes if Ministry of Sound got there before him and moneterised the music better.

I understand why people think he was a bellend. We all did back then too. He is, in lots of ways. Pretentious, a bit silly, a bit up himself. The financial control he had on those businesses, whilst everyone laughs about the Factory chaos, in truth was pathetic.the amount of cash he generated and the amount he spunked through bad decisions.

But he was a bellend with massive bollocks, and front, and vision and flair, who didn't give a fuck what people thought...he went out and did it, and lived a life worth fucking living.

"Any fool can make money, but not many make history."
Well said. If anyone deserves a statue it's Tony Wilson.

He didn't really give a fuck about the money, partly because he got a decent salary from Granada. This did piss his business partners off a bit though.
 
Typical contrary forum bile.

Anyone with any understanding of Youth Culture respects the enormous contribution Wilson - and Gretton, Saville, Erasmus, Hannet, Pickering et al, made to Manchester.

We all thought he was a twat at the time, but he was our twat, and Factory were revolutionary. And he was the money man and the figurehead.

He made one enormous mistake: the biggest youth revolution In a generation took place right under his nose at the Hac, but he thought it was a flash in the pan and didn't cash in.

But he has been canonised on the back of his contribution, and rightly so.
Great post except the bit enlarged. He wasn't the money man.... no one at Factory was a money man! That was the problem!
I've just finished reading Hooky's book ''How not to run a club'' and reveals a lot about why the Hac didn't cash in - the main thing is the club hardly made money at the door - it cost a fortune to pay the bouncers, a lot of punters were taking drugs, not drinking alcohol so low bar takings (bar takings that were also being stolen by staff along with bottles of drink going out the back door too), the cost of the DJ's etc etc
But more importantly, Wilson was banging on the door at the council asking for extended licenses for the club, each denied by James Anderton and co. By the time the council were dishing out late licenses to any club applying for one, it was too late for the Hac. As Hooky himself says, everything the Hac had created, other clubs copied a few years down the line and made the money, from the interior designs to late licensing to style of music etc, they all copied the Hac which had paved the way, got all the platitudes but everyone else got the money. Even the DJ's from the Hac were able to command a bigger fee because of their status. meanwhile Hooky and Rob Gretton were ploughing all they had back into a rotting corpse.
One of the last lines in the book, Hooky was walking down Market Street and a gangster came up to him (after the Hac had closed) and bemoaned to Hooky how his life wasn't as fun anymore since it closed because now he has to pay to get in and pay for drinks..... Hooky didn't know whether to laugh or crack him in the face. Manchester had been partying for 5 years and Hooky had been paying for it all.
 
Great post except the bit enlarged. He wasn't the money man.... no one at Factory was a money man! That was the problem!
I've just finished reading Hooky's book ''How not to run a club'' and reveals a lot about why the Hac didn't cash in - the main thing is the club hardly made money at the door - it cost a fortune to pay the bouncers, a lot of punters were taking drugs, not drinking alcohol so low bar takings (bar takings that were also being stolen by staff along with bottles of drink going out the back door too), the cost of the DJ's etc etc
But more importantly, Wilson was banging on the door at the council asking for extended licenses for the club, each denied by James Anderton and co. By the time the council were dishing out late licenses to any club applying for one, it was too late for the Hac. As Hooky himself says, everything the Hac had created, other clubs copied a few years down the line and made the money, from the interior designs to late licensing to style of music etc, they all copied the Hac which had paved the way, got all the platitudes but everyone else got the money. Even the DJ's from the Hac were able to command a bigger fee because of their status. meanwhile Hooky and Rob Gretton were ploughing all they had back into a rotting corpse.
One of the last lines in the book, Hooky was walking down Market Street and a gangster came up to him (after the Hac had closed) and bemoaned to Hooky how his life wasn't as fun anymore since it closed because now he has to pay to get in and pay for drinks..... Hooky didn't know whether to laugh or crack him in the face. Manchester had been partying for 5 years and Hooky had been paying for it all.
I meant that he was the money man at Factory, rather than the Hacienda. New Order propped up the Hac for years, but Wilson's money got the Factory nights, then Factory Records; off the ground in the mate 70s.
 

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