I watched it with my wife last night. She was into clubbing, but she's not from Manchester and had only heard of the Hacienda. I was too young to have gone to the Hacienda, but our friends with older brothers and sisters all talked about it. The music and the acid house videos absolutely blew me away at the time, I'd never heard anything like it before.
Anyway, assuming you were the guy with the grey hair
@Didsbury Dave we thought you came across really well! Well done mate, it's not easy opening up like that in an interview.
I've said for many years that the cultural impact of the Hacienda on Manchester is absolutely incalculable. Quite simply, it incubated the Madchester scene and launched club culture here. The music, style and identity just smashed Manchester onto the map as THE cultural hotspot in the UK in the late 80s. It then attracted people from all around the UK to the Universities in Manchester and made it into the progressive city it is now. Those people created the new industries, the Northern Quarter etc etc and it's no exaggeration to say that Manchester still continues to be the dominant cultural centre outside London - a world city.
I honestly think that the combination of the Hacienda and United - sorry - threw Manchester around Europe into the 90s. United at the top, City at the bottom and it created that perfect back story for what came next. City rose from the ashes, just like Manchester did in the 80s, and became the best team in the world. You cannot separate Manchester from music and football.
It's really quite sad - but a reflection of modern Manchester - that an iconic venue has been converted to flats. We will always have the music, City and United in Manchester but there's something missing for me. We have had the National Football music and the museums at City and United to showcase Manchesters credentials as one of the great world football cities. However, we have nothing to show for the music. The music from that era - Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, Guy Called Gerald, 808 State and the DJs etc etc aren't recognised as such.
How fitting would it have been to have converted the Hacienda into the Manchester Museum for Music? At least something to say to the world "we're fucking proud of the music we have you and we really hope you enjoy it!".
