La Hacienda Es Muerta (rip Tony Wilson, pt. 3)

Tony Wilson in 1981: "The Hacienda must be built"

Real Estate developers in 1999: "The Hacienda must be torn down"

Here's the third and final installment of los amigos mini tribute to Haçienda and Factory Records co-founder Tony Wilson (click here for part 1 and part 2). This time focusing on the The Haçienda (FAC 51) during the Madchester era (roughly 1988 - 1993), when, for two or three years, the Haçienda was the hippest club in the world and Manchester was at the center of UK rave culture (and the e flowed free).

As you can see from these images, the Haçienda's industrial design was inspired. Factory Records graphical artist Peter Saville recommended that architect Ben Kelly design the interior of an old Victorian building in central Manchester that would house Wilson and Factory's new club. (The name of the club, like much of Factory Records' imagery and praxis, was taken from a slogan of the radical Situationist International). For more on the design of the Haçienda, see Ben Kelly's website. See also this BBC piece from earlier this year on what would have been the Haçienda's 25th anniversary, as well as this retrospective on the Hacienda story. Ubris has a great Haçienda Exhibit (FAC 491) from now through February '08. Check it out if you can get to Manchester (I may be there, briefly, in October).

The Haçienda

So as los amigos final farewell to Wilson, we feature the band most closely associated with the Madchester scene -- the Happy Mondays. The Mondays fused progressive house beats and piano phases with bright psychedelic pop, indie rock, and soul -- both the '60s northern soul and the funky '70s variety. The Mondays also took a cue from hip hop -- not by sampling, but by lifting and mixing bass lines, melody snippets, and lyric phrases from a wide variety of sources, all played live. Check "Rave On," below, which borrows the bass line from the O'Jays "For the Love of Money." The Monday's "Kinky Afro" reworked a section of the chorus from Labelle's "Lady Marmalade," while "Lazy Itis" ripped off part of a melodic and lyrical phrase from the Beatles "Ticket to Ride."

As you may know, either from your recollection of the early '90s Madchester scene or from seeing 24 Hour Party People, the Mondays were f'ing assholes (well, most of them -- certainly not singer Rowetta). Or, as AMG notes, the Mondays "were thugs, purely and simply -- they brought out the latent violence that lay beneath the surface of any drug culture, even one as seemingly beatific as England's late-'80s/early-'90s rave scene." But, for a fleeting moment, they put out some great music, much of which was even better when remixed for extended dance tracks. If you spent any time in clubs between 1988 - 1991, you heard a lot of Happy Mondays. Here is either an introduction or a trip (no pun) down memory lane:

Loose Fit (12" ver.) -- Happy Mondays: Step On remix single (1991)

Rave On (club mix) -- Happy Mondays: Hallelujah remix single (1989)

Fine Time 12" single

And while I've left Joy Division to the indie blogger tributes to Wilson, I've got to shout out the most successful and well known Factory band (that rose from JD's ashes) -- New Order. While you would've heard the Mondays in most clubs in between '88 and '92, New Order's 12" singles and remixes were beyond ubiquitous in clubs for most of the '80s -- starting in 1983 with the smash "Blue Monday" and their electro tinged and hip hop influenced Confusion, a collaboration with Arthur Baker (Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock," "Breakers Revenge," etc.), and continuing through 1988 and 1989's "Fine Time" and "Round and Round." I don't think I need to say anything here about New Order. But here are two Madcheser era tracks, including one of my favorites. The album version of "Fine Time" is a condensed slice of all that made New Order so brilliant. Plus, there are several great jokes in the track, including a few where the band is making fun of their increasing lack of influence and relevance as Madchester took over and the '80s came to a close (they squeezed all the trade marks of their early-mid '80s revolutionary and incredibly influential sound into a perfectly crafted (or Krafted?) 4:45 deliciously updated dance track).

Fine Time -- New Order: Technique (1989)

World (Perfecto Mix) -- " . . ." World remix single (1993)

BONUS: no Madchester tribute would be complete without some acid house courtesy of 808 State (what an excellent band name):

Cubik -- 808 State: Ex:El (1991)

p.s. "You're a walking Miracle."
p.p.s. "But you're too young. Too young."

Update: I just saw this AMG Tribute to Tony Wilson. It's worth checking out and includes the following re: management of Factory Records: "If Wilson was "smart," he wouldn't have let his pockets be pillaged with all those bad contracts that favored the artist, all those expensive cover art and packaging commissions, and all those Durutti Column records he loved so much. When he became sick with a kind of cancer that required alternative treatment for which the British National Health board wouldn't pay, a number of his music industry friends began raising money and paying his bills. It was payback for staying out of their hair, letting them create on their own terms, allowing art for art's sake, and whole lot of other things most label owners still haven't heard of."
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