FEATURE:
The Haçienda at Forty
IN THIS PHOTO: The Haçienda in 1988 (Happy Mondays’ Bez can be seen second from the left)/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
The Days and Decline of the Legendary Club
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I guess one of the reasons…
IN THIS PHOTO: The Haçienda in 1988/PHOTO CREDIT: Peter J Walsh/PYMCA/Avalon/Univeral Images Group via Getty
why legendary clubs eventually have to end is a combination of changing musical scenes, controversy and bad publicity, and a lack of financial viability. We have not long marked Studio 54’s forty-fifth anniversary. The legendary New York Disco club was a non-judgemental and all-inclusive club where people could be together. The glamour, excess, excitement and energy of the place must have been intoxicating. We do not really have clubs as iconic and steeped in history now. A club that is, in ways similar just poles away from Studio 54 is The Haçienda. On Saturday (21st), an iconic and much-missed music venue in Manchester turns forty. In fact, next month is twenty-five years since it lost its license. Fifteen years is not too bad a run for a club. One cannot say that The Haçienda was all for good. When it opened in 1982, it unleashed the Manchester House and Rave scene. Originally conceived by Rob Gretton, it was largely financed by the record label Factory Records and the band New Order along with label boss Tony Wilson. I am going to come to an article from 2020 that looked at the history and legacy of the club. One cannot say it was either a massive success or failure. The controversy, bad press and troubles that occurred creates a black mark…and yet The Haçienda was a haven and space for so many people to express themselves. VICE spoke with a few key players and people in 2020 about their experiences, recollections and memories of The Haçienda. It is interesting reading about its start:
“THE FOUNDATIONS
Peter Saville (Factory Records partner/graphic designer): In 1978, all the venues for the punk groups had systematically been closed by the authorities. On behalf of the youth culture of the city and, to some extent, as an ambassador of punk and new wave, Tony Wilson [Factory records partner/TV presenter] took it upon himself to find a venue, which he did, at the Russell Club, to start the Factory nights, which then turned into the label. When [Joy Division singer] Ian Curtis died, there was this unprecedented and unexpectedly enormous influx of money. Tony thought it would be a good idea to give the money back to Manchester.
Martin Moscrop (trumpeter, guitarist, A Certain Ratio): ACR went to New York with Tony to record our album. We spent a lot of time going out to these amazing clubs, like The Ritz, Tier 3 and the Danceteria. New Order did the same when they were out there. We used to talk about the clubs all the time. The more we spoke about it, the more the idea became reality.
Peter Saville: I was invited to look at this former boat showroom. It was a phenomenal but daunting space. It’s important to know, in whatever occupation you have, when something is beyond you. I knew it was not something I was able to do. But I knew a man that could: Ben Kelly.
Ben Kelly (architect/designer of the Haçienda): We did a big tour of this huge, cavernous, empty, dirty, scruffy building, which was amazing. Tony looked at me and said, “Well, do you want the job?” I said, “Of course I want the fucking job.”
Peter Hook (bassist, New Order): Tony and Rob Gretton [New Order manager/Factory partner] started the Haçienda for people like us - punks who had nowhere to go. It wasn't about making money, it was about housing oddballs.
Ben Kelly: They had never commissioned a nightclub, and I'd never designed one before. There was an awful lot of naivety, but I see that as a very positive strength, as there were no strings attached and no preconceptions. I went about the design as a journey. You arrive at the building to a very minimal sign, then, in the entrance, you pass through doors that had 5 and 1 cut out of them [FAC51 was the catalogue number given to the club by the label], with glass set into those two numbers, then to the bar around the dance floor.
IN THIS PHOTO: Clubbers in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Peter J Walsh/PYMCA/Avalon/Univeral Images Group via Getty
The dance floor was one step raised off the floor, which was possibly a trip hazard, so I came up with the idea of roadside bollards. I set cat’s eyes in the floor in line with the bollards, thinking the light would shine on them and it was like a road – a journey. There was a narrative integrated into my design.
Peter Saville: It’s probably his opus work. It’s the only nightclub space that I've ever been in that looked better in daylight. It was spectacularly beautiful in the daylight.
Jon DaSilva (resident DJ): It wasn't your greasy, beer-stained 1970s club, it was a slice of New York in Manchester.
Peter Hook: The initial budget was around £70,000, but it cost £344,000 to build in 1981. That's equivalent to about £3 million now. Joy Division/New Order put in £100,000. Somebody once asked me who I thought was responsible for the ultimate demise of the Haçienda. The answer at the time was Ben Kelly. These days, of course, I realise that none of us were blameless.
Ben Kelly: It caused all sorts of frictions with New Order, with them being like, “Fucking Ben Kelly, he spent all the fucking money.” I think it went up their noses, mostly”.
I suppose that drugs, for better or worse, seemed to define The Haçienda at a certain point. Although the club had a sad and, to be fair, inevitable end by 1997, its peak and explosion will go down in history. There is no doubting the fact The Haçienda was a Mecca for the masses. To think of a club like that existing today is both exciting and also far-fetched. VICE also looked at an era and period when the sound and vibe of The Haçienda turned:
“ACID HOUSE, ECSTASY AND THE SUMMER OF LOVE
Aniff Akinola: Acid house was being played as early as 1984, but just not all the time. The earliest footage of acid house in the UK is from the 8411 Centre, Moss Side Precinct [Manchester] in 1986. It’s a 40-minute acid house set, and those kids are having it large. This was a staple for Black kids before it took off.
Hewan Clarke: They borrowed my records for that set.
Dave Haslam: I saw a gradual shift. The music was an evolution, not a revolution. The revolution was when ecstasy arrived. The dance floor dynamics really changed with that. On New Year's Eve, 1987, I played “Disco Inferno” and it sounded fantastic. Within probably three months the music policies of most nights all shifted to Detroit and Chicago house, because the drug use had changed.
Martin Moscrop: I remember being offered my first E by Bez in there. There were about 20 of us on it. The next week, 40 of us, the following week, 80, and then within a few months the whole club was on it. The music was already happening before the drugs, but E just made it explode.
Graeme Park: Mike Pickering asked me to cover for him when he was on holiday, but said, “You have to come up and check out Friday night first – things have changed, they are completely different.” And oh my god, he was right. Everyone had this mad look in their eyes and they dressed differently. My crowd in Nottingham looked like they’d stepped out of the pages of i-D or The Face, very designer and cool. At the Haçienda, it was dungarees, baggy shirts, the smiley face everywhere, bandanas. Everyone was wild. Mike opened up the DJ box to let me in, and he had that wild look in his eyes too. I was like, ‘What the hell?’ Then about 30 minutes later I got it.
Peter Hook: As Tony Wilson once said, ecstasy made white men dance. It also stopped everybody drinking alcohol, so club owners were profiting from overpriced bottles of water. Rob thought bottled water was the work of the devil, he wouldn’t stock it, insisting we give everybody free water if they ask for it. It was Suzanne in the kitchen that cottoned on and started selling the bottles in direct competition with the bar. Rob knew but didn’t care.
Anton Razak: In 1988, I went away for six weeks and I came back and everything had changed. Everyone is going “aciiid”, there’s yellow smiley faces everywhere. It was really weird. I didn't have a clue how somewhere could transform so much in such a short period of time.
Martin Moscrop: It was like punk all over again. It was a whole new movement, which was a godsend. It was a massive period for me.
Graeme Park: The combination of acid house, ecstasy and the fact that Haçienda was owned by Factory and New Order. All these things aligned and it just went mental.
Jon DaSilva: I left the DJ box one night and I was literally terrified because it was so exhilarating. The change of atmosphere and the way people were just losing it. This was at like 10PM.
Rowetta (singer, Happy Mondays): It did feel like a really hippy, happy time. Walking in to tunes I was singing on was really special. I didn’t realise my voice had been sampled on other tracks, I used to think I was hallucinating.
Fiona Allen: It was a vibrant creative period of time that I’d never seen in that city before. It was the most exciting club in the country”.
On Saturday, when The Haçienda turns forty, there will be memories and mixed reactions. I am going to wrap up soon but, as such a detailed and informative article about The Haçienda is out there, I wanted to source one more section from it. We know about the history of the club, in addition to the way it developed. Inevitable that there would be drug and violence issues with such a club, I don’t think that should define The Haçienda. In fact, the music, magic and togetherness that was felt in that space for fifteen years cannot be discounted! I think the closure of The Haçienda in 1997 almost marked the end of iconic clubs and that scene. We have music venues and nightclubs now and, whilst some have the giddiness and atmosphere of The Haçienda, I don’t think any could truly exist in the same way today – which is good in some ways. The VICE article talked about the club’s legacy:
“THE CLUB’S LEGACY
Dave Haslam: I remember Tony saying that he was OK with it closing. I think he understood that it achieved what it needed to achieve, in the same way as Jimi Hendrix or James Dean dying. Sometimes the legend lives on.
Bez: The best thing that ever happened to the Haçienda was it closing down. Had it carried on to the death, it wouldn’t have the legendary status.
DJ Paulette: I think it's good that it went when it did, because it managed to retain this special atmosphere – that's a very rare thing. Plus, the myth persists because there’s hardly any films or clips on YouTube. You have all these great memories but no footage.
Graeme Park: It bugs me that people talk about Haçienda as if, when it closed in ‘97, that was it. We've done loads of club nights, along with the Haçienda Classical. It’s still a club, it just doesn’t have a building.
Peter Hook: The wonderful thing about the Haçienda Classical is that you're promoting what the Haçienda achieved, instead of its mistakes.
Martin Moscrop: Mancunians are the worst offenders for holding onto things and always talking about the Haçienda. The nostalgia goes a bit far at times. We'll be having the “Haçienda On Ice” next. It was great times, but some people need to move on, really. It's not only the Haçienda, it's all the fucking idiots who like Oasis, or The Smiths fans who defend Morrissey's racism.
Peter Saville: Unquestionably, Ben's work with the Haçienda is the foundation stone of the idea of the regeneration of the city – it is the first project. It’s a rather unfortunate and ironic oversight of the public sector that the Haçienda was allowed to go. Sadly, the city council didn't get it at the beginning, and they didn't get it at the end.
Ben Kelly: There isn't a bloody day that goes by where I don't get somebody bothering me about it. For years, it pissed me off. It was the monkey on my back, because it just wouldn't go away, and people thought that's all I ever did. But I don’t complain anymore. It's amazing. It goes on and on, and it's incredible. The Haçienda never dies – it's embedded into our cultural history.
Ang Matthews: I'm stunned that people are still interested in it. I’m so proud of that time.
Whether you were there are not, so many people can relate to The Haçienda and what it represented. Its history, legacy and reputation is clear. On Saturday, it will be forty years since the club opened. Even if it was blighted by problems for some of its life, it gave so much to so many people. People are still talking about the club. I think that will continue for decades more! Definitely a unique moment in history, when it comes to The Haçienda, I don’t think that we will…
EVER see its like again.