STILL MA D FOR IT
40 years on, club legends remember the Hacienda
MAD, bad and dangerous, the legendary Hacienda nightclub could be an unforgiving place.
Just ask Queen of Pop Madonna, who did her first gig outside New York in the former warehouse in 1984.
The 500-strong crowd, all there on free tickets, were so underwhelmed by her miming to smash-hit Holiday for Channel 4 show The Tube, they threw food and beer at her. Even the offer of another £50 could not persuade her to go back on.
But the then two-year-old Manchester club, which helped spawn the acid house and “Madchester” scene of the 1980s and early 90s, was destined to become a symbol of counter-culture. No one had seen a club quite like it before.
It helped launch the careers of iconic bands including The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, James and Primal Scream.and the likes of Culture Club, Simple Minds, Alison Moyet and OMD also played there in their early days. Former Hacienda DJ Mike Pickering said: “A lot of names played at the club before they made it big but very few came back once they’d made it.”
The club was the idea of New Order manager Rob Gretton and Factory Records boss Tony Wilson, who wanted to bring the vibrant post-punk New York club scene to the UK.
At first, it haemorrhaged cash but by 1987, clubbers – ranging from barristers to brickies – queued round the block to get in as the era of the super-dj arrived and the Ecstasy culture took hold.
Records spun for the first time on its turntables, such as Black Box’s Ride On Time, became global hits. But the pills and thrills gave way to violence and drug gangs, and the party was over when it shut in 1997. The site is now a block of flats.
The club's musical heritage is celebrated annually with Hacienda Classical concerts, orchestral renditions of its much-loved records.
And to mark its 40th anniversary, some of the Hacienda’s biggest names share their memories...
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