So Peter Hook's Factory-themed nightclub, FAC251, opens tonight. Whoop-dee-doo.
Sure, everyone's entitled to their own nostalgia trips, but this particular one has been rammed down our throats for the last 20 years. And I'm not even one of these hippersnappers that utterly scorns the music that came out of that scene. Yeah, I decorated my teenage walls with Peter Saville album cover postcards and still consider most of it great music (Happy Mondays, though... I think maybe you had to be there and on those drugs). But enough already. I've got chronic Factory fatigue.
And I know I'm not alone. Check out Tony Naylor's exasperated, well-argued post on Guardian Music Blog, and this post on Words Dept., which is where I found out about the brilliantly vitriolic FUC51. They're also on Twitter. Anyone considering going along to the opening tonight should check out their blog for an eye-opening Youtube preview of what's likely to be on tap.
Maybe it's time for us to move on and show some love for the great new music coming out of Manchester? It'd be interesting if this club actually did that, but I'm not holding out much hope after checking out their website. Too much grandstanding and too much Rowetta. There's something depressing about watching the Factory folk shamelessly attempting to cash in over and over again, with books, reality show slots, second-rate reunion gigs, crap DJ sets and now this. I ask you: Can officially merchandised Joy Division oven gloves be far away?
9 comments:
science FACT.
We need to leave this in the past where it belongs, right now, or else risk becoming as absurd as Liverpool with its neverending Beatles fetish.
The Hooky of 25 years ago would have molotov'd this monstrosity and danced on the barricades while it burned.
And the Paradise Factory will always better, too.
I totally agree - the Manchester revival business is saturated, kids need their own stuff, not to have this constantly rammed down their throats, and the only new bands to get decent press, like Delphic, just sound like a copy of the old ones.
i hope those gloves are in the shops soon. they'd go well with my 'Bez'n'Sean' salt'n'pepper shakers...
I'm really glad that a few bloggers and commentators are starting to speak up about this. I've been utterly bored by it for years, but it really is becoming a joke now.
My Dad's form Liverpool and I always found the revisiting of the Beatle's glory days sad, but Manchester is no better......in some ways worse as it is shameless jobs for the boys.
You sad, jealous, talentless cow!
Get a life
Mad Chester:I know who you are, and I think it's hilarious I make you so angry.
The rest of you - it's nice to know I'm not alone!
My thoughts are quite similar. I read your post, churned it round and spat my thoughts out in my own blog post:
http://fatroland.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-do-you-solve-problem-like.html
Amid all the debate, what hasn't been picked up on is that most of the opening night (once the bands had finished playing) was standard indie / dance club music, so a more important question is probably: do we need yet another 42nd Street?
Thanks for pointing that out, Fat Roland. Good post. Some great stuff in there.
I don't really blame Hooky for opening the club. He is, after all, cashing in on his own past glories rather than someone else's. I don't see it as any worse than any of the veteran bands which keep touring well past their sell by date. We may find it grotesque or sad (The Who's performance at the Super Bowl was both of these things, for example), but Hooky's got every right to do what he's doing.
There's no reason to worry that the continued prominence of Factory will somehow undermine Manchester's creativity. Great bands emerged during the Factory era that were never signed to the label, such as Buzzcocks, The Smiths and The Stone Roses. Great bands have emerged since, such as Oasis, Elbow and Doves. Whether you like them or not, Delphic, Hurts, Everything Everything and Liam Frost are emerging today.
Of course, by far the most successful Manchester band ever are The Bee Gees, who were from Chorlton. Maybe if Hooky wants to celebrate Manchester's music past, someone should suggest a Maurice Gibb tribute night to him. I'm sure he'd love that.
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