Remembering Tony Wilson

June 21, 2008 1:46 PM

The late, great Tony Wilsonis being honoured today with a 24-hour long "intelligent" conversation in Manchester, England. Wilson was a musical Svengali par excellence. He co-founded Factory Records, helped discover both Joy Division and the Happy Mondays and has been credited with reviving the city that was cradle to the industrial revolution.

The Tony Wilson Experience is a 24-hour long conversation being held today at Urbis in Manchester. It celebrates the life and work of Tony Wilson, who would have been 58 today, had he not died of cancer in August 2007. Speakers today include Peter Hook, Irvine Welsh, Paul Morley, Alan McGhee and Steve Coogan (who played Wilson in the movie adaptation 24-hour Party People).

posted by MrMerlot (16 comments total)

24 Hour Party People website.
posted by ericb at 1:57 PM on June 21, 2008

Previous MeFi thread on Tony Wilson: What is truth, said jesting Tony?

Previous MeFi thread on Joy Division: Joy Division - Heart and Soul, what will burn.
posted by ericb at 2:01 PM on June 21, 2008

This is awesome, like a bunch of media heads going for the world record in talking shit around a marijuana bonfire before a somewhat hostile audience.

I hope it's not wholly ephemeral and the day gets archived for download.
posted by bunnytricks at 2:03 PM on June 21, 2008

Pretty hard to forgive him for discovering the Happy Mondays, but other than that he was pretty awesome.
posted by brain cloud at 4:22 PM on June 21, 2008

has been credited with reviving the city that was cradle to the industrial revolution

Yeah, it's always nice to walk through the city and see the Hacienda transformed into a bunch of overpriced city centre apartments that trade on the name and cachet of a once-hip past.

Surely nobody who ever went to that shithole of a club would ever actually buy one of the damn things?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:46 PM on June 21, 2008 [2 favorites]

That's not fair or accurate. The Hacienda was no shithole. It was a beautifully designed and received nightclub. One of the world's best.
posted by MrMerlot at 5:20 PM on June 21, 2008

This is a terrific fpp. Thanks, MrMerlot, it leads to many excellent places!
posted by humannaire at 6:15 PM on June 21, 2008

This version of Love Will Tear Us will tear us apart is one of my favorite tracks. The energy around 1:45... just... ahhh. Do yourself a favor and download it (it's the Peel Session version from 1979). Subsequent versions had terrible production.

Disorder sounds like the sun setting on a sunday afternoon when you haven't gotten anything done, you know you'll be up all night, and your smallness in the world is disquieting.
posted by phrontist at 6:28 PM on June 21, 2008 [2 favorites]

This has been pretty great so far. Shaun Ryder and Bez are on now, so I don't know how "intelligent" the conversation will remain, but it should be interesting.

MrMerlot: The Hacienda was beautifully designed and well received, but towards the end, after the drug dealers took over, it became pretty sleazy. It is pretty depressing that they turned it into apartments, but Hooky has some kind of financial stake in it, so at least it's good that someone from New Order can finally make some money off of it after pouring most of their earnings into it for most of the 80s.
posted by DecemberBoy at 7:18 PM on June 21, 2008

Oh, Jesus. I spoke too soon. Some lady in the audience called Shaun a "twat", and the whole thing has just collapsed. Shaun is repeatedly screaming "YER FOOKING DEAD CUNT, YER GETTIN FOOKIN BATTERED YA CUNT". What tools.
posted by DecemberBoy at 7:22 PM on June 21, 2008 [2 favorites]

I really liked the Mondays back in my drug fueled college years but kind of wished they would've died in a fire while performing at the Hacienda, maybe around 1993. Ideally most all of the popular Factory Records people would've been there and the whole thing just burned right to the ground. Then everyone would've been some kind of musical martyr instead of fat old has beens.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:30 PM on June 21, 2008

Ideally most all of the popular Factory Records people would've been there and the whole thing just burned right to the ground. Then everyone would've been some kind of musical martyr instead of fat old has beens.

You won't find many bigger fans of Factory than me, but I see what you're saying here. Happy Mondays are a total joke (arguably they always were, but we won't go there). New Order can't decide if they still exist or not, and are getting close to tarnishing their legacy. Also-rans like A Certain Ratio and Section 25 are still around for no conceivable reason. Let the past remain in the past, you know?
posted by DecemberBoy at 9:49 PM on June 21, 2008

Shaun is repeatedly screaming "YER FOOKING DEAD CUNT, YER GETTIN FOOKIN BATTERED YA CUNT".

It's what Tony would have wanted.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:24 AM on June 22, 2008 [5 favorites]

YER GETTIN FOOKIN BATTERED YA CUNT

Charmed, I'm sure.

Also, this no-talent bum quoting Sly Stone's Family Affair on one of his pathetic dirges was ten types of embarrassing. Like Sly needs a hat tip from Mr. Can't-Sing-a-Note.

Don't even get me started on the Stone Roses.
posted by Wolof at 5:32 AM on June 22, 2008

Well, i beg to differ on the merits of the Mondays. It's true their panel "discussion" degenerated into something ugly, but it is what happened next that was most interesting. After threatening the guy who asked Shaun Ryder a question about his personal life, the security team moved in and began hauling the guy in the audience out. Then, the Mondays change their tune and start pleading with the security team to let the guy stay in the venue.

Now, that's what Tony would have wanted.
posted by MrMerlot at 7:56 AM on June 22, 2008

How odd. I knew nothing of this event before today, and since Wednesday I'd been planning to watch 24 Hour Party People again this evening. Get out of my head, MetaFilter!
posted by Monster_Zero at 9:04 AM on June 22, 2008