Factory Records used a creative team (most notably record producer Martin Hannett and graphic designerPeter Saville) which gave the label and the artists recording for it a particular sound and image. The label employed a unique cataloguing system that gave a number not just to its musical releases, but also to various other related miscellany, including artwork, films, living beings, and even Wilson's own coffin.[1]
History
'The Factory'
The Factory name was first used for a club in May 1978; the first Factory night was on the 26 May 1978.[2] The club became a Manchester legend in its own right, being known variously as the Russell Club, Caribbean Club, PSV (Public Service Vehicles) Club (so titled as it was originally a social club for bus drivers[3] who worked from the nearby depot) and 'The Factory'.[4] The ‘Factory’ night at The Russell Club was launched by Alan Erasmus, Tony Wilson, and helped by promoter Alan Wise. As well as attracting numerous touring bands to the area and many upcoming post punk bands,[4] it featured local bands including the Durutti Column (managed at the time by Erasmus and Wilson), Cabaret Voltaire from Sheffield and Joy Division.[5] The club was demolished in 2001.[6] The club was located on the NE corner of the now demolished Hulme Crescents development,[7] on the corner of Royce Rd and Clayburn St (53°28′04.5″N2°15′00.2″W / 53.467917°N 2.250056°W / 53.467917; -2.250056). Peter Saville designed advertising for the club, and in September Factory released an EP of music by acts who had played at the club (the Durutti Column, Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire and comedian John Dowie) called A Factory Sample.[8]
1978 and 1979
As a follow-on from the successful 'Factory Nights' held at the Russell Club, Factory Records made their first release, "A Factory Sample", in January 1979.[5][9] At that time there was a punk label in Manchester called Rabid Records, run by Tosh Ryan and Martin Hannett. It had several successful acts, including Slaughter & the Dogs (whose tour manager was Rob Gretton), John Cooper Clarke, and Jilted John. After his seminal TV series So It Goes, Tony Wilson was interested in the way Rabid Records ran, and was convinced that the real money and power were in album sales. With a lot of discussion, Tony Wilson, Rob Gretton and Alan Erasmus set up Factory Records, with Martin Hannett from Rabid.[10]
In 1978, Wilson compered the new wave afternoon at Deeply Vale Festival. This was actually the fourth live appearance by the fledgling Durutti Column and that afternoon Wilson also introduced an appearance (very early in their career) by the Fall, featuring Mark E. Smith and Marc "Lard" Riley on bass guitar.[11]
The first Factory Records office, 86 Palatine Road in West Didsbury, Manchester.
In January 1980, The Return of the Durutti Column was released, the first in a long series of releases by guitarist Vini Reilly. In May, Joy Division singer Ian Curtis committed suicide shortly before a planned tour of the US. The following month saw Joy Division's single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" reach the UK top twenty, and their second album Closer was released the following month. In late 1980, the remaining members of Joy Division decided to continue as New Order. Factory branched out, with Factory Benelux being run as an independent label in conjunction with Les Disques du Crepuscule, and Factory US organising distribution for the UK label's releases in America.[13]
In 1981, Factory and New Order opened a nightclub and preparations were made to convert a Victorian textile factory near the centre of Manchester, which had lately seen service as a motor boat showroom. Hannett left the label, as he had wanted to open a recording studio instead, and subsequently sued for unpaid royalties (the case was settled out of court in 1984). Saville also quit as a partner due to problems with payments, although he continued to work for Factory. Wilson, Erasmus and Gretton formed Factory Communications Ltd.[14]
The Haçienda's interior before opening
The Haçienda (FAC 51) opened in May 1982.[15][16] Although successful in terms of attendance, and attracting a lot of praise for Ben Kelly's interior design, the club lost large amounts of money in its first few years due largely to the low prices charged for entrance and at the bar, which was markedly cheaper than nearby pubs. Adjusting bar prices failed to help matters as by the mid-1980s crowds were increasingly preferring ecstasy to alcohol. Therefore the Haçienda ended up costing tens of thousands of pounds every month.[9]
In 1983 New Order's "Blue Monday" (FAC 73) became an international chart hit.[17] However, the label did not make any money from it since the original sleeve, die-cut and designed to look like a floppy disk, was so costly to make that the label lost 5 pence on every copy they sold.[14][18] Saville noted that nobody at Factory expected Blue Monday to be a commercially successful record at all, so nobody expected the cost to be an issue.[19]
1985 saw the first release by Happy Mondays. New Order and Happy Mondays became the most successful bands on the label, bankrolling a host of other projects.[14] Factory, and the Haçienda, became a cultural hub of the emerging techno and acid house genres and their amalgamation with post-punk guitar music (the "Madchester" scene). 1986 saw Mick Middles' book Joy Division to New Order published by Virgin Books (later being reprinted under the title Factory). In 1989 the label extended its reach to fringe punk folk outfit To Hell With Burgundy. Factory also opened a bar (The Dry Bar, FAC 201) and a shop (The Area, FAC 281) in the Northern Quarter of Manchester.[13]
1990s
Factory's headquarters (FAC 251) on Charles Street, near the Oxford Road BBC building, were opened in September 1990 (prior to which the company was still registered at Alan Erasmus' flat in Didsbury).[citation needed]
In 1991, Factory suffered two tragedies: the deaths of Martin Hannett and Dave Rowbotham. Hannett had recently re-established a relationship with the label, working with Happy Mondays, and tributes including a compilation album and a festival were organised. Rowbotham was one of the first musicians signed by the label; he was an original member of the Durutti Column and shared the guitar role with Vini Reilly; he was murdered and his body was found in his flat in Burnage.[20] Saville's association with Factory was now reduced to simply designing for New Order and their solo projects (the band itself was in suspension, with various members recording as Electronic, Revenge and The Other Two).
By 1992, the label's two most successful bands caused the label serious financial trouble. The Happy Mondays were recording their troubled fourth album Yes Please! in Barbados, and New Order reportedly spent £400,000 on recording their comeback album Republic. London Records were interested in taking over Factory but the deal fell through when it emerged that, due to Factory's early practice of eschewing contracts, New Order rather than the label owned New Order's back catalogue.[9]
Factory Communications Ltd, the company formed in 1981, declared bankruptcy in November 1992. Many former Factory acts, including New Order, found a new home at London Records.[9]
The new Haçienda apartments in 2007
The Haçienda closed in 1997 and the building was demolished shortly afterwards. It was replaced by a modern luxury apartment block in 2003, also called The Haçienda.[21] In October 2009, Peter Hook published his book on his time as co-owner of the Haçienda, How Not to Run a Club, and in 2010 he had six bass guitars made using wood from the Haçienda's dancefloor.[22][23][24]
The 2002 film 24 Hour Party People is centred on Factory Records, the Haçienda, and the infamous, often unsubstantiated anecdotes and stories surrounding them. Many of the people associated with Factory, including Tony Wilson, have minor parts; the central character, based on Wilson, is played by actor and comedian Steve Coogan.[25]
Anthony Wilson, Factory Records' founder, died on 10 August 2007 at age 57, from complications arising from renal cancer.[26]
Colin Sharp, the Durutti Column singer during 1978 who took part in the A Factory Sample EP, died on 7 September 2009, after suffering a brain haemorrhage. Although his involvement with Factory was brief, Sharp was an associate for a short while of Martin Hannett and wrote a book called Who Killed Martin Hannett,[27] which upset Hannett's surviving relatives, who stated the book included numerous untruths and fiction. Only months after Sharp's death, Larry Cassidy, Section 25's bassist and singer, died of unknown causes, on 27 February 2010.[28]
In early 2010, Peter Hook, in collaboration with the Haçienda's original interior designer Ben Kelly and British audio specialists Funktion-One, renovated and reopened FAC 251 (the former Factory Records headquarters on Charles Street) as a nightclub.[5] The club still holds its original name, FAC 251, but people refer to it as "Factory". Despite Ben Kelly's design influences, Peter Hook insists, "It's not the Haçienda for fucks [sic] sake". The club has a weekly agenda, featuring DJs and live bands of various genres.[5]
In May 2010, James Nice, owner of LTM Recordings, published the book Shadowplayers. The book charts the rise and fall of Factory and offers detailed accounts and information about many key figures involved with the label.[29]
Musical releases, and essentially anything closely associated with the label, were given a catalogue number in the form of either FAC, or FACT, followed by a number. FACT was reserved for full-length albums, while FAC was used for both single song releases and many other Factory "productions", including: posters (FAC 1 advertised a club night), The Haçienda (FAC 51), a lawsuit filed against Factory Records by Martin Hannett (FAC 61),[30] a hairdressing salon (FAC 98), a broadcast of Channel 4's The Tube TV series (FAC 104), customised packing tape (FAC 136), a bucket on a restored watermill (FAC 148), the Haçienda cat (FAC 191), a bet between Wilson and Gretton (FAC 253),[31] a radio advertisement (FAC 294), and a website (FAC 421).[32] Similar numbering was used for compact disc media releases (FACD), CD Video releases (FACDV), Factory Benelux releases (FAC BN or FBN), Factory US releases (FACTUS), and Gap Records Australia releases (FACOZ), with many available numbers restricted to record releases and other directly artist-related content.[33][13]
Numbers were not allocated in strict chronological order; numbers for Joy Division and New Order releases generally ended in 3, 5, or 0 (with most Joy Division and New Order albums featuring multiples of 25), A Certain Ratio and Happy Mondays in 2, and the Durutti Column in 4. Factory Classical releases were 226, 236 and so on.[33][13]
Despite the demise of Factory Records in 1992, the catalogue was still active. Additions included the 24 Hour Party People film (FAC 401), its website (FAC 433) and DVD release (FACDVD 424), and a book, Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album (FAC 461).[33][13]
Even Tony Wilson's coffin received a Factory catalogue number; FAC 501.[34][13]
In 1994, Wilson attempted to revive Factory Records, in collaboration with London Records, as "Factory Too". The first release was by Factory stalwarts the Durutti Column; the other main acts on the label were Hopper and Space Monkeys, and the label gave a UK release to the first album by Stephin Merritt's side project the 6ths, Wasps' Nests. A further release ensued: a compilation EP featuring previously unsigned Manchester acts East West Coast, the Orch, Italian Love Party, and K-Track. This collection of 8 tracks (2 per band) was simply entitled A Factory Sample Too (FACD2.02). The label was active until the late 1990s, latterly independent of London Records, as was "Factory Once", which organised reissues of Factory material.[13]
Wilson founded a short-lived fourth incarnation, F4 Records, in the early 2000s.[35]
In 2012, Peter Saville and James Nice formed a new company called Factory Records Ltd., in association with Alan Erasmus and Oliver Wilson (son of Tony). This released only a vinyl reissue of From the Hip by Section 25.[36] Nice subsequently revived the Factory Benelux imprint for Factory reissues, and for new recordings by Factory-associated bands.[37] In 2019 Warner Music Group marked the 40th anniversary of Factory as a record label with a website, exhibition, and select vinyl editions including Unknown Pleasures and box set compilation Communications 1978-1992.
An exhibition By Colin Gibbins took place celebrating the 20th anniversary of the closing of Factory Records (1978–1992) and its musical output, Colin's collection was displayed at the Ice Plant, Manchester, between 4 and 7 May 2012. The exhibition was called FACTVM (from the Latin for 'deed accomplished').[38][39]
In October 2019 a new box set was released containing both rarities and the label’s releases from its first two years.[40]
From 19 June until 3 January 2022, Manchester's Science and Industry Museum hosted an exhibition commemorating Factory Records entitled 'Use Hearing Protection: The early years of Factory Records' Featuring graphic designs by Peter Saville, previously unseen items from the Factory archives, and objects loaned from the estates of both Tony Wilson and Rob Gretton, the former manager of Joy Division and New Order.[41][42]
Further reading
Golden, Audrey (4 May 2023). I Thought I Heard You Speak: Women at Factory Records. Orion. ISBN978-1-3996-0620-2.
Hook, Peter (1 October 2009). The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club. Simon and Schuster. ISBN978-1-84737-847-7.
Middles, Mick (11 July 2011). Factory: The Story of the Record Label. Random House. ISBN978-0-7535-4754-0.
Reade, Lindsay (15 August 2016). Mr Manchester and the Factory Girl: The Story of Tony and Lindsay Wilson. Plexus Publishing. ISBN978-0-85965-875-1.
Robertson, Matthew (2007). Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album. Thames & Hudson. ISBN978-0-500-28636-4.
Nice, James (2010). Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records. Aurum. ISBN978-1-84513-540-9.
Related Research Articles
New Order are an English band whose integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. The band was formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook, and drummer Stephen Morris. The members regrouped after the disbandment of their previous band Joy Division due to the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. They were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and they worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.
The Durutti Column are an English post-punk band formed in 1978 in Manchester, England. The band is a project of guitarist and occasional pianist Vini Reilly who is often accompanied by Bruce Mitchell on drums and Keir Stewart on bass, keyboards and harmonica. They were among the first acts signed to Factory Records by label founder Tony Wilson.
James Martin Hannett was a British record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy Division, the Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio, Magazine, John Cooper Clarke, New Order, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Happy Mondays. His distinctive production style embraced atmospheric sounds and electronics.
The Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England, which became famous during the Madchester years of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was run by the record label Factory Records.
Peter Hook is an English musician, best known as the bassist and co-founder of the rock bands Joy Division and New Order. Hook often used the bass as a lead instrument, playing melodies on the high strings with a signature heavy chorus effect. In New Order, he would do this, leaving the actual basslines to keyboards or sequencers.
Anthony Howard Wilson was a British record label owner, radio and television presenter, nightclub manager and impresario, and a journalist for Granada Television, the BBC and Channel 4.
24 Hour Party People is a 2002 British biographical comedy drama film about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1992, and specifically about Factory Records. It was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and directed by Michael Winterbottom. The film was entered into the 2002 Cannes Film Festival to positive reviews.
Unknown Pleasures is the debut studio album by the English post-punk band Joy Division, released on 15 June 1979, by Factory Records. The album was recorded and mixed over three successive weekends at Stockport's Strawberry Studios in April 1979, with producer Martin Hannett contributing a number of unconventional recording techniques to the group's sound. The cover artwork was designed by artist Peter Saville, using a data plot of signals from a radio pulsar. It is the only Joy Division album released during lead singer Ian Curtis's lifetime.
Peter Andrew Saville is an English art director and graphic designer. He designed many record sleeves for Factory Records, which he co-founded in 1978 alongside Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus.
Manchester's music scene produced successful bands in the 1960s including the Hollies, the Bee Gees and Herman's Hermits. After the punk rock era, Manchester produced popular bands including Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths and Simply Red. In the late 1980s, the ecstasy-fuelled dance club scene played a part in the rise of Madchester with bands like the Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and Happy Mondays. In the 1990s, Manchester saw the rise of Britpop bands, notably Oasis.
Alan Erasmus is a British actor best known for his involvement in the Manchester music scene starting in the 1970s. He co-founded Factory Records with Tony Wilson, which signed Joy Division and the Happy Mondays. He also co-founded The Haçienda with Wilson, Rob Gretton and New Order, a Manchester nightclub which closed down in the summer of 1997. As an actor, Erasmus appeared in several roles in the 1970s including ITV Playhouse and Play for Today, wherein he played minor roles.
Section 25 are an English post-punk and electronic band, best known for the 1984 single "Looking from a Hilltop", associated with Manchester record label Factory Records.
Robert Leo Gretton was the manager of Joy Division and New Order. He was partner in and co-director of Factory Records and a founding partner of The Haçienda. For ten years until his death in 1999, Gretton ran his own label, Rob's Records.
Kevin Hewick is an English singer-songwriter who was an early member of the Factory Records roster. Today he is known for his recordings on Sorted, Pink Box and his own Botheration label, and his work with Venetian collective Unfolk.
The following is a list of items with recorded Factory Records numbers. The list primarily consists of music releases but also includes promotional graphics, film, etc. However, the list was not confined to creative output. A party, a lawsuit and a cat appear on the list along with other miscellany.
The Return of the Durutti Column is the debut studio album by English band The Durutti Column. It was released in January 1980, through record label Factory.
Shadowplayers is the title of both a 2006 documentary film and a 2010 book by James Nice of LTM Recordings, tracing the detailed history of Factory Records and the Manchester post-punk music scene between 1978 and 1981.
The Festival of the Tenth Summer was a music and art festival that took place in Manchester in July 1986. The festival was organised by Factory Records to 'celebrate Manchester' specifically with reference to the first performance by the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester on 4 June 1976. It consisted of ten events, culminating in an all day music festival at the Greater Manchester Exhibition Centre on 19 July 1986. The festival has its own number in the Factory Records catalogue, FAC 151.
A Factory Sample is a 7-inch double sampler EP released in January 1979 by Factory Records of Manchester, England. Funded by a small inheritance which had recently been bequeathed to Tony Wilson, it was the first vinyl recording to be released by the label. The cover of the EP is made of rice paper, dyed silver and sealed inside a thin plastic bag.
Without Mercy is the fourth studio album by English band The Durutti Column, released in October 1984 on Factory Records. After the band and label boss Tony Wilson were unanimous in their dislike of Another Setting (1983), Wilson pushed the band towards progressing to a new, classical-inspired sound. The band went on to record Short Stories for Pauline, which went unreleased when Wilson refused to release it, though one track, "Little Mercy", kept Wilson's attention. He asked the band to use it as the foundation for a different album, ultimately becoming Without Mercy.
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