Heroes (Ed. 1)

You might be getting the impression that I'm angry and never satisfied with anything, unless it's to do with the German Market. This just simply isn't true. John Gaunt got a bash. That's it, so far. 

It's time to introduce another strand onto these pages, and it's about my heroes. Let's start with Anthony H. Wilson.

Tony Wilson was an enigma, the kind of person that would at some point (I imagine) annoy everyone he had met to the point of physical violence. The anarchic outlook on life combined with an education that took in Jesus College (Cambridge, to you and me), and a passion for the dramatic arts combined to make the man I most look up to in the world of music. He was a journalist with Granada Television, capable of the light-hearted and the high powered. He was utterly irresposible with other peoples money. He was also directly responsible for Factory Records, the incomparable Haçienda and 'modern' nightclub DJ culture infiltating the UK. He encouraged, alongside Martin Hannett, the whole Factory roster to explore the boundaries of their sound.  As well as this, he was one of the few, the audience at the pivotal Sex Pistols gig in Manchester in June 1976.

I was deeply saddened to hear of his passing earlier this year. He was on my list of people I wanted to meet before I/they died. I just wanted to thank him.

I never went to the Haçienda. I never saw the bands. I'd not heard of Factory until after they went bust. I never met the man. But, unknowingly, Tony Wilson virtually shaped my late adolescence.

In some sort of tribute, I visited what became of FAC 51 in October 2005. The former cathedral had become apartments.

Tony Wilson died on August 10th, 2007, aged 57.

"Some people make money and some make history."