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 includingincluding 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...
Shaun Ryder
Shaun was at the forefront of the Madchester scene and a regular at “The Haci” with his indie band Happy Mondays, who had big hits with singles including Step On and Kinky Afro.
The singer, now 59, said: “Forty years is a long time but it has gone so quickly, it feels like yesterday – like five minutes ago. Time goes very quickly.
“Most of the time the Haci before 1987 was cold and empty, unless there was a band on, like James or New Order, or The Smiths. By 1987, when the DJs arrived, it was always full – by 9pm there would be queues around the building every night from Wednesday to Saturday.
“I remember seeing James when they were really big in the indie music scene and Morrissey playing with The Smiths with daffodils in his back pocket. I was in there any time there was a live band on.
“Obviously so many of them, including some of the acts we still play with now, like Primal Scream and Peter Hook, went massive. But they were huge for us at the time too and you’d always see the likes of James in NME.
“I was there on that night in 1984 when Madonna played as well. She wasn’t that well known outside New York but the Haci was styled on that New York scene, so it made sense for her to play there – it was like playing a gig in a warehouse in New York, and that was the idea.
“It was great. We had it good for a few years but nothing lasts forever.
“We still perform as Happy Mondays and it’s better than ever now. I am still so proud to have been associated with Factory Records – we were approached by different London labels but they were the only ones we wanted to sign with.
“And the legacy is still shown in Manchester today – people are still just as keen to see Hacienda music now as they were back in the day.”
Rowetta Idah
One of the few women at the forefront of the scene, singer Rowetta debuted at the Hacienda in 1988 and joined Shaun Ryder and freaky dancer Bez in Happy Mondays in 1990.
The 56-year-old was struck by the club’s great atmosphere when she first went there in 1987 and saw a black girl who seemed to know everyone, thinking: ”I want to be her.”
She said: “A couple of years later, walking into the Hacienda, I was her. Girls would walk up to me and say, ‘I want to be you.’ I had an addiction to the place – every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night I’d be there.”
Rowetta became the Queen of Madchester and appeared as herself in 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, starring Steve Coogan as late Hacienda co-founder Tony Wilson.
Rowetta, who sang on albums by Simply Red and Groove Armada, recalled incredible times with Tony but said the club went from amazing to horrible and scary.
The star, who remains best pals with Bez and Shaun, said: “I am still so proud of those times and what they represent.
“I still live in Manchester and I still carry the flag for Manchester. The legacy is incredible – the whole world knows about the Hacienda. Nothing can compare with the Hacienda in its heyday.”
Dave Haslam
Resident “super-DJ” Dave Haslam performed at the Hacienda more than 450 times between 1986 and 1990 – and he reckons the club helped to restore Manchester’s declining identity and drive its rise from the post-industrial doldrums.
Like other cities in then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, Manchester was suffering from rising youth unemployment and its landscape was blighted by decrepit cotton mills and abandoned bomb sites that hadn’t been rebuilt since the ravages of the Second World War.
Dave, 60, said: “The North of England was very out on a limb – it felt ignored and politically victimised.
“The UK was very London-dominated, so we created our own independent culture. Out of all that dereliction there was a visionary dreaminess to what we were doing.”
The International Music Summit, which takes place in Ibiza, estimates electronic dance music festivals and clubs now have an annual global value of £2billion – and the sights and sounds of Madchester continue to influence artists everywhere today.
Dave said: “The music, the clothes, the atmosphere... the Hacienda was incredible. And that lives on in the Manchester of today.”
Dave’s book, Not All Roses: The Life and Times of Stephen Cresser, is out now.
Stephen Cresser
Stephen Cresser, known as Cressa, was The Stone Roses’ so-called fifth member and inspired the band’s iconic baggy style – along with its psychedelic sound.
The 56-year-old recalls how Ecstasy was part and parcel of a Hacienda night, which inevitably drew drug dealers into the club.
He said: “The club nights were disastrous until that bloody drug turned up and then there’d be 200 people in the queue just for the guestlist. It went pretty crazy.
“I can remember Mike Pickering first playing Farley Jackmaster Funk, Love Can’t Turn Around, and it was like, ‘Wow, what is this?’ No one had heard anything like it. It just blew my mind. It was just so epic – and to hear it in the Hacienda.
“By 1990 it had all got too much for me – it was just tourists. Then, by 1992-93, I was out of there by then – it all became about guns, gangsters, drugs. There was too much money. It wasn’t for me. I was in it for a good time.
“I loved that place, I really did. I miss it.”
Peter 'Hooky' Hook
Legendary Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook, aka Hooky, helped launch the club in 1982. The Salfordian, 66, said: “The Hacienda was built to get all the weirdos and misfits together, somewhere where they could celebrate life.
“It was the forward thinking of Rob Gretton and Tony Wilson – it’s amazing what they achieved.
“Hacienda Classical has taken it right back to the top. That has been wonderful, especially considering it was me that thought it was a terrible idea.
“Having stolen from orchestras for as long as I have, it was nice to give something back. The music has a lot to do with its legacy. A lot of people associate the music of the Hacienda with very important moments in their lives.
“They are playing these songs, many of which were one-hit wonders and people have never seen them performed live, so for the classical world to get together – and not just for four people to perform it but for 70 people to perform it – it’s a wonderful spectacle.
“Tony and Rob would probably be shocked. To think that the Hacienda has been in my life for 40 years now. If I could go back and talk to 26-year-old me then, what would I say? Probably just go and have it!”
