Paul Christensen's Blog - Posts Tagged "the-smiths"

The Haçienda: How Not to Run a Club by Peter Hook

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


New Order had the biggest selling 12” single of all time in ‘Blue Monday’, but didn’t benefit from it materially - all their profit was sucked into a money-draining vortex known as the Haçienda.

In the 80’s the club held concerts by bands like Kiling Joke, Cocteau Twins, Sisters of Mercy and The Cult.

But from 1988 it became the centre of acid house and rave party culture.

Then, ethnic street gangs moved in and metal detectors had to be installed. Eventually the security costs were so high the club had to be shut down.

There are a few funny anecdotes in this book.

The funniest concerned a 1985 performance by Einstürzende Neubauten, when the band brought along a pneumatic drill, and during their set started attacking the central pillar that held up the entire building. The audience was mesmerised, and the club staff had to wrestle it away from them.

A strange decade, the 1980s.



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