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BEATS OF LOVE 

69. The Hacienda: The Club That Shook Britain documentary

MY FATHER passed away suddenly less than a fortnight into my first ever job. Exploiting my naivety, the staff-trainer adopted the role of boss and proceeded to make my confusing life even more confusing by ordering me about and making unreasonable demands. Even chastising me for crying a couple of days after my father died. It took me an age to fathom that he wasn't actually my boss and to move on from my ordeal.

However, the reason this guy still sticks in my craw is that back in late 1987 he taped house music off the radio and then in 88 drove his car to go clubbing at the Hacienda. The apex of its mythical heyday. Whilst all the while raving about Debbie Gibson. As if I was ever going to go clubbing there...

(I did eventually, but I didn't like it much.)

Architectural Review 1982

These latest talking heads promised much, as Kath and Soo are great. John Robb was always lurching about town and is normally a reliable raconteur, but he's obsessed with making punk the main driving force of this story. Nobody's anticipating a Free Trade Hall BBC documentary anytime soon.

Other than Mike Pickering, who let go of his ego to reminisce, the other pop stars took up far too much time over emphasizing their part in its backstory. It could've been covered in the following sentence, Factory owners and cult band New Order attempted to recreate NY's Funhouse in the rainy city by introducing diverse nights and acts in their club-space, that often looked even more massive and impressive when it was less than half full, which it often was.

Sure, it started in a gym in London, but the Ibiza inspired acid house phenomenon properly took off here. As Soo rightly states, its historical significance was only far-reaching because the pioneering Hot night and E helped change clubbing attitudes in the UK forever. Once the shenanigans were exposed in the media, people all over the country suddenly wanted to dance and hug one another. Dance alone, dance with friends, dance with family, or, as was often the case, with new friends. Not many of us could stretch to 25 quid for an actual E, but by simply being in Manchester at the time we became less predatory and more relaxed with one another. And, more inclined to dance under the influence of far cheaper drugs.

Peter Walsh

It truly had a trickle down effect and people at its epicentre like Jon Dasilva remained warm and humorous, influencing the next generation whilst even finding time to entertain folk like myself.

Everyone I got to know in the nineties through clubbing had some link back to the Hacienda. Evoking my move to a new school when upon my arrival, the class was told a pupils sister had sadly died. There was something bonding between these folk in a way I could never begin to fully understand. Whilst I like to blame the guy from work for missing out, the truth is it was quickly over-hyped with a trendy reputation, so took flack in the music press. Being an impressionable teen, I was always unlikely to go.

I still blame him for holding back my fully fledged house music initiation, though.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001dsm0/the-hacienda-the-club-that-shook-britain