Tony Wilson 1950-2007
I'm not sure I have anything profound to add to the general sadness surrounding the death of Tony Wilson. I didn't grow up with So It Goes and became hugely jealous when I met those who had done. I was at the NME at the very moment Madchester challenged the rest of the world, and it was a glorious time. We spent an awful lot of shuttling back and forth from London, where it used to be at, to Manchester, where it now most definitely was. In that, Tony Wilson became an ambassador. You could not fail to be inspired by his civic pride and mouthy self-confidence. I attended he and partner Yvette Livesey's In The City music conferences on a couple of occasions in the early 90s, and it was like Wilson ran the city, even though he didn't. Up there, at that time, you really started to believe the world revolved around the Hacienda. Even if Tony wasn't around, he sort of was. He was in the iron girders and the concrete floor and the flooded basement, and his picture was on the wall in the box office. I spent more qualilty time with Tony when he started to come down to appear on 6 Music (he once deputised for me, for a whole week, on Teatime, and ruffled a few feathers - I must admit, I was rather proud to have someone so august and important sitting in for me). His legacy is unquestionable. And even though a lot of Mancunian scenesters have a "problem" with 24 Hour Party People, for me it was chock-full of affection for Wilson's World. And that was a good impression of him by Coogan. Tony Wilson did the best Tony Wilson impression, at the end of the day.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 9:50 AM
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I admired his civic pride and the fact that he elected to stay in Manchester and play a part in creating the scene(s) there rather than high-tailing it to London at the first chance for his own benefit. London will always be the centre of the arts industry, but the country thrives on the artistic diversity that comes from having healthy scenes elsewhere - long may that continue, but it requires people like Wilson with the energy and vitality to make it happen.
he may not have signed the smiths but he was right about mick hucknell, his music is shit and hes a ginger twat. rip tony, we'll miss you.
The week Tony subbed for you on Teatime was highly controversial indeed, mainly for a general contempt for the audience. I can't remember the exact eloquent, condescending phrase but he basically called me a moron on the air for an email I'd written in about The Darkness. But I must admit, as someone who could tell you the FAC numbers of every Joy Division and New Order album, it was kind of a thrill to be belittled by Tony Wilson. Friday was a sad day.
On the featurette for 24 Hour Party People, Peter Hook said there were a lot of inaccuracies, and that Wilson IIRC had been responsible for some of the fabrications, and that him and Coogan were a lot alike in real life - Implying a pretentious arrogance. My earliest recollection of Tony Wilson was on a programme called Job Bank, then from around the age of 10-11, it was Remote Control (when he was Anthony H Wilson and Phil Cornwell was his sidekick). I'm sure he was important, just never 'got' Happy Mondays, True Faith over Blue Monday for me, and that's all I have to say for the moment.
ML
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I believe I enjoyed what I heard of Tony Wilson's stint on Teatime, but then I didn't email him! He wasn't someone you could find dull and I certainly remember him being provoked by the Roundtable chatroom which was never a place to er, take seriously. I also remember him saying at the end of Roundtable that he'd really enjoyed the whole week.
A mention for The Other Side of Midnight which I thought of as an ultra cool Late Show and which brought me my first sighting of The Wedding Present - playing You Should Always Keep in Touch with Your Friends in the all-white studio. Anthony H Wilson's cool intro included the line, "and is calling your single 'Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?' really wise?" I always got the impression that he was enjoying himself immensely.
Simon: absolutely with you on The Other Side of Midnight, I loved it. It's probably some sort of imagined folk memory but I swear I saw The Stone Roses on it, and subsequently used rude words at Tracey McLoud when she was introducing them on The Late Show by implying that no-one has ever heard of them but they are going to be huge. No-one has heard of them in LONDON maybe Trace, but up here... Of course Ian Brown went on to use some rude words of his own once the power got cut. Ah. Happy Days.
Joyfeed, it was no folk memory:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=umwQG7fue84
I think it's hard to underestimate the importance of Tony Wilson in music and cultural history. I'm sure music would be very different today without him.
I always found it fascinating that to many he was known as a local news presenter on Granada, rather a musical impresario. There'll never be another like him, that's for sure.
carla: thanks, that's fantastic.
Given the AHW theme of this post, here is the same clip but with more of him at the start saying how he used to think they were crap, but that he was wrong and they are excellent.
And, here is the now infamous "Amateurs" Late Show appearance. It looks like it's been recorded directly off the telly with a super8, but it does have the introduction which caused me to turn the air blue.
Poor Tracey, but she does clearly say that this is their first live TV appearance, when I'm pretty sure OSM was also live, and predated it. Wasn't it? It certainly felt live, which was all part of its charm.
I hope this is ok. I don't want to be a hog. But as this is the Tony Wilson tribute post, and I've been spending a bit of time on YouTube this afternon, here are a couple of things that fans and/or interested parties might find interesting.
Interviewed by the man off the Krypton Factor last month about the NHS not funding his cancer drug.
And this looks like a documentary clip about So It Goes and Factory.
And another documentary segment related to the release of Substance. Contains Paul Morley.
That's enough. There are links to more, and days can go by if you're not careful.
(ps. word verification is "eddji" - yeah!)
One of the great mavericks, oddballs, and entertainers who gave us great music and was always keen, thankfully, to provoke as many people as possible. A smart and intelligent operator who understood very well the value of the platform he created, and didn't mind one bit taking the stick as long as he could champion the music and art he loved. Malcolm McLaren loved to talk the talk, but Tony Wilson achieved much more without seeking the credit he, unlike McLaren, so richly deserves. From an era when innovative labels from all over Britain churned out challenging, innovative, daft, exciting music, Factory is surely one of the best remembered. It is sad that his passing seems just to confirm how threadbare the music scene is now in comparison, and how little real character there is in an era of shoddy corporate homogenised mush. Tony, your wit and passion, not to mention your vivid contrarian presence, will be very sadly missed.
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