Enjoyed this BBC4 program on the history of Factory with lots of interviews with Tony Wilson, Peter Saville, Vini Reilly, Shaun and Paul Ryder, Stephen Morris, Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner.
So many amusing anecdotes and quotes:
New Order insisted on playing live on TOTP and, unusually, ‘Blue Monday’ promptly fell down the charts thanks to their abysmal performance (Sumner’s appalling vocals).
Martin Hannett’s unconventional approach to production: ‘He used to piss the drummer off so he would hit the drums harder.’
Factory lost money on every single copy of ‘Blue Monday’ thanks to the prohibitive costs of the sleeve.
Peter Hook worked as crew at the Hacienda for 10 quid an hour and his wages were paid by New Order royalties.
The sandpaper sleeve for The Durutti Column’s ‘The Return of’ may have destroyed the adjacent records but many customers found the record itself was totally damaged.
A really weird, early photograph of Warsaw with Peter Hook attired in black leather complete with moustache and cap.
Happy Mondays being dispatched to a heroin free Barbados to record an album only to discover crack cocaine was freely available on the island.
‘Never did any drugs. A lot of people think he did because on some of the TV performances he looks like he’s on some sort of drugs because of his arms but he wasn’t on any drugs at all. That was just him losing himself in the music’ - Sumner on Curtis
‘The doctor says to him: ‘I want you to be quiet. I want you to take it easy. No late nights. No alcohol. No drugs. Oh what do you do by the way ?’ ‘Oh I’m a librarian. No I’m a singer in a post punk rock band.’ He didn’t really have much chance, did he ?’ - Hook on Curtis’ diagnosis with epilepsy