The Hacienda; a building that drove Factory Records and New Order to bankruptcy, unified a city, started the rave movement, and launched the careers of Sasha, Laurent Garnier, Mike Pickering, and the Happy Mondays.

Tony Wilson wanted to create the magic of the New York clubs like the Paradise Garage and the Funhouse that he and New Order discovered on tour. This magical club started out like many other new clubs, lacking patrons. This didn't bother Wilson. The Hacienda opened in 1982 and it wasn't until 1986 that the club nights attracted a regular crowd. Actually it was mere luck that the club filled up on that fateful August night. It was on this particular August night that all the Manchester students had just learned of their A Level results and were bent on a crazed, ecstatic celebration in the city. Many of the students heading into the city center arrived at the Hacienda by default because of its convenient location but would stay and come back repeatedly because of a new style of dance music DJ Mike Pickering was playing.

This new style of music was Chicago house coming from the fires of disco's death. Disco died at the end of the seventies in every city except Chicago. DJs in Chicago like Frankie Knuckles were taking underground disco tracks like Peter Brown's "Do You Wanna Get Funky with Me" and Howard Johnson's "So Fine" and adding Roland 808 Drum Machines to fatten up the drum tracks. DJs like Knuckles, Jesse Saunders, Marshall Jefferson, and Farley "Jackmaster" Funk were using these new drum machines and samplers to create the new first Chicago house sounds. Tracks like "Love Can't Turn Around" by Funk and "Baby Wants To Ride" by Knuckles and Jamie Principle gave this new sound a voice, but it was Marshall Jefferson's "Move Your Body (House Music Anthem)" that convinced many bedroom producers that they could do better.

Eventually Manchester DJs started making their own tracks to play at the Hacienda. One of those tracks especially designed for the Hacienda was A Guy Called Gerald's(Gerald Simpson) "Voodoo Ray." This track had such a hollow booming sound that it echoed through out the Hacienda's big concrete walls. The Hacienda didn't always have the greatest sound because of the concrete walls but this track was designed for that room. Gerald had been a regular at the Hacienda since early 1984.

Along with new electronic music coming out there was also a new music scene going on in Manchester. Gone were the days of raincoats and Joy Division. New bands like the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays were combining 60s aesthetics and sound with this new dance production coming from Chicago. Not only were the new DJs (Pickering, Graeme Park, Dave Haslam, and Jon Da Silva) spinning house but they were also throwing in hip-hop and funk alongside remixes of these new dance-indie artists remixed by Paul Oakenfold and Andrew Weatherall.

By the July of 1988 there was a new night at the Hacienda on Wednesdays called "Hot." It put the beach experience of Ibiza in Manchester. There was a pool, the bouncers were also lifeguards, and there were tables with beach umbrellas. By this point the Hacienda was hosting a sell out crowd four nights a week.

By '89 the synergy of these bands, the DJs, and the Hacienda was exploding all over the city and the world. Madchester was in full force and E'd up. Being the center of all this excitement brought with it it's problems, though. By the winter of 1991 the club was voluntarily closed down due to the amount of violence inside and outside of the club. It was later reopened but none of the excitement and magic that was created in the late 80s returned and by the end of June 1997 the club was closed for good.

I don't believe any amount of nostalgia talk, feature films, or exorbitant number of Hacienda compilations can truly express the atmosphere that the Hacienda created. But it is a reminder of the power of night club culture.

For further reading check out: From Joy Division to New Order by Mick Middles and the Hacienda Must Be Built by Jon Savage.