Spike Magazine

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Interview [published May 2005]
Tony Wilson: Fourth Time Lucky
Craig Johnson hears the Factory Records supremo on the rebirth of his label,
the Joy Division film, and accidentally creating Frankie Goes To Hollywood
‘Wilson ya wanker!’ is a statement that has been
bandied around Northern England for 30 years now.
The Wilson in question, the original media facilitator
Anthony H. Wilson, is a self-proclaimed wanker, but
he don’t care. One of the most important record label
bosses to grace the history of rock’n’roll, his story has
been told on countless occasions. From regional television
news presenter where he sported a punk-green
streaked barnet , via his discovery of Joy Division, the
Hacienda nightclub, New Order through to acid house
and Happy Mondays, Wilson’s been a powerful catalyst
within many great pop-cultural moments in the last 25
years. He’s been part of a story that’s involved the birth
of post-punk, suicide, insanity, liquidation, narcotic
excess and converting football thugs to the rebellious
French thought of Situationism and dancing. By creating
Factory records on Palatine Road, Manchester in
the late 1970s, signing bands he saw and thought were
important to the progress of rock’n’roll, he’s always
promoted an unequalled passion and energy for music,
culture, the dynamic city of Manchester and British
youth culture. He may be a bit of a wanker, but he’s
BUY Tony Wilson books online from and
also played a part in changing modern music forever.
Way back in 1978 at the Russell Club in Moss Side,
Wilson organised a spectacle where Joy Division and
Cabaret Voltaire shaped the sound of post-punk. Ever
since he’s been a magnet for creative expression, with
a truly survivalist instinct, gusto and resolute desire to
find the next important thing. Fast forward nearly 30
years and a new band have been found with an even
newer sound of British hip-hop in the form of Raw-T.
Signed to the latest instalment of his mythical record
label Factory Records, now entitled F4, the Mancunian
collective have the element of danger and experimentation
that has always attracted Wilson. Listening to their
debut album one is confronted by deep digital shuffles,
slick raps that talk of a British urban way of life that is
sometimes tragic, always real and other times amusing.
The point is that Wilson has found another gem and he’s
not resting on the laurels of his glory years; the man of
passion is still searching and using his media clout to
highlight what he feels to be important to music and
life. Great rock and fucking roll kids!
Asking Tony Wilson a question is easy, extracting
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