Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club

Peter Hook was the bassist in two vital post-punk bands, Joy Division and New Order, as well as a co-owner of the Hacienda, a club in Manchester that for a brief period in the 1980s was the center of an influential rave/dance music scene that included the Happy Mondays, the Smiths, and many other bands. The club was astonishingly poorly managed, taken advantage of by virtually everyone (vendors, employees, patrons, bands, etc.), and was only able to survive through the profits from New Order and Joy Division record sales. (Ian Curtis’s estate very well may have a legal claim against Hook and others based on this account.) I especially like how Hook organizes his book — chronologically, with not just his candid memories of the club, but with annual P&L statements, the full year’s booking calendars, and useful other lists (descriptions of the NYC clubs that influenced the design of the Hacienda, the strengths/weaknesses of the various gangs of Manchester, etc.). Hacienda is basically The Dirt for the 1980s Manchester music scene.