The man who brought us Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays etc died today.

http://www.nme.com/news/t...lson/30257

too young

Had a great night at the 02 and aftershow, was driving home to Manchester when I heard the sad news on the radio. To those not familiar with Wilson he was as musically & culturally important to Manchester as Prince is to Minneapolis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...ony_Wilson

Manchester has lost a truly great son. RIP Tone

This is very sad news.

The North West of England will be a poorer place without him.

A very sad loss indeed. Tony Wilson was a true maverick and a visionary. Without him we probably wouldn't have had Joy Division and New Order, or the Happy Mondays - three seminal British bands.

Unfortunately, like most mavericks and all visionaries, Tony had the business sense of a gnat, hence the collapse of Factory Records. It's a shame that the most abiding memory of him will be Steve Coogan's portrayal of him as a bumbling idiot in "24 Hours Party People".
[Edited 8/11/07 7:53am]

Oh no.

Shapeshifter said:

Yeah, he probaby lost more money than he earned but that was probably part of his charm. He initially got into the business through the sheer love of the music, most likely not thinking of any financial gain. I grew up with him on my local TV reports, later seeing him at gigs or holding court at the Gay Traitor Bar in the Hacienda. Manchester will not see his like again.

slaphead said:

RIP Tony! Without you we wouldn't have great music that came out of Manchester. I especially love that he signed one of my all time favorite funk bands, A Certain Ratio.

Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, the "And So It Goes" program that introduced the rest of England to Punk Rock, The Hacienda, etc. It all began with Tony Wilson.

pacey68 said:

Indeed. Not just Manchester, but the world matey. He is a great loss. How many record company bosses actually LOVE music and BELIEVE in their artists? Alan MacGee comes to mind, possibly Daniel Miller, but they're so few and far between.

Imagine if Tony wilson had been Prince's label boss ....?

The sad thing though is that Wilson's lack of financial acumen was what lead to the demise of New Order after Republic, and the collapse of one of the great British record labels too. Mind you, Tony Wilson was a committed socialist who really didn't care too much about money, so you're right there Pacey.
[Edited 8/13/07 7:26am]