The Haçienda: How Not To Run A Club (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
i got this book to get some background on the manchester music scene before madchester (also because amazon thought it should be bundled with my other purchase, a bio of the stone roses. fuck advertising), which hooky certainly provided. to my delight, the book turned out to be a fucking insane read.a lot of the anecdotes are so nuts that they would be funny even if they had been written down by an apostle; add hooky's own brand of self-deprecating british humor and "the hacienda" becomes straight-up hilarious. one story about a german punk band who nearly destroyed the club with a jackhammer had me pissing myself. "the hacienda" has the same story arc as "trainspotting" and every other form of media that covers the path of addiction. it starts off light-hearted. there are super cool stories about the famous mancunian musicians of the 80s - morrissey, mark e. smith, shaun ryder, the legendary martin hannett.... the circles that hooky revolved/revolves in are truly amazing. but as the story delves into gunchester and the insurmountable debts the hacienda accrued, the pages get harder to turn. hooky's a decent writer/narrator. it must be hard to talk about the hacienda (how many millions did he lose? 20?), but he takes a fair share of the blame. he doesn't judge himself overly harshly, and he only comes off as a twat occasionally, which is probably inaccurate. some of the stories seem too unbelievable - how the hell does he remember all this shit, he was on all kinds of drugs - and i haven't read "24 hour party people" to cross-check his facts with tony wilson's. still, it's nice to be able to spend a night clubbing in manchester when you're an ocean away and 30 years in the future. Great insight into the legendary superclub and the crazyness that surrounded it from Hooky's point of view. Bad management, poor decisions and over spending meant the club always lost money, £20K a month was one figure mentioned. My favourite quote "we never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity". From the incredible highs of the late 80's, the 2nd summer of love, the birth of ecstasy and acid house, to some shocking accounts of the gang land violence that troubled the club in the 90's, it's all in here.
What do You think about The Haçienda: How Not To Run A Club (2009)?
Funny book. Some great anecdotes however becomes a bit repetitive from 1988 onwards!!
—Myrzzbk
Amazing true life story of excess, bad decisions and one if party. Fascinating read!
—Jal
Boring book that talks about drugs way too much!
—amaraljose93
