The Nuggets of Factory Records

[cosmic-hearse]

Factory Records was (is?) a tightly curated label that immediately projects a series of semiotic cues – post-industrial Manchester, the spectre of Situationism, nascent club culture, Peter Saville's (post)modern design, monochrome Anton Corbijn photos of Ian Curtis in a long coat, a splash of Ecstacy-fulled casual colour with The Happy Mondays– a city & culture in flux (it's no coincidence that the Factory 'brand' is used extensively in the 21st century redesign / gentrification of Manchester).

The late Tony Wilson (who, like his southern counterpart Geoff Travis, ended up a deeply Blairite figure) made great efforts to mould the label into a specific epochal vision (see his ridiculous theory that popular music stagnated / innovated in a 7-year cycle – a great theory if your Tony Wilson & it coincides with your label's key releases, not a great theory if you, say, ignore all black music).

This culminated in the very entertaining hagiography of 24-Hour Party People. One thing that struck me was the depiction of A Certain Ratio in the film; as post-Joy Division no-hopers that only sold 20 records but Factory backed because Wilson cared more about money than art (an enduring myth about the man (see the nonsense about them losing money on the Blue Monday 12") – I'm sure he was happy spending New Order royalties on Issey Miyake suits & Memphis Group furniture). But they weren't – by the indie standards of the day they were quite successful, releasing many singles & LPs (on Factory then a major), touring the world etc. Today their records get the box set treatment & still get respectable live audiences. If the film was less cavalier with the truth, that part of the film would have depicted Crispy Ambulance.

All of this is a long-winded way of looking at the less reified, less canonised, anomalous Factory releases, the ones that don't appear in BBC4 retrospectives or get painted on murals on the hoardings on Manchester's new 'creative quarter'.

Royal Family & The Poor:

This lot did sound a bit like Joy Division (Peter Hook produced a record), & although early records did the obligatory Situationist spiel, they soon became more esoteric & later records did the obligatory Aleister Crowley spiel.

Crawling Chaos:

The weirdest, most hated band on Factory? I know little about them other than that their demented psych punk sound a bit like The Butthole Surfers in places.

Marcel King:

How did an ex-member of Sweet Sensation end up on Factory? More pertinently, why was this not a top 10 chart smash? The greatest single song ever released by the label, & one of the greatest 'lost' songs of the 1980s.

The Distractions:

This was very in the label's history, when the label's identity was not clearly codified, but this very enjoyable one-off jangly powerpop 7" seems completely at odds with the Factory vibe.

And yes I know this wasn't released by Factory, but speaking of being at odds with the Factory vibe...

Much like that Scorpions LP with the nonce artwork, who thought this was a good idea? I know it was the era of swastika armbands & all that regrettable nonsense, but this picture is so awful that Skrewdriver would have rejected it for being too right wing. No amount of chat about detournement or bricolage can defend this (especially when the band's singer had an unhealthy interest in Nazi POWs). It was wisely removed upon reissue.

[The Culture Bunker]

How did an ex-member of Sweet Sensation end up on Factory? More pertinently, why was this not a top 10 chart smash? The greatest single song ever released by the label, & one of the greatest 'lost' songs of the 1980s.

Rob Gretton was an old soulboy, wasn't he? Perhaps the Donald Johnson (he co-produced it with Bernard Sumner) connection too. Shaun Ryder's favourite Factory single, I believe.

'Time Goes By So Slow' is also fantastic. I was sent a Distractions reunion album some years ago, and it wasn't much cop.

Wilson did say he enjoyed putting Crawling Chaos on as support for Joy Division because a) Gretton hated them and b) they'd take the piss out of Joy Division. Eventually, after this happened one too many times, Gretton headbutted Wilson and booted him in the bollocks as he fell to the floor. Well, that's one of Wilson's stories, at least.

[Deskbound Cunt]

And yes I know this wasn't released by Factory, but speaking of being at odds with the Factory vibe...

Much like that Scorpions LP with the nonce artwork, who thought this was a good idea? I know it was the era of swastika armbands & all that regrettable nonsense, but this picture is so awful that Skrewdriver would have rejected it for being too right wing. No amount of chat about detournement or bricolage can defend this (especially when the band's singer had an unhealthy interest in Nazi POWs). It was wisely removed upon reissue.

I love this cover. I used to go to Afflecks Palace as a teenager; in the record shop this was pinned to the wall behind the counter with the price tag £150. £150! Beyond my dreams.

_{I am not a Nazi}

[cosmic-hearse]

Just remembered the band Stockholm's Monsters, who stylistically had lad / football casual vibes atypical of the time - maybe a proto Happy Mondays glint in Tony Wilson's eye?

[cosmic-hearse]

I love this cover. I used to go to Afflecks Palace as a teenager; in the record shop this was pinned to the wall behind the counter with the price tag £150. £150! Beyond my dreams.

_{I am not a Nazi}

You could add a zero to that price today!

[Ike and Tina Tuna]

That Crawling Chaos song is absolutely fantastic. Like if Chrome had a one-off jam session with The Blue Orchids.

Worth the (very interesting all round) OP purely for that discovery.

[Funcrusher]

To Each by ACR is easily my most played Factory release, Flight most played single.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'm not sure 'tightly curated' is how I'd describe them tbh.

[jamiefairlie]

Saw them in Glasgow supporting NO in 83 and they were far the better band on the night.

[Kankurette]

The first one does have a Joy Division vibe. Similar bass sound.

[Gethin Grave]

Marcel King:
How did an ex-member of Sweet Sensation end up on Factory? More pertinently, why was this not a top 10 chart smash? The greatest single song ever released by the label, & one of the greatest 'lost' songs of the 1980s.

A large part of it was probably Factory's no-advertising/plugging stance. As great as that Marcel King single is it came out as a 12" in a plain sleeve with no video and probably no attempt to get it played on the radio. A similar fate happened with other potential hits. The Wake's "Talk About The Past" and Section 25's "Looking From a Hilltop" are two that spring to mind.

[Deskbound Cunt]

ACR's new tune is ace.

[Deskbound Cunt]

I know they're considered a joke but always had affection for this. Simple, to the point, so yea. 

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I was about to say if we're defending stuff from that place/era I quite like New Fast Automatic Daffodils. But it turns out they never put anything out on Factory. I think I confused myself because Martin Hannett did some production for them

[Eggy Mess]

Quando Quango - the band M People could have been. I've got a couple of 12s of theirs which I like a lot.

Love Tempo is up there just behind Marcel as one of the best Factory singles for my money - some of the vocals are maybe slightly weedy sounding, although that didn't stop the proto Chicago house heads et al digging it

[Eggy Mess]

Tingle and Atom Rock also low-key bangers

[dontpaintyourteeth]

52nd Street, Cool as Ice

[Eggy Mess]

Those Fac Dance comps that Strut put out about 10/15 years ago are pretty decent for this sort of stuff -

https://factorydance.bandcamp.com/album/fac-dance-factory-records-mixes-rarities-1980-1987

https://factorydance.bandcamp.com/album/fac-dance-02

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

Those Fac Dance comps that Strut put out about 10/15 years ago are pretty decent for this sort of stuff -

https://factorydance.bandcamp.com/album/fac-dance-factory-records-mixes-rarities-1980-1987

https://factorydance.bandcamp.com/album/fac-dance-02

I'm not sure they count as dance music but For Belgian Friends and Self Portrait by Durutti Column are fantastic - probably my two favourite things Factory released.

[Deskbound Cunt]

I was about to say if we're defending stuff from that place/era I quite like New Fast Automatic Daffodils. But it turns out they never put anything out on Factory. I think I confused myself because Martin Hannett did some production for them

New FADS were brill. I'm at the front of this gig. The days when I could mosh!

[M-CORP]

What about that time Factory (or at least F4 Records, Tony Wilson's fourth incarnation of Factory in the 00s) tried to capitalise on the hip hop / grime market?

AHW was also simultaneously ahead of and behind the curve with MP3s at the turn of the century, really fascinating story here:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/10/youve-been-smoking-too-much-the-chaos-of-tony-wilsons-digital-music-revolution

[another Mr. Lizard]

Abecedarians - 'Smiling Monarchs'. Bought this on 12" on release, still play it frequently to this day.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpvne78dQoU

[buzby]

And yes I know this wasn't released by Factory, but speaking of being at odds with the Factory vibe...

Much like that Scorpions LP with the nonce artwork, who thought this was a good idea? I know it was the era of swastika armbands & all that regrettable nonsense, but this picture is so awful that Skrewdriver would have rejected it for being too right wing. No amount of chat about detournement or bricolage can defend this (especially when the band's singer had an unhealthy interest in Nazi POWs). It was wisely removed upon reissue.

It was drawn by Sumner while he was working as a paint & trace artist on Jamie & The Magic Torch at Cosgrove-Hall.

Curtis' 'unhealthy with Nazi POWs' lasted for one song, Warsaw. It was written in early 1977, when Rudolf Hess was in the news for his second suicide attempt. Curtis and Sumner had been reading the 1974 book 'The Loneliest Man In The World' about Hess' incarceration at Spandau, which inspired the lyrics of Warsaw and is what led Sumner to infamously shout 'You all forgot about Rudolf Hess!' at the end of the song at the 02/10/77 gig for the last night of the Electric Circus, which was then included by Virgin (despite assurances it would be edited out) as the intro to their next song 'At A Later Date' on the Short Circuit EP.

Around the same period Sumner and Curtis were also reading the book House Of Dolls, which was quoted in the lyrics of No Love Lost and was the source of the band's new name at the beginning of 1978 (to avoid confusion with London punk band Warsaw Pakt, as they were starting to play gigs further afield).

To put the sleeve into context, here's the original sleeve for The Skids second album, released in 1979 (on Virgin, not some self release or indie label):

It was replaced when the album was rereleased the following year. Jobson also dwelled on the two world wars for some of his lyrics on the album (the title track of that album in particular caused a lot nazi accusations to be made about him by the press, and the drummer and bassist ended up leaving). They also called the mini-album included with their third album 'Strength Through Joy'. which seems a massive blunder after the controversy over their previous album.

[poodlefaker]

I love the third CD in the Factory Comms box set, you've got this amazing run of Marcel King, Section 25, Stockholm Monsters, "Tell Me" by Life, "Hymn From a Village" by James, "Tickery" by Kalima etc etc...all shambling about and very un-Factoryish, then the intro to "Freaky Dancin'" starts up and it just sounds like THE FUTURE!

[Vitamin C]

New FADS were brill. I'm at the front of this gig. The days when I could mosh!

Agreed. Big is such a tune. Wish I had seen them live, this gig looks great.

[ros vulgaris]

Curtis' 'unhealthy with Nazi POWs' lasted for one song, Warsaw. It was written in early 1977, when Rudolf Hess was in the news for his second suicide attempt.

It's personal conjecture but I've long thought that 'A Means to an End' is about Hess reminiscing about Hitler in Spandau.

[The Culture Bunker]

'They Walked in Line' could be read as about the Nazis awaiting their fate via Manchester's own Albert Pierrepoint.

[ros vulgaris]

I do really like 'Restrained in a Moment' by The Royal Family and The Poor

[Pranet]

I bought this at the time. Still have it.

[buzby]

'They Walked in Line' could be read as about the Nazis awaiting their fate via Manchester's own Albert Pierrepoint.

I think the lyrics are more about how military training dehumanises people to turn them into killers. It was a theme Ian revisted in a post-conflict viewpoint in the lyrics of Decades (which had the working title Cross Of Iron, after the 1977 Sam Peckinpah film - film titles being a regular source for JD and early NO song titles).

On the subject of the thread, the two singles released by Life in 1984-85:
Tell Me:

Optimism:

Better (B side to Optimism):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2rkWE8v5tU
Both were produced by Steve and Gillian (under New Order's Be Music collective moniker). After Optimism, Life disbanded with their keyboard player Andy Robinson returning to his day job as New Order's keyboard tech and road manager, later becoming their co-manager after Rob Gretton passed away.

Cath Carroll - Moves Like You:

This was Carroll's second and final single released from her 1991 debut solo album England Made Me. She was a perennial 'face' of the Manchester scene from the punk days, becoming co-editor of the City Fun fanzine with her friend Liz Naylor, and later a writer for the NME. She had previously been the singer with the band Miaow, who also had two singles released on Factory in 1987.

After Miaow split she started seeing Big Black's guitarist Santiago Durango and embarked on a solo career. Wilson obviously had 'a bit of a soft spot' for her (despite being constantly ridiculed by her and Naylor in City Fun) and signed her to Factory. She then spent 3 years on anf off recording her debut album around the world (Blackwing Studios in London, Fon in Sheffield, Cardan Studios in Sao Paulo and with Steve Albini in Chicago, having moved to live there with Durango) with Factory footing the bill.

The cost of the recording sessions is often cited as one of the things that contributed to Factory's bankruptcy, alongside the new HQ in Charles Street, Dry, The Hacienda, the disastrous recording sessions for Yes Please! and New Order's glacial pace recording Republic.