Originally conceived, founded and financed in 1980 by Factory Records and New Order through a deal steered by Rob Gretton, the manager of the by then disbanded Joy Division, The Haçienda first opened its doors on May 21st 1982 sporting a Factory Records catalogue number of Fac 51, a pioneering interior designed by architect Ben Kelly, graphics by Peter Saville and featured Bernard Manning as the opening night act.

Not surprising then that all of these forces combined turning The Haçienda into where is widely recognised as the birthplace of Acid House and responsible for shaping the face of UK club culture as it has since been known.

Through a chain of events that no one could have imagined, the ex-boat showroom on Whitworth Street, Manchester that became The Haçienda and the scene it gave birth to, went on to have one of the biggest impacts on youth culture since the punk movement and is one that is still reverberating today. Through the combination of legendary nights such as Hot, Nude, Flesh and Temperance Club with DJ's Mike Pickering, Graeme Park, Jon da Silva, Tom Wainwright and Dave Haslam, clubbing had changed from simply a night out to an intense experience.

It was the heady mixture of new music, new ideas, cutting edge design and even new designer drugs that pushed the venue into overdrive long before the days of Ministry Of Sound, Cream, Renaissance, Gatecrasher and Godskitchen had even thought about opening their doors and inspired DJ's from Sasha to The Chemical Brothers to Laurent Garnier. The Haçienda shone like a beacon rewriting the rulebook of what a clubbing experience was all about and inspired hundreds of thousands.

I have so many special memories from those days, the way the DJ's would select the tunes especially for the club, I remember Sasha's first set, the atmosphere was electric and he played the best set of his life, the music was perfect as was the crowd, when we left you just knew you'd been a spectator of something very special indeed'

- Peter Hook

Peter Hook '...OUR KIDS WILL NEVER BE WILDER THAN US...'


Like two brothers bonded by love, singer / musician Peter Hook and Manchester, England's culture shifting nightclub The Haçienda were once inseparable. Millions passed through The Haçienda doors, millions more know of its history via the film '24 Hour Party People,' but Hooky - alongside Haç cofounders Rob Gretton, Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus, and the rest of Hook's band, New Order - poured his fortunes, hopes and psyche into it for literally years on end until financial debt, street crime and hard drugs shuttered the club in 1996. 'The weird thing about the Haçienda is that it's actually got a lot of painful memories, as well as a lot of great memories' Hook says. 'It's also got a lot of no memory.'

This collection is equally for those who do remember, can't remember, or never had a chance to experience the venue firsthand. The tracks are personally selected by Hook himself. 'Because I've been djing,' he explained, 'I was asked to do a Haçienda Classics night in Manchester. I thought, 'I'll do that! Right, that'll be great.' I sat down and I thought to myself, 'What is a Haçienda classic?' I realised that I didn't bleeding know. After going constantly, over and over again, for eight years, I had not much memory of any of the music because I was off of my head. It was quite funny because I had to get on the phone with (FM radio disc jockey) Phil Beckett, and he helped me get a load of material together. Once I started listening to it, I realised that I knew a lot of the music, I just didn't get the CONNECTION with the Haçienda STRAIGHT AWAY. After that, the idea to do the CD collection was properly born.

'It's the golden period of the Haçienda that everybody remembers as being such a fantastic time in their lives. Maybe that's because a lot of them have settled down now. They remember the wildness, sowing their wild oats, going for it when the whole world was in front of them. There were a lot of rays of sunshine around that period. It's like the birth of punk, isn't it, the way everybody wanted to be at 'that' Sex Pistols gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall (in Manchester)? It's the same sort of feeling as that. You always feel you've got one up on everybody who didn't go.

'Every generation we've had has always been wilder than the last. We like to think so, don't we ? We like to think that we're wilder than our parents: 'We've done it all, we've been everywhere, man,' all that lot. I was thinking that with all of the goings on at the Haçienda, our kids could never be wilder. Our kids will never be wilder than us.' ...Welcome to the Haçienda.

Interview By: CLAUDE FLOWERS Tampa, Florida February 2006

Peter Hook Thanks: in no particular order Rebecca Hook, Phil Beckett, Rebecca Boulton, Lesley GILBERT, Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus, Peter Saville, Ben Kelly, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, Gillian Morris, Tom & Tim @ Newstate, Paul Brown, Andy Robinson, Jon Da Silva, Graeme Park, Mike Pickering, Ginger, Paul & Karen Mason, Ang Matthews, Susanne, All The Doormen, Bar Staff and Office Staff etc, The Hot Dog Seller, Fred The Cellar Man, Anton Rozak, Ged Creeley, Paul Cons, Paul Chadwick, Little John, Mark & Jonathan (Lights), Jon Drape, Leroy, Steve Page, Nick The DJ, Laurent Garnier, John McCready, Tom Wainwright, Buckley, Dave Rofe, Steve Williams, Nipper, Bobby Langley, Cass, Jeff The Chef, Twinny, Fonzo Buller and any & many others I've forgotten. All the people of Salford and Manchester

who supported us... and then came the world!

Phil Beckett

Inspired by the first time I walked through those 'cold room' abattoir plastic curtains and went from being a Queue'r to a Do'er. Straight upstairs for a quick Purdeys with a panoramic view of proceedings to get things going. Then just a nod here and there in recognition of the atmosphere and an abrupt flight downward to the Gay Traitor for that Mexican salt and lemon surprise that makes the population of the room multiply threefold as if by magic. Tune recognition becomes the thing; ears hearing conversations, legs hearing 100Hz Bass, breaking away, upstairs to the dance-floor. Ground level now and the unmistakable fump of the 808 filtered through 500 sweat drenched bodies. Becoming one in a fug. Fug is the drug. Forever it seems. Then' Fresh Air... TAXI for Beckett.

Text and pics from booklet etc

The Haçienda' Trade Mark licensed courtesy of Peter Hook and Lesley Gilbert

Dedicated to The Memory Of Rob Gretton

15.1.53 -15.5.99

Rest In Peace Ian Curtis & Martin Hannett