Popular Music of Manchester - The Sex Pistols at The Free Trade Hall and Punk Rock

The Sex Pistols At The Free Trade Hall and Punk Rock

On 4 June 1976, at the invitation of Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks, the Sex Pistols played at the Lesser Free Trade Hall. In an audience of less than 42 people, several key members of Manchester's future music scene were present: Tony Wilson (Granada Television presenter and creator of Factory Records), Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner (Joy Division and New Order), Morrissey (later to form The Smiths with Johnny Marr), producer Martin Hannett, Mark E Smith of The Fall, Paul Morley later to become an influential music journalist and Mick Hucknall of Simply Red. Another influential event was the release of Buzzcocks' Spiral Scratch EP in early 1977 – the first independent-label punk record.

In the wake of the Buzzcocks' release, the old movers and shakers from the Manchester music collective Music Force, who included producer Martin Hannett, Tosh Ryan and Lawrence Beadle, formed a local label called Rabid Records and started putting out singles by local acts like Slaughter & The Dogs (Rob Gretton later to manage Joy Division and New Order was their roadie/tour manager – all Wythenshawe lads), John Cooper Clarke and Ed Banger & The Nosebleeds (whose lineup included Vini Reilly) and they licensed "Jilted John" by Jilted John to EMI records. The timing of this record company coincided with Tony Wilson bringing the cream of both American and British punk and New Wave bands to the public on his acclaimed late night Granada Television show So It Goes. This meant that Manchester had televised the Sex Pistols long before they appeared on Thames Television with Bill Grundy (incidentally another Mancunian). Unlike other major cities, Manchester hosted The Sex Pistols Anarchy Tour twice at The Electric Circus; and it was these gigs more than the small Lesser Free Trade Hall gigs which really lit a fire under Manchester's assorted musicians and gave them that do-it-yourself philosophy which defined British punk.

When So It Goes concluded on Granada TV, Tony Wilson wanted to remain involved in the local music scene, so he started an event night at the old Russell Club in Hulme called The Factory along with his friends (soon to be business partners) Alan Erasmus and Alan Wise. Deeply Vale Festivals (1976–1979), just north of Manchester between Rochdale and Bury, was the first free festival in the country to introduce punk bands such as Durutti Column, The Fall and The Drones. The festival was compered by Tony Wilson as a favour to friend and organiser Chris Hewitt. Wilson had been taking a great interest in Rabid Records and its set up. After working on the research for a Granada TV feature about Rabid, he along with Alan Erasmus and Joy Division Manager Rob Gretton (the Ideal for Living EP had been distributed by Rabid) decided they would do their own version of Rabid Records, but instead of churning out singles and then licensing the album deals to major labels (Slaughter & The Dogs' debut appeared on Decca, John Cooper Clarke was licensed to CBS, and Jilted John to EMI), they would concentrate on albums. The first album following the Factory sampler EP (which included Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, and Od) was Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division, recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport.