Sonic Editions

Pop impresario and proud northerner Tony Wilson, was the king of the Manchester music scene until his premature death in 2007. Today he's remembered as a hell of a bloke with an extraordinary list of talents and endeavours that changed popular culture.

His career took off with a band as a firebrand TV presenter and his very own music show So It Goes, seeing legendary performances from the likes of Iggy Pop, the Sex Pistols and The Clash - whose colourful language and performances provoked ITV bosses to cancel Wilson's slot. It was not this that drafted Wilson into history, however. It was the legendary label Factory Records, the infamous Manchester club The Hacienda and his indomitable spirit that chartered his city as a cultural force to be reckoned with. Factory played an inconceivable part in the Madchester scene. It's this label we have to thank for the likes of Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays. With honest 50/50 deals, Factory was revolutionary at a time when artists were expected to surrender control as a matter of course. Tony famously once said 'Some people make money, other people make history' - the rise and fall of the label made for such a wild story that it was turned into a film, 2002's 24 Hour Party People.