EDM retrospective: The rise of Factory Records
Brits Alan Erasmus and the late great TV host Tony Wilson stumbled across a factory-for-sale sign somewhere in Manchester in 1978. Little did they know that the discovery would drastically and serendipitously change their lives. The said factory was to become one of the most iconic and influential venues for UK music in the 199os, says DJ James Haidak. It would also be the birthing place for a new electronic dance movement that would morph U.S. house music into techno and electronica. Rave culture essentially came out of the womb when Wilson and Erasmus decided to use the factory as the base for a record label, which they would quite literally name Factory Records. As more electronic bands from the Mad-chester scene began playing regularly at the factory, including The Happy Mondays, Durutti Column, and the infamous New Order, the place started transforming into an ‘80s EDM sanctuary. It was the place to be for anyone into the burgeoning dance scene of the era, adds James Ha...