BBC Local Radio, BBC Asian Network and The British Plaque Trust have announced 47 new Blue Plaques commemorating people or places that have influenced the musical landscape across the country and the iconic Factory Records is one of those on the receiving end.
The iconic independent record label that had a huge cultural impact on the British music scene in the eighties and nineties will get a blue plaque, that will go outside the company’s former headquarters in Palatine Road, West Didsbury.
The plaque will be unveiled on BBC Music Day on Thursday 15th June by Peter Saville, designer many of Factory Records’ distinctive album sleeves. Shaun Ryder, Bez, Rowetta and Mark Day from the Happy Mondays and former Hacienda DJs Graeme Park and Dave Haslam will also attend the ceremony.
Factory Records was started in 1979 by Alan Erasmus and Tony Wilson and operated from Erasmus’s then home in Palentine Avenue. The first Factory LP – Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures – was released in that year. Other iconic acts represented by the label included New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays and James. Factory Records also opened a nightclub, The Hacienda, which became a major hub for Manchester’s, or ‘Madchester’s’ acid house and rave scene during the eighties and nineties.
You can follow the unveilings live #LocalMusicLegends
