The Man Behind The Manchester Sound | Martin Hannett
May 22 | Written By Jessica Pispisa
When one thinks of Manchester, many people associate many things with the city: Coronation Street, the football teams, the industrial factories from days long gone, Vimto, but most of all, its musical heritage. The musicians that came from this city and its surrounding boroughs have become innovators within their own genres while keeping their attitude and sound distinctly Mancunian, and no one was the living embodiment of this fact than the late, great music producer Martin Hannett. He was the producer behind two albums from two bands that went on to influence subcultures in their own city and beyond: Joy Division’s ‘Unknown Pleasures’ and Happy Mondays, ‘Bummed’ without having to go to London to produce such albums.
Born on May 31st 1948, Hannett was not the traditional musical prodigy. Growing up, he loved science fiction comics and chemistry – later graduating with a degree and having a fascination with finding out how things came together to either make chaos or magic. He would conduct science experiments at home and go to bus depots to follow his curiosity on such mechanics at a young age. Eventually, he fell in love with music, learned the bass guitar, and played in a couple of local bands while also being a roadie and organising gigs. Supposedly, he was one of the best bass players in the city at the time but being stage shy (he would play with his back to the audience), he found working behind the scenes more satisfying and a place to conduct his musical experiments uninterrupted. He also co-founded a record label, Rabid Records.
In 1979, after producing the Buzzcocks’ debut LP, ‘Spiral Scratch’, he was approached by fellow music enthusiast and television presenter Tony Wilson to produce another debut by an upcoming band comprised of Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Ian Curtis, who had just changed their name from Warsaw to Joy Division. Two weekends of recording at night and using strange techniques such as recording smashing glasses and aerosol can spray, he went to work on creating a sound that is as equally dizzying and refreshing (Disorder, Interzone, Shadowplay), and innately haunting (She’s Lost Control, New Dawn Fades, I Remember Nothing). ‘Unknown Pleasures’ was initially hated by the band, as they had wanted an album that honoured their live punk sound and energy, but ended up with one that was sort of a downer, pulsating with odd sound effects and spaces; it contained noises that resembled those that came out of the abandoned factories, and the aura of the constant grey cloudy skies.
Some may say he took advantage in manipulating the band’s music and expectations, but he helped create a sound that made them distinctive at the time when punk was on its last legs and new wave was emerging (in the years that followed, even Peter Hook acknowledged Hannett’s work on the album). Critics responded to Unknown Pleasures with mostly praise, and the band’s fanbase only grew with their gigs that retained their punk spirit. Hannett went on to produce the band’s second and final album, Closer, using the same technique – sadly exacerbated with his own growing drug use. Hannett was reportedly devastated by Ian Curtis’ suicide, and never fully recovered from it.
Hannett went to produce music with fellow Factory Records (he was the in-house producer) signees and beyond like The Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio, Pauline Murray, ESG, and providing backing music to John Cooper Clarke’s poetry with his own musical collective aptly named The Invisible Girls. His heroin habit grew out of control and finding himself loudly disattisfied with the direction the record company (focusing funds on the nightclub The Haçienda instead of studio equipment he needed), he left, stopped working and became a recluse.
In 1988, an exciting band called the Happy Mondays were about to enter the studio, and Factory director Alan Erasmus had the idea to bring in Hannett to produce their sophomore album. Obviously, on paper, the idea of Shaun Ryder and Martin Hannett working together made total creative sense, but recording the album proved to be a drug-fuelled crash everyone saw coming straight away. Hannett was off heroin but picked up booze at this time, and the band were on Ecstasy. In no time, the band encouraged Hannett to partake with them, and although he was using his hallmark unorthodox recording techniques again (like putting drums in a toilet), among the chaos, they managed to finish ‘Bummed’, an album that was going to be the soundtrack of the soon-to-be influential rave scene dubbed ‘Madchester’. With danceable sing-along tracks such as ‘Hallelujah’, ‘Wrote for Luck’ and ‘Rave On’, Hannett once again tapped into a band’s magic, combined it with his musical alchemy and vision, and set about a new sound to explode around Manchester and over.
Hannett continued to produce music on and off in the last years of his life, but his alcoholism made working with him even more of a challenge. He was a genius with a destructive streak inside the studio, and outside a kind soul struggling with personal demons. He died on April 18, 1991, a couple of days after being discharged from a hospital to treat a stubborn chest infection. He was 42.
In the film 24 Hour Party People, Steve Coogan’s Tony Wilson says that Martin Hannett (played by the brilliant Andy Serkis) was the “only bona fide genius” in the Factory Records story, and in a way, it’s true. Hannett filtered the sounds of Manchester using his natural musical instinct mixed with the deep curiosity and persistence he honed through his chemistry years to find the sound that matched closely to the one he could hear in his head (and always at the cost of a band’s patience). The music he had a hand in creating were very much products of his surroundings, which in turn made the city iconic.
Check out ‘Unknown Pleasures’ here.
Check out ‘Bummed’ here.
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