R.I.P TONY WILSON.

Well done for once to the BBC for putting on a decent programme dedicated to someone for a change, and that was shown on BBC4 (i think) last night.
That someone was TONY WILSON who although was most probably famous for his management of JOY DIVISION/NEW ORDER, THE HACIENDA, FACTORY RECORDS and the HAPPY MONDAYS was in fact more than just a 'manager'.
WILSON was a lot more than that and did as much for punk in the north than MALCOLM MCLAREN did in the south if not more, by presenting the bands as something other than cartoon characters, the two men were even sometimes unfairly compared and thought by some to be north-south counterparts.
But such a simplistic comparison was not fair to say the least, although both men were schooled in situationist politics, for MCLAREN it was just a means to an end and a good hook line for free publicity and a short implosion, where as with WILSON it was done for real through FACTORY. Although it wasn't all sweetness and happiness at the anarchist theory factory because the ('non-profit') money factory had earned through JOY DIVISION and others didn't actually belong to WILSON but he was a man who had a way about him that made you trust him to spend money that wasn't his by dazzling you with these great sounding ideas, resulting in some of the greatest spectacular failures in music ever, ones that will ever go down in musical history.
Of WILSON himself, he was the first person to put the SEX PISTOLS on TV and give them a chance, as well as waving the flag for punk whenever possible he also championed almost every other kind of band to come out of Manchester since 1976, what ever their style, and had contacts with bands as diverse as SLAUGHTER AND THE DOGS all the way to the other end of the musical spectrum with A CERTAIN RATIO, giving them all an equal chance.
And the funny thing is that among all this 'glorious anarchic' mess, the man still managed to keep his face on TV as a presenter of news and current affairs programmes through all the wild times and madness of his FACTORY 'job', the man was a pro.
It could be said that TONY WILSON took a look round him and saw himself surrounded by a city full of bursting creativity and he helped to give that music a focus and helped Manchester become the musical city it is today by giving it belief in its own ability, he wasn't alone but i think Manchester today or 25 years ago would be a different place without him.
the music world will be a bit of a duller place without him and his dry sarcastic humour (and his ego). TONY WILSON R.I.P.