Tony Wilson, godfather of Manchester culture from the late 70s onwards, died this evening. It feels like another part of my youth just died.

I always thought that in some ways [the Haçienda] was Factory paying royalties to the city. You don’t get a group like Joy Division… great pop music comes out of cultures, there’s always a culture behind it… and we were repaying some of those royalties, by building it for the city. It’s been there, feeding in all the time.
It was a great place for Morrissey to come and throw gladioli around that first time around. It’s been part of the health of Manchester throughout. There’s no doubt that… the drummer and bass player of the Happy Mondays, who adapted the dance rhythms of black America of the 80s, to British pop music — that happened because there was a place in Manchester called the Haçienda where they could go and listen and dance to this music.
Tony Wilson interview, 1992

Sleep well, Tony. It really wouldn’t have been the same without you.

BBC obituary, Wikipedia

AND ANOTHER THING (next day): Seeing Tony called a “mogul” is about the only thing that made me smile all day. Moguls do what they do to make money. Tony made history…