The Haçienda: How Not to Run a Club

The acclaimed and wildly outlandish inside account of Britain's most notorious club, The Haçienda—a story of gangsters, drugs, violence, and great beats

In the 1980s, The Haçienda was one of the most famous venues in the history of clubbing—a celebrated cultural icon alongside Studio 54, CBGB, and the Whiskey a Go Go—until its tragic demise.

Founded by New Order and Factory Records, The Haçienda hosted gigs by such legendary acts as the Smiths, Bauhaus, Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, Happy Mondays, and Stone Roses; gave birth to the "Madchester" scene; became the cathedral for acid house; and laid the tracks for rave culture and today's electronic dance music. But over the course of its near fifteen-year run, "Madchester" descended into "Gunchester" as gangs, drugs, greed, and a hostile police force decimated the dream.

New Order cofounder and bassist Peter Hook provides an up-close and visceral look at this cultural touchstone and it's rise and fall. The Haçienda is a funny, horrifying, and wild story of success, idealism, naïveté, and greed—of an incredible time and place that changed the face and sound of modern music.