Mr Manchester and the Factory Girl: The Story of Tony and Lindsay Wilson

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There are lots of great tunes on it; it’s amazing how many you remember. Nearly every song on there could have been a single if they wanted to. You interviewed the people who knew him such as his former wives; his former colleagues from the Granada Television, Factory Records and Hacienda eras; and his children. Was there a common thing that all of your interviewees brought up about Wilson for this book?

I think Mani would certainly do it, John would certainly do it, Reni would apparently do it, but Ian doesn’t want to do it. It’s not for musical reasons, it’s because he doesn’t get on with John anymore, because they haven’t spoken for a decade. Which is a very sad situation, because they grew up together – they became friends in their infancy, and they were absolutely entwined for so long. I think in a way the only way the Roses will ever reform is if that relationship is healed, in which case it would be the cherry on the cake of that relationship healing. But whether it can be healed, I really don’t know. The guy who managed the Hacienda, Howard Jones, was their manager briefly. I think most people in Manchester’s initial introduction to the Roses was when we saw their name graffitied all over the place. To the outside world it’s perceived as Zomba are a terrible label; a crappy contract trying to tie up a poor little band, and it’s not as simple as that. Basically you had a scenario where the band signed an initial deal which was very unfair towards the artist, but the reason for that was that Gareth would not spend the necessary money to get a proper music business lawyer to look over the contract, so he got his own building lawyer in. As he often said, he was born at the right time, to be at the right age when a lot of this happens. So there he is, 1968–he's 18, beginning university, absolutely head in the right place to be taking opportunity. He often said sometimes he wasn’t necessarily believing in the philosophy of Situationism, but he liked the slogans and the energy. He was a provocateur from a very early age. He loved debates at school, he loved arguing with you. Even if he agreed with you, he likes an argument, he'd like to drill down into something and find out whether it was of use to him. He was the first person in professional media that ever said that I was a writer. I've been thinking about this a lot, obviously with the book, is that whatever I do in my life, whether it's of interest to him or not, even now that he's not here anymore–I'm always thinking, “I wonder what Tony will think of this. I hope Tony's impressed .” During those periods when I really hated him, you still wanted to impress Tony Wilson. And that was the way he would get inside your head.Morley, Paul (13 August 2007). "Tony Wilson. Record label boss and broadcaster with twin passions: music and Manchester". The Guardian. London.

The title said it all. Expectations were high for the Roses’ follow-up album, and when it finally arrived on December 5th 1994, it fell in the wake of the Britpop wave that washed over Britain. Lead single ‘Love Spreads’ signalled the new direction the music was taking: chunky Zep riffs, gravelly blues, tribal rhythms… The naivité of their debut had given way for an assured yet often indulgent successor. Ultimately, the expectations were just too great a burden.Crook, Amanda (13 August 2007). " 'Wilson extraordinary' – Yvette". Manchester Evening News . Retrieved 15 August 2007. Everybody after the first album thought The Stone Roses was all to do with John Squire, and I used to go round to people and say, ‘nobody’s getting it’. This band wasn’t about John Squire; this band was to do with the chemistry of Ian Brown, Mani and Reni, and their taste just as much as it was about the brilliant guitar playing and guitar heroing of John Squire. Their interest in music was so diverse. He was compelling to watch when performing and you’d never imagine then that he could be shy. He was complex character, I’d say." Mani was a really warm, wonderful human being. Funny guy, he thought a lot about music, had a lot of opinions.