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Who Killed Martin Hannett?: The Story of Factory Records' Musical Magician
 
 
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Who Killed Martin Hannett?: The Story of Factory Records' Musical Magician (Paperback)

by Colin Sharp (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd (25 Jun 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1845131746
  • ISBN-13: 978-1845131746
  • Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 13.8 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 113,126 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review
"'The book on the magician is well overdue' Tony Wilson, Factory Records"

Product Description
Factory co-founder, tortured genius, Martin ?Zero? Hannett created the soundtrack of a generation. As the highest profile producer of his era, he produced the Manchester greats ? Buzzcocks, New Order, Joy Division, Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, to name but a few. His influence resounds in today?s top bands such as the Killers, the Kaiser Chiefs and Radiohead. Yet despite the extraordinary influence his production work and personality had on the seminal bands of the time, his life was as tragic and destructive as his work was innovative and creativity. Now Colin Sharp reassesses his friend?s life. Speaking to dozens of Martin?s friends, colleagues and family members, he asks: how did it all go so wrong for Martin? How did the shy, creative ?magician? end up a sad, overweight junkie humiliatingly pushed around in a shopping trolley for a music video before his early death in 1991? This original and fascinating biography ? the first on Hannett ? takes us on a journey into the heart and soul of a sonic genius.

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Isolation, 8 Jan 2008
By Mr. Denis A. Browne "Bigga D" (SW London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Its a pity this excellent memoir has been saddled with a rather misleading title, tho' I suspect its the doing of the publisher rather than the author. The story doesn't need "sexing up" with a bogus Kurt Cobain type mystery. The answer to the title of the book is very simple. Martin Hannett didn't look after himself, alienated anyone who might have helped him, & drank & drugged himself way past the point where he could handle it. The chapter which tries to recreate a version of his death is one of the few times the book doesn't ring true, with its over-symbolic cascade of Factory memorabilia falling on to the expiring Martin Hannett.

Colin Sharp (CS) was a close friend of Martin Hannett (MH) & this is the perspective the book is written from, not musical historian or Paul Morley-type theorizing. Sure, its easy to quibble abt how exactly conversations - let alone thoughts - can be recalled/recreated many years later. The main thing, tho', is that Colin Sharp was right there when these events went down & altho' some parts work better than others, the whole story feels very authentic, with well-drawn characters & perceptive evocation of detail. Scenes of MH living the high life or desperate winter drug searches are equally well told.

MH's reputation is based mostly on his earlier productions. When you listen to the Buzzcocks' "Boredom" - as I am right now - you feel like forgiving MH anything. Or listen to the development between the thrashy noise of early Warsaw/Joy Division & the extraordinary sounds on "Closer" & "Unknown Pleasures".

His relationship with Joy Division illustrates MH's glory days & the beginnings of his decline. When he was on top of things, he could live up to his view of himself as a kind of punk Phil Spector - but this could easily tip over into abrasive arrogance. MH's description of Joy Division as "1 genius & 3 Manchester United supporters" had me laughing out loud, but its hardly the stuff of ongoing creative relationships. Indeed, Peter Hook & Bernard Sumner are morose & grudging in what recognition they are prepared to give MH, feeling that he was increasingly (& deliberately) more difficult to work with as Factory's sales & reputation grew. You can be a crazed genius as long as the hits are coming in, but its a hard act to sustain.

Just as New Order lament to this day to anyone who'll listen abt how all their hard work & hard cash were swallowed up by the bottomless pit of the Hacienda, so MH became disillusioned with the path Factory took. having been 1 of the founders of the label with Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus & Peter Saville, MH felt (not unreasonably) that there should be ongoing investments in studios & recording equipment (MH might have been out of it most of the time, but never lost his obsession for cutting edge audio hardware), and never bought into Tony Wilson's grand vision. This led to further personal & professional isolation, & ultimately MH's freefall years.

Increasingly the drugs that had been MH's inspiration (mainly smack & speed) became an ever-increasing handicap, demanding a gramme of coke before he'd even consider starting a session. He was drinking way too much too. Originally drugs had freed & inspired him to explore the limits of sound, imagination & equipment. The success of these efforts seemed to validate him. But its a subtle & dangerous line to cross- great work has been done while wrecked, but when MH (or anyone else) starts to go on from that point to believing that he can't work unless he's out of it, or even more out of it ... it does indeed lead to "A Lonely Place".
Colin Sharp starts out sharing MH's habits & enthusiasms, but where MH felt it was too late to stop (& probably didn't want to, anyway), he quietly lets his own story unfold in the background. There's an excellent chapter on his audition/recording with Durutti Column, where you can practically taste the sulphate backdrop. CS survives a nightmare drugbuddy 1st marriage, moves from music to acting, and survives to recount a well-told & perceptive story.

Like 1 of the other reviewers, I'm not too sure abt CS' claims for MH's ongoing influence & significance. Sure, everyone wants to name-drop Joy Division now(the Killers?!) & "Control" will add to the process - and of course, MH did specialize in the loud/quiet, fast/slow dynamics so beloved of the grunge scene. Equally, he was unable to adapt to the seismic shifts of the music scene in the late 80's, & ended up in nightmarish dead-ends like trying to produce the Only Ones or Nico. But listening to the material of his that MH himself liked best, such as John Cooper Clarke/Invisible Girls, its more evocative of a very particular time, place & space - and I think thats the best way to remember him: the man who made the Factory sound.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Timely Biog of a Manc Musical Magician, 23 Sep 2007
By E. M. Cusack (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I was looking forward to reading this and once in my hands I read it very swiftly. I thoroughly enjoyed it and well as being moved by it. I liked the two narrative voices: past and present. The two were needed in order to distance the author from his past but by having them Colin Sharp made the past come alive.

Sharp captures the times he writes about well: the sounds the looks and the smells. The descriptions of heroin use were so graphic and reminded me of Trainspotting. As with Welsh's classic, I wanted to look away from some of the descriptions but I couldn't stop myself from reading on.

Colin Sharp is a historian of punk, new wave as well as of Manchester. The story needed to be written and those involved should be pleased it's been written in such a human way. The author abviously cared about Martin and it comes through in his writing.
To be read before or after you watch the film "Control".
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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars The magician's story STILL needs to be told, 30 Jul 2007
By Remy FV (London, England) - See all my reviews
Being a fan of all things factory, I was most excited to find out that finally, someone had written a book about the legend that was Martin Hannett.

It's a shame however, that the task was undertaken by Colin Sharp.

Through out `Who Killed Martin Hannett', Sharp's tone is uncertain, clichéd and occasionally factually incorrect. Overall, its' tone is one of a man at the bar saying `Martin Hannett, I was there you know'

And true, Sharp was there. Right on the end of the pioneering producers comments as lead singer with an early incarnation of Durutti Column and right on the end of a ten pound note chasing heroin with him. A friendship evolved, as recounted by this book. But unfortunately, there's too much concentration on personal opiate adventures that it occasionally feels like you're reading trainspotting.

A shame, because Sharp's mixture of factual recounting and storytelling is an interesting one. The problem lies in that there are already too many stories about Martin Hannett and this book does little to clarify if any of them are true or not. Aside from personal recollections, there is too much `We can probably imagine' and `it probably went like this' after a chapter or two for me to take any of the book's regaling with any degree of belief.

There are a few quotes here and there from people who professionally crossed Martin Hannett's path over the years, but not enough to explain what made Hannett the groundbreaking producer he was. Some more in depth interviews with the bands, the studio personnel and record company execs would have helped this book immensely; if this has been carried out, it's been red penned for the final copy. Additionally, I'm uncertain of some of the arguments such as `Nirvana...Stone Temple Pilots...all of whom acknowledge a debt to the Martin Hannett produced sound of Joy Division', leaving me asking myself `why' as there's nothing so far or forthcoming to suggest this.

I emerge feeling I know a little more, but mainly, know little more about Martin Hannett, in addition to what's already been written about him in the various books on factory, Joy Division and post punk. As Tony Wilson's quote on the back cover says, `The book on the magician is well overdue'. Unfortunately, it still is.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Hip snorting yarn; heroin and muffins.
I read` Who killed Martin Hannet` by Colin Sharp in one sitting. It is indeed a hip snorting yarn. I am not one to pore over the music press. Read more
Published 18 months ago by P. A. Miskin

4.0 out of 5 stars Fear and Loathing in Mancester
A seething post-modern love poem of a biography, enamoured as much with the time, the groove, the drugs and the vibe, as it is with Martin Hannett. Read more
Published on 6 Jul 2007 by C. Davies-Frayne

4.0 out of 5 stars At last - a book on one of the greatest music producers
As a devoted Zerophile, it is immensely gratifying that Martin Hannett, whose unique productions peaked with Joy Division, finally has his story told over a whole book. Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2007 by Mr. P. Murphy

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