Factory records: overrated toss?

Is it just me or is it time the Factory fetish wore off? Bunch of slick images and smug posturing, in my opinion. New Order and Joy Division were the only two bands on Factory that really break through all the dross. And don't get me started on the Crappy Mondays. For all their hype, there are other independent labels that were putting out FAR better music in the same time period. Need I mention 4AD (Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Clan of Xymox, Pixies, The Birthday Party, Bauhaus)?

Factory is bullshit.

Stockholm Monsters were great

yeah 4AD probably had more talented bands.Fogot about Clan Of Xymox, they were quite good.Loved their first album back in the day

I completely agree with you. I always thought the Mondays were very overrated. The problem I find with a lot of Factory's other bands are the extremely poor vocals. The instrumentation isn't always bad - they did have Vini Reiley signed to their label - but no one sings decent and it's really hard to listen to them. Also, they must have been really tone deaf to not sign the Smiths but to sign the Mondays.

The Smiths didn't sign to them as a reaction to the whole scene

Johnny "Two Sheds" Jackson wrote: The Smiths didn't sign to them as a reaction to the whole scene

I thought it was Factory who refused to sign the Smiths.

Is it just me or is it time the Factory fetish wore off

Have to agree, makes me chortle that some people think every band on the label were great.I mean the WAKE for fcuks sake and the Stockholm Monsters ( is it true they chose their name after realising their keyboard player was a scarey monster ?).

To Hell With Burgundy The Adventure Babies The Wendys

agreed a lot of crap bands. but they did have great sleeves.

agreed a lot of crap bands. but they did have great sleeves.

I never noticed what they were wearing, apart from Barney, who inspired my whole Wardrobe !

Digital Flying Binoche Teapot wrote:

agreed a lot of crap bands. but they did have great sleeves.

I never noticed what they were wearing, apart from Barney, who inspired my whole Wardrobe !

same here.

ACR?

Mondays before the last album? Bummed must go down as one of the best things factory did- certainly not overrate

Get the message was released on Factory too - so Electronic?

Railway Children

• nice tunes

To each his own, I suppose - agree that a lot of what Factory released was overrated, but there is some good stuff in there as well - Wilson's loyalty to and belief in the Durutti Column excuses a lot of what he did otherwise for me... They (or Vini) were and are still ace... I always had a soft spot for the Stockholm Monsters - although the vocals are a bit dubious... The Wae's post-Factory output on Sarah Records is very good - especially the two singles (Crush The Flowers/Major John) - there are even a few songs slagging off Wilson/Factory on their two Sarah albums... ACR - overrated or underrated? Side 1 of The Graveyard & The Ballroom still blows me away...

Snorri xxx

Get the message was released on Factory too - so Electronic?

Overated toss

Agreed on some points. I always loved Factory for Joy Divisionand NewOrder that is pure CLASS, period. The Durutti column and a certain ratio for as well. A pity for quite the rest. But i like dear old Tony.

RAVEANE DIDIER wrote: Agreed on some points. I always loved Factory for Joy Divisionand NewOrder that is pure CLASS, period. The Durutti column and a certain ratio for as well. A pity for quite the rest. But i like dear old Tony.

thats basically what i was going to say

Overrated toss? Not half as much tosh as some of the views expressed in this thread!

Yes, Factory did have some dodgy releases, but the whole Factory BS was initiated by AHW, don't blame the bands!

I could sit here for hours listing the quality music which came out of the label (especially between 79 & 84) but I'd guess many of you are much too young to remember or even care.

Maybe some of you should spend the holiday weekend investigating the finer musical qualities of some of the bands slandered in this thread, rather than pointless muses in a forum over "New Order Cups", unreleased NO remixes or the total BS in this thread!

If you don't know where to start, try 'Something Outside' 12" by The Wake, 'Alma Mater' LP by the Stockholm Monsters anything by The Durutti Column or 'From The Hip' by Section 25.

It's about time some NOOL'ers considered the quality of their posts in this forum, rather than the quantity of them.

Oh, BTW, none of the bands listed in my post never had to use auto-cue when performing live.

Cooperman wrote: Overrated toss? Not half as much tosh as some of the views expressed in this thread!

Yes, Factory did have some dodgy releases, but the whole Factory BS was initiated by AHW, don't blame the bands!

I could sit here for hours listing the quality music which came out of the label (especially between 79 & 84) but I'd guess many of you are much too young to remember or even care.

Maybe some of you should spend the holiday weekend investigating the finer musical qualities of some of the bands slandered in this thread, rather than pointless muses in a forum over "New Order Cups", unreleased NO remixes or the total BS in this thread!

If you don't know where to start, try 'Something Outside' 12" by The Wake, 'Alma Mater' LP by the Stockholm Monsters anything by The Durutti Column or 'From The Hip' by Section 25.

It's about time some NOOL'ers considered the quality of their posts in this forum, rather than the quantity of them.

Oh, BTW, none of the bands listed in my post never had to use auto-cue when performing live.

yeh we won't blame the bands for being crap. we'll just blame wilson.

new order were better without the autocue.

Pehaps if The Smiths and Oasis had signed to Factory them just maybe...........

No fook that wilson & co would have still fucked it up.

Cooperman wrote: Overrated toss? Not half as much tosh as some of the views expressed in this thread!

Yes, Factory did have some dodgy releases, but the whole Factory BS was initiated by AHW, don't blame the bands!

I could sit here for hours listing the quality music which came out of the label (especially between 79 & 84) but I'd guess many of you are much too young to remember or even care.

Maybe some of you should spend the holiday weekend investigating the finer musical qualities of some of the bands slandered in this thread, rather than pointless muses in a forum over "New Order Cups", unreleased NO remixes or the total BS in this thread!

If you don't know where to start, try 'Something Outside' 12" by The Wake, 'Alma Mater' LP by the Stockholm Monsters anything by The Durutti Column or 'From The Hip' by Section 25.

It's about time some NOOL'ers considered the quality of their posts in this forum, rather than the quantity of them.

Oh, BTW, none of the bands listed in my post never had to use auto-cue when performing live.

I occasionally still do listen to some old factory tracks, but I can't bring myself to listen to things like whole lp's by quando quango and kalima! anymore. The first 2 mondays' lps, some sporadic cabaret voltaire and some stockholm monsters, but that aside there are some poor and pretentious tracks on the palatine box set for example, which was afair representation I thought..

I think the argument is - as with most 'cult' labels - that not everything released is good just because it's on that label... I am a big fan of Sarah records but a lot of the bands who released stuff there are no better than other bands on less fashionable labels - indeed many of them I only own stuff by them on Sarah and probably wouldn't buy stuff by them on other labels... From a completists point of view I like the fact that I have most of the stuff Sarah released, but I don't pretend that it's all good simply because of that fact... I bought plenty of stuff when I was younger purely because it was on Factory -m some of it is good, some is pretty bad and has since been disposed of, but that's just my opinion... I wouldn't criticise anyone for having a soft spot for a Crispy Ambulance album... Off to vote in the NO Cup!

Snorri xxx

Al Jarvis wrote:

Cooperman wrote: Oh, BTW, none of the bands listed in my post never had to use auto-cue when performing live.

You complain about the quality of people's posts then sign-off with a (supposed) jibe?

Think you'll find New Order didn't require an autocue till about 1998. Whilst I know Section 25 are doing a one-off gig very soon, perhaps you'd care to remind the kids the last year either them or the Monsters performed a live gig?

NO were mentioned weren't they? :)

Snorri xxx

Cooperman wrote:

I could sit here for hours listing the quality music which came out of the label (especially between 79 & 84) but I'd guess many of you are much too young to remember or even care.

If you don't know where to start, try 'Something Outside' 12" by The Wake, 'Alma Mater' LP by the Stockholm Monsters anything by The Durutti Column or 'From The Hip' by Section 25.

You sound like a 1980's NME hack!

I dont agree with 'anything' by DC but I'll give you LC, and the other three you quote are first rate. But how many of the FAC catalogue are musical releases (excluding JD/NO)? 150? 200? That's not much of a pass rate then is it?! I dont play Palatine too often, if I can put it that way...

Cooperman wrote: Overrated toss? Not half as much tosh as some of the views expressed in this thread!

Yes, Factory did have some dodgy releases, but the whole Factory BS was initiated by AHW, don't blame the bands!

I could sit here for hours listing the quality music which came out of the label (especially between 79 & 84) but I'd guess many of you are much too young to remember or even care.

Maybe some of you should spend the holiday weekend investigating the finer musical qualities of some of the bands slandered in this thread, rather than pointless muses in a forum over "New Order Cups", unreleased NO remixes or the total BS in this thread!

If you don't know where to start, try 'Something Outside' 12" by The Wake, 'Alma Mater' LP by the Stockholm Monsters anything by The Durutti Column or 'From The Hip' by Section 25.

It's about time some NOOL'ers considered the quality of their posts in this forum, rather than the quantity of them.

Oh, BTW, none of the bands listed in my post never had to use auto-cue when performing live.

I salute you 2 post Cooperman as you've saved me a lot of typing. Too many of the writers of the cack filling this forum like raw sewage drop their pants to crack one off if you mention Depeche Mode or Duran Duran, New Order cups my arse. I would also suggest most bands on 4AD couldn't hold a candle to the Factory stuff.

While Factory (along with other cult labels from the 80s - Mute, Rough Trade, 4AD, Creation, etc.) will always get over-praised and like each of the afforementioned labels released their own stinkers (see To Hell With Burgundy), I would tend to say that Factory had some landmark releases outside of the Joy Division/New Order crew:

Section 25 - Looking From a Hilltop: predated acid house by four years (nice sequencing job Barney!). Still a relevant song today.

ESG - You're No Good: no-disco at it's best, sampled by everyone and their mother, a Larry Levan classic!

A Certain Ratio - Do the Du, early works: though they eventually fizzled in my opinion, their early works are seminal at best. See The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem.

The Durutti Column: what else can I say, Vini is a genius. See Vincent Gallo's "When" LP to see his influence.

Happy Mondays: Sorry, but the Mondays deserve some cred. They were the first to integrate the acid house vibe into rock music. They worked with Oakenfold, Osborne, and Weatherall before they were cool - well before folks like Primal Scream clued onto this and ran with it.

Records by Cath Carroll (her album still stands up today), Quando Quango, The Wake, and Marcel King were also superb. Not to mention the fact that they launched the careers of James and OMD. They also supported folks like Cabaret Voltaire.

Because of this, I can forgive them for To Hell With Burgundy and mediocre acts like Adventure Babies and Northside.

Ive got the Palatine box set. the only good tracks are the Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays tracks. The rest is complete shite.

Let me also add that the original roster of 4AD was directly influenced by Factory. And though I love 4AD, they took the original "gothic" sound (I use the term loosely) of Joy Division, the Crispies, etc. to a predictable "we're trying too hard" extreme, while Factory pulled it off with an "I don't care" coolness.