Manchester Unspun: Pop, Property and Power in the Original Modern City: How a City Got High on Music

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It was an intensive, beer-driven, networking opportunity and one in which many of the architects present were unable to resist a few disparaging comments about OMA’s Factory International Building (everyone agreed not to call it the Aviva Arena) that loomed over us. Overall, Spinoza's memoir is very well written and he offers an antidote to the deficient journalism we have suffered over the popular music history of Manchester and its story as Britain's "second city".'

You've got to buy a copy of this book, it's a great read... It really embraces the Manchester we see out of our windows today. The stories in it are just fantastic.' The strength of the book is its immediacy. I think he also considers it a book not just about Mancunians but for them too. It is a love letter to his adopted city.' Many of us had scanned the index to see if we were mentioned. I am, twice, although both relate to the same blog. Of the two things that I could have been mentioned for; the Homes for Change Coop is only credited to Charlie Baker, and the Hulme Design Guide (which changed attitudes to design in the city and that I wrote with Charlie) is credited to Ian Simpson! Manchester unspun is an account from punk to the pandemic of how the 1982 opening of the Hacienda gave the kiss of life to a dying city centre, and of the chain reaction it began leading to today’s dynamic international city. It’s also a memoir of my experiences working with the famous personalities in music, football, business and politics who made Manchester the most headline grabbing city in the UK.” Andy Spinoza has lived in Manchester since 1979, as a student, entrepreneur, publisher, journalist, gossip columnist and PR supremo. He has met, interviewed, irritated and worked with just about anyone of note in the city in the last four decadesI had a similar experience as a result of an article in this publication. BD did a special feature on Manchester in the early 2000s interviewing various architects and other professionals like myself. I gave, what I thought at the time, was a pretty balanced account, lots of positives but also a few negatives. After establishing his own PR firm, he became involved in some of the city’s major building projects, and witnessed overblown design disasters such as the ill-conceived Urbis building play out at first-hand. In one of many memorable encounters recounted in the book, he is summarily dismissed by that quintessential modern Manchester man Gary Neville after a disagreement over PR strategy for a proposed luxury hotel. A sympathetic property consultant tells him: “Gary very much values the views of his consultants – as long as they agree with his own.”

Andy Spinoza has had a front row seat to the transformation of this city, and it really comes across in his magnificent book.' He was launching his book the Reluctant Engineer and other Manchester Stories but talked slightly too freely, managing to upset the city’s leadership.On returning to Manchester his practice found itself frozen out of work in the city. He would leave the practice not long after, and his fellow directors, Stephen O’Malley, Julian Broster and Paul Morris rebranded as Civic Engineers. Manchester unspun sorts the truth from the spin of the city’s stories to reveal a remarkable journey, describing the hubris, scandal, money and politics which played out during its remarkable reinvention. Enter Tony Wilson. Spinoza’s engaging thesis is that the quixotic cultural revolution led by the co-founder of Factory Records in the 1980s paved the way for an economic renaissance. The Factory aesthetic, channelling Manchester’s industrial past, pointed the way to a future in which spectacle and entertainment would constitute the new production line. The charismatic, recession-era gloom of Joy Division, the aura of the gang-infested Haçienda nightclub, and the blissed-out excesses of the “Madchester” era, gave the city a cumulative allure that council leaders Richard Leese and Howard Bernstein could monetise. Bookshop.org Manchester Unspun: Pop, Property and Power in the Original Modern City a book by Andy Spinoza. (bookshop.org)

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Last week I attended a 10th anniversary reception for Civic Engineers, a national engineering consultancy that started out in Manchester. The event was in a tent in the newly opened Festival Square, as part the Manchester International Festival. What a great read! At last someone who was there and knows, telling a fascinating story of a city's rebirth. Wonderfully written too. I couldn't put it down once I'd started.' My fellow interviewees had been more circumspect. When the article came out each of the positive points made by the other contributors was juxtaposed with a negative repost from myself. I still cringe when I think about that piece and the impact on my prospects for getting work in Manchester were as drastic as they were for Martin.