24 Hour Party People, named after the Happy Mondays song of the same name, tells the story of Manchester’s popular music scene from the late seventies to the early nineties. It begins with the punk rock era and moves on to the “Madchester” scene (a music scene in Manchester out of which emerged a style of music that combined alternative rock, psychedelic rock, and dance music) which started in the eighties and then declined in the early nineties, and lastly the film moves to the birth of rave music in the nineties. The film centers on Tony Wilson(who consistently breaks the fourth wall by narrating the film to the audience), played by Steve Coogan, who gives a great performance, and the real Tony Wilson even has a brief appearance as a TV director. The real life Tony Wilson was a television personality, radio presenter, founder and manager of The Hacienda nightclub, and one of the co-founders of the record label Factory Records.
Wilson and his friends attend the first Sex Pistols concert in Manchester, a show that would inspire much of the crowd to become musicians. This included Wilson and his friends, who were inspired to create Factory Records, a record label that would bring Manchester’s music to the world. It became one of the most important labels in Rock music but also one of the least financially successful. Wilson genuinely loved the new style of music and was able to help out doomed bands by signing them to his record label. Interestingly, Wilson gave artists full control over their music, unusual for record producers, and Wilson never seemed to care about money. Notable bands that belonged to the label include Happy Mondays, Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio and Joy Division which would eventually become New Order(the band that wrote the hit song, Blue Monday) after the lead singer’s suicide. The company soon opens their nightclub, The Hacienda, which is associated with being the birthplace of Rave music. The club was primarily supported by New Order’s record sales (meaning the band profited little from their success) but suffered through financial troubles and security failures along with heavy drug use among the guests. The club managed to survive for fifteen years, but ultimately closed in 1997 due to its problems. The film then continues to follow Wilson through his and the company’s financial problems, and the growing rave culture. The film is entertaining, funny, and interesting, especially if you’re a fan of the music. Even if you don’t know bands like New Order and A Certain Ratio you’ll still be able to find the movie entertaining. Besides many of the actors looking absolutely nothing like their real life counterparts(Ian Curtis, for example),The film is quite historically accurate, it even captures the spirit of the times. Much of what you would think is exaggerated in the film is actually fairly understated and the portrayal of drug use is quite conservative compared to real life. However, even though the film presents real events it also adds in myths, rumors, and the writer’s imagination for comedic effect and entertainment value, but most of the story is true to the events that occurred.