The Low Culture Essay: Audrey Golden on lost Factory film The Mad Fuckers

Audrey Golden, author of a new book about the women of Factory Records, tells us the story behind one of the label's great works that never quite happened, a 1980s car chase film that could have been the UK's Pretty In Pink, and inadvertently gave the world the term Madchester. Plus! An exclusive playlist of the imaginary soundtrack.

The Mad Fuckers Ad, courtesy of Chris Mathan

Ever wondered where the term “MADCHESTER” came from? Would you believe me if I told you it arose out of a lost Factory Records film that nearly featured a Durutti Column-heavy soundtrack with Gabriel Byrne in the starring role? Well, it’s true. The piece of Factory celluloid arcana in question is The Mad Fuckers. Most sources say Tony Wilson coined the (in)famous city branding, but it actually started as a glorious cinematic mistake. Described as a “youth exploitation” film, The Mad Fuckers is one of the mythical Factory Records ideas that never really happened, like Linder Sterling’s Menstrual Egg-Timer (FAC 8) or Liz Naylor’s screenplay Too Young to Know, Too Wild to Care (FAC 20). It should be one of the legendary stories of the label, yet The Mad Fuckers remains a mystery to many, including the most ardent Factory aficionados.

 While conducting interviews for my new book, I Thought I Heard You Speak: Women At Factory Records, I discovered that many people in the Factory universe remembered The Mad Fuckers even though the screenplay rarely gets mentioned in the label’s lore. I just had to do a deep dive, and I began to wonder: Could revisiting The Mad Fuckers offer a new lens into Factory Records on film, transatlantic histories of car-chase movies, and cinema censorship? Might excavated details about The Mad Fuckers reveal a fresh story of the movie soundtrack, especially when it comes to teen 80s movies that introduced audiences to New Order, Happy Mondays, Talking Heads, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, the Psychedelic Furs, the Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, and more?