ESG: the cult New York funk outfit Tony Wilson fell in love with in 1980
Tony Wilson’s post-punk empire, built around Factory Records and the blossoming music scene of Manchester, was a largely local affair. If you look back at the roster of Factory during its golden age, its talent scouting rarely reached beyond Manchester or Salford. Yet, in 1980, the Granada journalist found one of his greatest musical loves in the faraway surroundings of New York City.
A pivotal moment in the development of Factory, Wilson’s trip to Manhattan in the late summer of 1980 not only laid the foundations for the ethos of the Haçienda, which would open its doors two years later, but it also caused a sonic shift in the sound of the label. With A Certain Ratio also on that trip across the Atlantic, Factory’s inherent sound became far more influenced by the realm of dance music, no wave, and American post-punk. Perhaps Wilson’s greatest discovery in the States, though, was ESG.
Formed by three sisters in The Bronx circa 1978, ESG have always been something of an unpinnable act. Blending old-school funk with a punk sensibility, the non-conformism of no wave, and the dance-heavy rhythms of the disco age, the group were in a league entirely of their own when it came to New York’s late-1970s music scene. Inevitably, that individualistic sound didn’t amass much commercial success for the trio, but it did earn the adoration of Tony Wilson.
Always drawn to the musical misfits and innovators of his native Manchester, Wilson witnessed a show by ESG at Manhattan’s Hurrah nightclub during that fateful trip in 1980. In addition to his penchant for innovative, individualistic music, Wilson also maintained a kind of no-nonsense approach during that period in Factory’s history. In other words, if he liked a group, he’d waste no time in getting them onto the label.
You might assume that being in New York threw a bit of a spanner in the works when it came to signing ESG up to the Factory roster, but within only a few days of Wilson witnessing that gig, the three sisters were in the recording studio, under the guidance of Factory stalwart Martin Hannett.
Two songs, ‘Moody’ and ‘You’re No Good’, were the produce of those sessions, but the ever-resourceful Hannett realised that there were still a few minutes worth of space left on the master tapes, so another track, ‘UFO’, was hastily tacked on.
Those familiar with the realm of ESG can probably guess what came next, but upon their release in 1981, via a partnership between Factory and the New York-based 99 Records, they quickly came to define the sound of the group. While the independently-released record didn’t succeed in making ESG a household name, it did earn them a cult audience which still prevails to this day.
Perhaps more impressively than that, Wilson’s chance encounter with ESG at that New York nightclub ended up changing the landscape of hip-hop and sampling culture forevermore.
After all, ‘UFO’, the song that was added onto the end of the recording sessions without much thought, ended up becoming one of the most sampled tracks in musical history, employed by everybody from Biggie, Nas, and Public Enemy to 2Pac, MF Doom, and countless others – prompting ESG to respond with the 1992 EP Sample Credits Don’t Pay Our Bills.
