Sad news today: Factory Records co-founder Tony Wilson has passed away at the age of 57 after battling cancer. Wilson is, of course, best known for the key role he played in the UK post-punk scene, having signed bands like Joy Division (and later New Order), A Certain Ratio, and Happy Mondays to the Factory label, but his influence reaches back even further than that to his days hosting the Granada Television program, So It Goes, where many Manchester youth got their first look at punk bands like the Sex Pistols, The Stranglers, and The Jam. In the '80s, Wilson helped usher in the "Madchester" scene with his nightclub Hacienda. Most recently, Wilson had been a regional political presenter for BBC's Politics Show and hosted weekly radio programs on Xfm Manchester and BBC Radio Manchester. In 2002, Michael Winterbottom's semi-fictionalized biography 24 Hour Party People introduced Wilson to a whole new generation. If there is a God, and Tony is meeting him today, we can only hope it goes something like this: