| Happy Mondays | |
|---|---|
Happy Mondays in 2006 |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Little Hulton, Greater Manchester, England |
| Genres | Alternative rock, Madchester |
| Years active | 1980–1993 1999–2000 2004–present |
| Labels | Factory, Elektra |
| Associated acts | Black Grape |
| Members | |
| Shaun Ryder Mark "Bez" Berry Gary Whelan Julie Gordon |
|
| Past members | |
| Mark Day Paul Ryder Ben Leach Paul Davis Rowetta Satchell Kav Sandhu |
|
Happy Mondays are an English alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day, keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan. Mark "Bez" Berry would later join the band onstage during a live performance after befriending Shaun Ryder and served as a dancer/percussionist/chemist. Rowetta Satchell joined the band to provide backing vocals in the early 1990s.[1]
Contents |
The first official release from Happy Mondays was the "Forty Five E.P.", often incorrectly called the "Delightful E.P." after its first track. It was released on Factory Records in September 1985.[1]
Manchester pop impresario Tony Wilson discovered the Mondays (then managed by Phil Saxe) at a battle of the bands contest held at his Hacienda nightclub. Their first album, Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out), debuted in 1987 and was produced by John Cale. This was followed by Bummed in 1988, produced by Martin Hannett, Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches in 1990 produced by Paul Oakenfold and Yes Please! in 1992, produced by Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth. By the late 1980s, the Happy Mondays were an important part of the Manchester music scene and personified rave culture. In December 1990, the British music magazine, NME, reported that Ryder had been hospitalised for treatment of his drug problem.[2] Earlier that year, the band had appeared on the bill at the 1990 Glastonbury Festival.[3]
In late 1990, Paul McCartney stated -
| “ | I saw the Happy Mondays on TV, and they reminded me of the Beatles in their 'Strawberry Fields' phase. | ” |
NME - November 1990[4]
Musically, the band fused indie pop guitars with a rhythmic style that owed much to house music, funk, and northern soul. Much of their music was remixed by popular DJs, emphasizing the dance influences even further. In terms of style and dress, they crossed hippy fashion and ideals with 1970s glamour. Sartorially and musically, the band helped to encourage the psychedelic revival associated with acid house. One of their most popular songs was "Lazyitis (One Armed Boxer)", featuring a surreal duet between Ryder and Karl Denver. In February 1991, the Happy Mondays got a hostile reaction from the crowd at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[5] Their US tour fared little better with the group returning home early in May 1991.[6] However, by July that year they revealed details of a fourteen track 'official bootleg' live album, Baby Big Head, recorded in Leeds. The official record label release, Live followed later in the year.[7]
The Mondays disbanded in 1993, and Shaun Ryder and Bez formed Black Grape with ex-Paris Angels guitarist "Wags" (who would later go on to serve in the 1999-2000 reincarnation of the Mondays) and ex-Ruthless Rap Assassins star Kermit.[1] Seven years passed, but in 1999 Happy Mondays re-formed, minus Paul Davis and Mark Day. In their place were Wags and a number of other musicians close to Shaun Ryder. However, the reunion – with a world tour and the release of a new single, "The Boys Are Back in Town" – was to be short-lived. The single reached number 24 in the UK Singles Chart.[8] In 2000, the band called it a day after providing support for Oasis on their "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" tour. Ben Leach, former member of the Farm, joined in the late 1990s as keyboard player and programmer.
A fictionalised version of the band is featured in the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, with Danny Cunningham as Shaun Ryder and Paul Popplewell as Paul Ryder. Paul Ryder himself had a cameo role in the film as a gangster and Rowetta Satchell (who sang for the band on Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches and Yes Please!) appeared in the film as herself.
2004 saw another re-formation, comprising Bez, Whelan and Shaun Ryder, following the latter's unsuccessful solo career. (Paul Ryder was not present, having sworn to never perform with his brother again following the 2000 break-up, and also having gone on to have success with his new band Big Arm.) The trio of original members were joined by new guitarist Kav Sandhu, with the rest of his band Sonic Audio serving as members of the Mondays live line-up (bassist Mikey Shine, keyboard player Dave Parkinson, guitarist Jonn Dunn and Poss on decks). This new version of the group released a live DVD that year of a show in Barcelona, and rumours abounded that the band was recording a new album. The Mondays played a variety of festival dates in 2005 (including Global Gathering, capping it off with a concert at the Manchester Evening News Arena in their hometown. Backing singers on the tour included Angie Brown and Ron Carroll.
In June 2006, the Mondays performed in Liverpool, and on 30 July 2006 they were special guests at The Fuji Rock Festival, a three day event held at the Naeba Ski Resort in Japan. They performed a sixty minute set, starting with "Loose Fit", and ending with "24 Hour Party People". In August 2006, the band announced that they had completed their first album in fourteen years, with producers Sunny Levine and Howie B, and had signed to Sanctuary Records. A single "Playground Superstar", from the soundtrack for the football film Goal!, was released a few months prior to completion of the new album, Uncle Dysfunktional released in mid 2007.
Happy Mondays performed before another re-formed act, Rage Against the Machine, at the 2007 Coachella Music Festival in Indio, California. They were introduced by Tony Wilson. Bez missed the show because he could not get into the US due to "passport" issues. The band then toured throughout the summer of 2007. They played Splendour in the Grass in Australia in July 2009, at the UK V Festival in August 2009.
The Happy Mondays toured the US with The Psychedelic Furs in late 2009.
The Happy Mondays appeared at the Wizard festival in North-East Scotland in August 2010 without Bez, who is currently in jail following an assault on his wife.
| Year | Song title | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988: | "Wrote for Luck" Listen |
Bummed | Factory Records |
| 1989: | "Hallelujah" Listen |
Madchester Rave On E.P. | Factory Records |
| 1990: | "Gods Cop" Listen |
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches | Factory Records |
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [8] |
UK Indie [9] |
US | |||
| 1987 | Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)
|
– | 4 | – | |
| 1988 | Bummed
|
59 | 2 | – | |
| 1990 | Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches
|
4 | – | 89 | |
| 1992 | Yes Please!
|
14 | – | – | |
| 2007 | Uncle Dysfunktional
|
73 | – | – | |
| "–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | |||
| 1991 | Live
|
21 | |
| 2005 | Step On - Live in Barcelona
|
- | |
| "–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | |||
| 1993 | Double Easy - The US Singles
|
– | |
| 1995 | Loads
|
41 | |
| 1999 | Greatest Hits
|
11 | |
| 2005 | The Platinum Collection
|
19 | |
| "–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||
| Year | Title | Chart position | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | UK Indie [9] |
|||
| 1985 | Forty Five | – | – | |
| 1989 | Madchester Rave On | 19 | 1 | |
| Hallelujah | – | – | ||
| 1990 | The Peel Sessions 1989 | - | – | |
| 1991 | The Peel Sessions 1991 | – | – | |
| "–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||
| Year | Title | Album | Chart position | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart [8] |
UK Indie [9] |
US Hot 100 | US Modern Rock | US Dance | |||
| 1986 | "Freaky Dancin'" | — | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1987 | "Tart Tart" | Squirrel and G-Man... | – | 13 | – | – | – |
| "24 Hour Party People" | – | 10 | – | – | – | ||
| 1988 | "Wrote For Luck" | Bummed | – | 7 | – | – | – |
| 1989 | "Lazyitis" | - | 6 | – | – | – | |
| "W.F.L. (Wrote For Luck)" (re-mix) | 68 | 3 | – | – | – | ||
| 1990 | "Step On" | Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches | 5 | – | 57 | 9 | 13 |
| "Lazyitis (One-Armed Boxer)" (Happy Mondays & Karl Denver) | — | 46 | – | – | – | – | |
| "Kinky Afro" | Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches | 5 | – | – | 1 | – | |
| 1991 | "Loose Fit" | 17 | – | – | – | – | |
| "Bob's Yer Uncle" | – | – | – | 23 | 25 | ||
| "Judge Fudge" | — | 24 | – | – | – | – | |
| 1992 | "Stinkin Thinkin'" | Yes Please! | 31 | – | – | 21 | 1 |
| "Sunshine and Love" | 62 | – | – | – | 5 | ||
| 1999 | "The Boys Are Back in Town" | Greatest Hits | 24 | – | – | – | – |
| 2002 | "24 Hour Party People (Jon Carter mix)" | 24 Hour Party People soundtrack | - | – | – | – | – |
| 2005 | "Playground Superstar" | Goal! Soundtrack | 51 | – | – | – | – |
| 2007 | "Jellybean" | Uncle Dysfunktional | – | – | – | – | – |
| "Dysfunktional Uncle" | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| "–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||||
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