happy mondays

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can it really be true that there hasnt been a happy mondays thread? i just looked in archve and couldnt see

so, i think they're the best band britains ever had, certainly with wider public appeal at least.

ah, i havent really got anything to say about them at the minute! i was only looking for a thread to see if anyone had either of the first 2 albums or 3 singles on slsk, i'm trying to avoid bringing down any more vinyl from my parents to mp3 as its tricky.

i think they may be the only band with a sizeable back catalogue, which i actually own everything of.

anyway, over to you...

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 13:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Bez.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 13:51 (twenty-three years ago)

The first Black Grape album is better than any of the Mondays' stuff.

― Nick H, Tuesday, 11 March 2003 14:23 (twenty-three years ago)

I always believe shaun to be the finest example of "do not judge a book by the cover", truely a great lyricist but the shabbiest s.o.b. ever. I guess Gareth, without me ever really thinking about it before, you could be right, off hand i cannot think of a band who evidently threw there net of influences so wide and as a result came up with music that was both genre and cultural boundary crossing.

Any opinions on black Grape though - saw them live and thoroughly enjoyed myself but i feel this was more to do with Shaun and Bez's antics.

(wrote for luck will be dug out when i get home i think)

― james (james), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 14:24 (twenty-three years ago)

http://www.ultimanet.com/~cymru/bez.jpg

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 14:25 (twenty-three years ago)

never liked black grape. the magic was gone, it was just cartoons by then

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 14:27 (twenty-three years ago)

dunno i thought kermit added something - dunno what but an x factor maybe

― james (james), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 14:28 (twenty-three years ago)

x factor = token rapper. kermit was ok tho

imo only the first 2 black grape singles are good whereas everything else is dud (unless you count the Goldie mix of 'Fatneck') - whereas the Mondays have at least two generally good albums and even what i heard from 'Yes Please' doesnt sound THAT bad (i like Stinkin Thinkin) but this could be just rose-tinted romantic nostalgia creeping thru

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 15:28 (twenty-three years ago)

True the first Black Grape album is good but the Mondays were truly great. There was a surprising amount of nuance in Ryder's vocals back then that just got blunted over time. Also, I'm the only person in the world who likes the 'Bummed' versh of 'WFL' over every other. Also I think "Grandbag" and "God's Cop" are as good as anything on 'No New York' and better than anything on 'Disco not Disco'. I also admit that once I was tripping on 4 hits of California Sunshine when I heard "Bob's Your Uncle" and started feeling horny but then "Love Will Tear us Apart" came on so I started giggling

― dave q, Tuesday, 11 March 2003 17:57 (twenty-three years ago)

They were horrid. I hated them.

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 11 March 2003 20:29 (twenty-three years ago)

black grape were rubbish. i like the mondays more now than i did at the time. shouts for 'bob's yer uncle' and 'lazyitis'.

― michael wells (michael w.), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 20:45 (twenty-three years ago)

I never cottoned to them at the time (because, I guess, their guitars weren't noisy enough for my tastes then) but I have to admit that there are some moments of unalloyed genius amongst their catalog. I am currently addicted to the version of WFL on their live album, which seems to capture the mass free-associative turmoil of their group mind and communicate it in a purely musical fashion. Awesome.

In response to the original "question," I do think the Primals would probably take #1 in that regards.

― R. Lim, Tuesday, 11 March 2003 21:41 (twenty-three years ago)

The Madchester EP is just the sloppiest played but still funky record ever. Also, the bright tones all over that and Pills Thrills... make me smile.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 21:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Janitor! Yay!

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 21:57 (twenty-three years ago)

the best stuff is everything up to and not including Madchester Rave On. I recently got hold of the Freaky Dancing 12" and I think it's probably my fave thing of theirs now.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 11 March 2003 22:52 (twenty-three years ago)

They were a superb band live. Apparently they were extremely erratic in that regard (I find that so hard to believe) but the two times I saw them they created a sound that seemed genuinely new, a better hybrid of rock and dance than I'd heard at that stage. But it didn't sound like 2 styles just lumped together - it was more organic than that.

― James Ball (James Ball), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 14:11 (twenty-three years ago)

I think they were fantastic. Pills'n'Thrills'n'Bellyaches especially but the other records too, though like almost everyone I didn't bother with Yes Please (should I Gareth?) The songs on P'n'T'n'B have everything: hooks, groove, more hooks, great lines, charisma, lovely sounds, a sense of location and event, pathos, joy, even more hooks, etc etc.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 14:17 (twenty-three years ago)

yes please? no, not really. its ok, but when you consider the giddy heights of the entire back catalogue up till then it no way matches. stinkin thinking and theme from netto are great, sunshine and love is alright too, but after that it is pretty so so. do you have everything else tom?

― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 14:22 (twenty-three years ago)

I have the first three albums, plus the Hallelujah! EP and its remixes (somewhere, anyway), plus a Step On 12", plus a CD-R of early singles compiled for me by Mr Hopkins.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 14:25 (twenty-three years ago)

I do not have "The Boys Are Back In Town".

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 14:25 (twenty-three years ago)

hahaha

me either

― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 14:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Jody Beth Rosen to thread.

― stevo (stevo), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 14:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Like far too many bands, I only have their greatest hits but it is very good. Shaun's voice and lyrics are such a grower - so much so that I almost hated the whole album first listen and now I love most of it. I have the first Black Grape album too and it's not bad.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 20:37 (twenty-three years ago)

I've got the live video at G-Mex which is amazing. a terrific show.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 20:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Happy Mondays were overrated. Stone Roses, Charlatans, Jesus Jones and early Blur were all better, because they never lost sight of good pop songs despite the dance beat at the bottom.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 13 March 2003 00:26 (twenty-three years ago)

Jesus Jones? meep?

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 13 March 2003 00:27 (twenty-three years ago)

the gmex video is good yea, i also have a vinyl bootleg of them live at bradford st georges hall in 89, which i am hoping to mp3 soon. it is a lot better than the official live album which was a bit poor really

― gareth, still waiting for mary to get ready:( (Mary), Thursday, 13 March 2003 16:22 (twenty-three years ago)

but there was the unofficial/official baby big head bootleg that was (factory ?) released to record shops. kinda like 'santa monica 72' was bowie style. also 'bummed' is f*ckin ace. unlike any album ever produced before or since. all trax so different but all have that *amazing* woozy M. HANNET production sound.

'well i'm a simple city boy with stu-pid country taste...'

― piscesboy, Thursday, 13 March 2003 17:57 (twenty-three years ago)

I liked the Jesus Jones albums more than the Happy Mondays albums, but the Happy Mondays singles were much better (from that era/genre, I think only The Charlatans can compete, along with "I Wanna Be Adored").

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 13 March 2003 18:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Jesus Jones were really quite different from the baggy bands tho - why are they being lumped in with the Madchester lot?

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 13 March 2003 18:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Because to many outside of the UK who weren't living the scene, they went along with the baggies (EMF and The Farm also fall into this group).

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 13 March 2003 18:28 (twenty-three years ago)

the idea of jesus jones being anywhere close (except, you know, geographical proximity) to the mondays gives me headache

― jess (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 March 2003 18:56 (twenty-three years ago)

I hated Jesus Jones and am frankly mystified that they would be considered in the same breath as Happy Mondays. They were just bad.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 13 March 2003 19:09 (twenty-three years ago)

five months pass...

the idea of jesus jones being anywhere close to the mondays still gives me a headache

also, junior senior ha ha

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 15 August 2003 04:16 (twenty-two years ago)

dear lord

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Friday, 15 August 2003 04:26 (twenty-two years ago)

pills n thrills is just one of those records that keeps on giving as i and it age, respectively.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 15 August 2003 04:27 (twenty-two years ago)

the jukebox at the bar I go to got pills n thrills on it a few months back and I wore it out. I still prefer bummed somehow though.

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Friday, 15 August 2003 04:29 (twenty-two years ago)

i haven't heard it in forever (my tape got eaten by my old car [RIP])...to slsk i'ma goin

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 15 August 2003 04:30 (twenty-two years ago)

haha - embarassing moment of my adolescence #23781: my dad picking up me and a couple of friends after a movie, me putting this in the cassette player, and my dad going "is this eurythmics? this sounds like eurythmics"

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Friday, 15 August 2003 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)

At the moment I'm thinking the Madchester EP was the pinnacle of their bright, sloppy sound.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 15 August 2003 05:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I wish I knew where my Madchester EP was.

For some unknown fate-tempting reason Pills'N'Thrills... was the first record Isabel and I listened to after we decided to get married.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 15 August 2003 06:24 (twenty-two years ago)

yall aren't honeymooning in barbados are ya?

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Friday, 15 August 2003 06:35 (twenty-two years ago)

When people say Shaun Ryder is a great lyricist, do they mean he writes great lyrics? Surely they mean something else?

― Mary (Mary), Thursday, 21 August 2003 02:43 (twenty-two years ago)

great meaning large or immense! we mean it in the perjorative sense!

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 21 August 2003 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

is it true that Bez has been joining The Rapture onstage at recent UK gigs?

― heywood jablomi (heywood), Thursday, 21 August 2003 03:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Blount, that was funny.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 21 August 2003 03:04 (twenty-two years ago)

two months pass...

madness!

CD80 'portable' Mondays go!

24 Hour Party People
Wrote for Luck
Mad Cyril
Brain Dead
Do It Better
Lazyitis
WFL (Oakenfold mix)
Hallelujah (radio mix)
Clap Your Hands
Holy Ghost
Rave On
Hallelujah (Oakenfold club mix)
Step On
Kinky Afro
God's Cop
Loose Fit
Bob's Yer Uncle
Stinkin' Thinkin'

(vaguely chronological, would like to have had 'Freaky Dancing' but it's just so cool to start it with 'Party People' and had to fit those remixes, 81:22 overburn!)

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 November 2003 22:00 (twenty-two years ago)

you could always jettison Clap Your Hands in favour of Freaky Dancing. and where's Tart Tart dude! oh man 80 minutes really is never enough sometimes

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 6 November 2003 22:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Spencer, you always pick a great closer! God bless you!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 6 November 2003 22:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Or maybe I just have a thing for the bloated, dodgy end of a band's career, I don't know.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 6 November 2003 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 148 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

i love all three. pills, especially dennis & lois is twistin' my melon today though

― dynamicinterface, Friday, 4 December 2015 20:54 (ten years ago)

two years pass...

Bez gets Happy Mondays disqualified from Bargain Hunt special

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/sep/28/stinking-thinking-bez-gets-happy-mondays-disqualified-from-bargain-hunt-special

― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Friday, 28 September 2018 14:08 (seven years ago)

Jarvis should've been disqualified for refusing to wear the BH fleece.

― Ward Fowler, Friday, 28 September 2018 14:10 (seven years ago)

truth

― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Friday, 28 September 2018 14:20 (seven years ago)

he looks a bit of a fiddy kiddler these days #curseofJacko

― calzino, Friday, 28 September 2018 14:26 (seven years ago)

those tinted lenses are an extremely bad idea.

― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Friday, 28 September 2018 14:28 (seven years ago)

as part of the BBC's Music Day, what a moving tribute

― Leon Carrotsky (Noodle Vague), Friday, 28 September 2018 15:04 (seven years ago)

“(pulp) attempted to claw back some cash by including a signed vinyl copy of their Different Class album with a vintage gramophone they were auctioning, but this also raised limited interest from bidders.”

Lololol

― calstars, Friday, 28 September 2018 15:07 (seven years ago)

and that wasn't considered cheating? Typical fucking BBC impartiality!

― calzino, Friday, 28 September 2018 15:13 (seven years ago)

Bargain Hunt is better than this

― Leon Carrotsky (Noodle Vague), Friday, 28 September 2018 15:14 (seven years ago)

"Since that glorious moment at the auction, we have discovered an IRREGULARITY..!" 😱😱

We are completely gagged by this shocking #BBCMusicDay Bargain Hunt plot twist!

CCing the red team to explain themselves: @Happy_Mondays & @Rowetta 😅😂 pic.twitter.com/5fjzSuwmUa
— BBC Music (@bbcmusic) September 28, 2018

― FRE SHA VAC ADO (jed_), Friday, 28 September 2018 16:31 (seven years ago)

ten months pass...

step

― calstars, Friday, 2 August 2019 01:39 (six years ago)

― calstars, Friday, 2 August 2019 02:04 (six years ago)

this description from upthread is spot on:

Listened to "Bummed" for the first time in ages the other day. It was a proletarian experience akin to watching a Vauxhall Conference match, or riding in a car where everyone is smoking but you.

― visiting, Friday, 2 August 2019 03:24 (six years ago)

two weeks pass...

Son, I'm 30
I only went with your mother 'cause she's dirty
And I don't have a decent bone in meh

― calstars, Sunday, 18 August 2019 02:32 (six years ago)

one year passes...

1 9 8 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC-b2ZenkZg

my favorite band of the 80s? quite possibly. if it's not them, it's some other roughnecks from manchester.

― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Friday, 5 March 2021 21:27 (five years ago)

When I had covid earlier this year and was actually kinda worried that I could be facing the end of my days, the movie I turned to like, "welp better watch this one more time" was 24 Hour Party People. I don't know why that called out to me as the comfort food I should reach for, instead of something heartwarming or classic or, well, good. But 24 Hour Party People it was! And that prompted a pretty big Mondays kick. Tried to supplement that by listening to some other Madchester bands and like, Primal Scream, etc., but none of that stuff did it for me as good as Pills Thrills and Bellyaches or Bummed.

― peace, man, Saturday, 6 March 2021 12:23 (five years ago)

At some point in my covid haze, I worked up a theory about them being England's Guns N Roses or something like that. I can't quite remember how I fleshed that theory out, but on a surface level it kinda makes sense.

― peace, man, Saturday, 6 March 2021 12:33 (five years ago)

I love that theory

24 Hour Party People is the best rock movie by far

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 6 March 2021 12:49 (five years ago)

drugs not being a bug but a feature.
& singer detailing the activity of underclass in a non judgmental way?
THink the Mondays may have had cooler references/influences though

― Stevolende, Saturday, 6 March 2021 13:27 (five years ago)

yeah, that sounds about right.

― peace, man, Saturday, 6 March 2021 16:29 (five years ago)

kinky afro is my shit these days, yippie yippie aye aye ay

― brimstead, Saturday, 6 March 2021 17:54 (five years ago)

How old are you

― calstars, Saturday, 6 March 2021 22:18 (five years ago)

xpost couple of the last two rock bands that seemed to have any kind of genuine swagger to compete w hip hop

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 6 March 2021 22:45 (five years ago)

Are you old enough

― calstars, Saturday, 6 March 2021 23:14 (five years ago)

Also both lead singers got deserved shit for anti-gay stupidity.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 6 March 2021 23:32 (five years ago)

Bez's autobiography "Freaky Dancin'" is a pretty worthwhile read, you come away from it marveling that none of them died or got arrested in the process. reminds me a bit of Trainspotting where it does kind of glamorize the fun bits & makes you understand *why* these guys fucked their brains up so often but ultimately it seemed to be a pretty miserable existence. Bez seems like a nice but super unreliable dude, Ryder on the other hand I wouldn't leave a pet goldfish with

― frogbs, Saturday, 6 March 2021 23:53 (five years ago)

one year passes...

R.I.P. Paul Ryder

The Ryder family and Happy Mondays band members are deeply saddened and shocked to say that Paul Ryder passed away this morning

A true pioneer and legend. He will be forever missed ❤️

We thank you for respecting the privacy of all concerned at this time.

Long live his funk x pic.twitter.com/E8e7x4Tvcw
— Shaun Ryder (@officialswr) July 15, 2022

― peace, man, Friday, 15 July 2022 14:58 (three years ago)

awful news, he was the backbone of the group (a cliché but a true one here)

― Sudden Birdnet Thus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 15 July 2022 15:03 (three years ago)

Oh no. His bass playing on the first album is soooooo good.

― Tom D: I was in the army (Tom D.), Friday, 15 July 2022 15:12 (three years ago)

listening to this again, the bassline is the song, everything else is dressing on top

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zWpHxfQvtk

― Sudden Birdnet Thus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 15 July 2022 15:18 (three years ago)

ah damn RIP - completely makes that early sound, just keeps driving through the swamp

― woof, Friday, 15 July 2022 16:17 (three years ago)

well this sucks

― bury my heart in wounded kieth (Noodle Vague), Friday, 15 July 2022 16:21 (three years ago)

RIB

― Vance Vance Devolution (sic), Friday, 15 July 2022 16:49 (three years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvQZ3rwvBho

"tart tart" (1987)

rest well. hope he found something better.

― "Why is the voice of reason treated as the unreliable narrator?", asked (Austin), Friday, 15 July 2022 18:59 (three years ago)

'Loose Fit' is the tune of theirs I have listened to a bunch in the past few years, such a hypnotic groove.

― earlnash, Friday, 15 July 2022 20:47 (three years ago)

RIP, for sure the engine of their whole sound and vibe.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 15 July 2022 23:05 (three years ago)

RIP and at first I thought it was Shaun but still sad nonetheless

― Bee OK, Friday, 15 July 2022 23:08 (three years ago)

so good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m79WvFAWOqw

― Bee OK, Saturday, 16 July 2022 00:53 (three years ago)

RIP.

Enjoyed this piece from last year on the Mondays and their reception/influence in the US:

https://zacharylipez.ghost.io/21st-century-party-people-whatever-the-opposite-of-anxiety-of-happy-mondays-influence-is/

― etc, Tuesday, 19 July 2022 21:32 (three years ago)

three months pass...

https://www.stereogum.com/2203860/happy-mondays-us-shows-pills-n-thrills-bellyaches/news/

Happy Mondays Announce First US Shows In 14 Years, Playing Pills ‘N’ Thrills And Bellyaches In Full

One will take place at Terminal 5 in New York City on March 25, with a special guest that’s to be announced. And then on March 28, they’ll play at the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles with special guest Paul Oakenfold.

― Bee OK, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 04:41 (three years ago)

I think I will need to go to the Los Angeles show.

― Bee OK, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 04:41 (three years ago)

When I saw this tour in 1990 at the Hollywood Palladium I took Ecstasy for the very first time. Not sure who was more fucked up, the band or me and my friends.

― Bee OK, Tuesday, 25 October 2022 04:52 (three years ago)

I also saw them on this tour, in Newark, and was on nothing but beer because we had to drive 5 hours back to State College afterward. It was an OK show, sort of sloppy and pretty short. They'll miss Paul this time around, but it's honestly pretty impressive that enough of them are still alive to reunite.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 12:30 (three years ago)

Some people are just hard to kill.

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 25 October 2022 13:03 (three years ago)

ten months pass...

important new info re:melon twisting

💥 Ever wondered where Shaun got the lines “You’re Twistin’ My Melon Man” & “You know you talk so hip” for ‘Step On’ from???

🎥 Here’s a clip of the brilliant doc: ‘Steve McQueen: Man On The Edge’ | The Hollywood Collection#happymondays #stepon #stevemcqueen #melon pic.twitter.com/7LIApOJpwY
— Rowetta🎙 (@Rowetta) September 8, 2023

― the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 9 September 2023 16:56 (two years ago)

whoa

― brimstead, Saturday, 9 September 2023 17:01 (two years ago)

Awesome.

― Monthly Python (Tom D.), Saturday, 9 September 2023 17:03 (two years ago)

that's why I pay my internet provider

― fpsa, Saturday, 9 September 2023 18:45 (two years ago)

Call the cops!

― three of the doctor's valuable bats are now dead (broom air), Saturday, 9 September 2023 19:17 (two years ago)

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