Happy Mondays is an Alternative/Indie Rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester, England. They were one of the most popular bands in the late 80s, early 90s, and one of the flagship bands of Factory Records. They are now considered the Trope Maker of the Madchester scene, by sucessfully mixing House music with an Indie Rock sound.
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. Later on Shaun's friend Mark "Bez" Berry joined them during a live performance, by serving as a dancer and percussionist. In the early 1990s Rowetta Satchell joined the band to provide backing vocals and also dancing.
They were signed by Factory after coming last in a "battle of the bands" contest held at the Hacienda nightclub and released an EP in 1985. The significance of their band name is so far unknown; a popular rumour was that it referred to how the unemployed residents of Manchester received their benefits on Monday.
By 1987 they were already gathering a strong reputation for their live performances, which had "Bez" doing his freaky dance (there's even one of their songs called "Freaky Dancin' ") and Shaun singing while holding a lyric sheet. In the same year, they released their debut album Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out), produced by John Cale.
But it was in 1988 that they started to hit big time. They released their second album Bummed, produced by Martin Hannett. At the same time they released from the album the single "Wrote For Luck", which would later on be remixed famously by Paul Oakenfold and Vince Clarke (the latter known as former member of Depeche Mode, the former as one of the DJ's who started to bring House music to the UK via Ibiza). By this point, they achieved their particular sound, by mixing, besides Indie Rock and House, genres and styles such as Funk, Northern Soul and Psychedelic Rock, as well as using Latin-style rhythms and Country music twangs. Compared to the more traditionalist songwriting and heavy psychedelia of their counterparts The Stone Roses, the Happy Mondays sound was more technologically modern, based on Sampling, and dancefloor-friendly.
However, it was only through the release of the Madchester EP , that the Mondays finally got into Top of the Pops. They played alongside The Stone Roses, who also got into the national charts through the "Fools Gold" single, transforming what was mainly a regional scene into a full-blown national craze which also got the nickname "Baggy" (largely due to the baggy clothes worn by both bands, though the label "baggy" was applied to the Mondays and similar bands that emphasised the funky elements of their sound, as opposed to the more psychedelic Madchester popularised by the Roses), at the same time that Rave culture, fueled by Acid House and Techno, started to cause interest among the nation in the so-called "Second Summer of Love".
After these aforementioned sucesses, the band went to Eden Studios in London and recorded their next album, with Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne as producers. Their third album, Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, continued the House/Rock fusion, but added Hip-Hop style beats to the mix. Among their big hits are two tracks from the album, one being "Kinky Afro", the other being a cover of John Kongos' "Step On".
Their success brought them to playing in a lot of countries, including France, Iceland and Brazil, where they played at the Maracanã Stadium, in Rio de Janeiro. They also had triumphant gigs at festivals like Glastonbury.
The recording of the follow-up, Yes Please!, however, was a disaster, to the point that, at the time of release, it got mixed reviews (one of the more famous pans read simply "No thanks."), got poor album sales (at least compared to their previous album, and in the rise of Grunge music stateside and Brit Pop at home) and famously caused Factory Records to go bankrupt. The band broke up soon afterwards.
Shaun Ryder then kicked his drug addictions and formed Black Grape in 1993 with Bez and two rappers, a drummer and a guitarist, achieving a relative success: their first album It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah (1995) went to #1 in the UK and spawned a few hits, but their second album Stupid Stupid Stupid (1997) flopped.
They were later portrayed/parodied in 24 Hour Party People, the movie about the story of Factory Records, which included a cameo of bassist Paul Ryder as a gangster. The title of the movie comes from the single and debut album track of the same name.
They reformed from time to time, albeit without the full original line-up, releasing a fifth album, called Uncle Dysfunktional. In 2012, Shaun announced a third reunion, but this time including the original line-up plus Bez and Rowetta.
Discography:
Studio Albums
- Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) (1987)
- Bummed (1988)
- Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches (1990)
- Yes Please! (1992)
- Uncle Dysfunktional (2007)
Live Albums
- Live (1991)
- Step On - Live In Barcelona (2005)
Other releases
- Forty Five EP (1985)
- "Tart Tart" (single) (1987)
- "24 Hour Party People" (single) (1987)
- "Wrote For Luck" (single) (1988) (the remix single, known as W.F.L., was released a year later)
- Madchester EP (1989)
- "Step On" (single) (1990)
- "Kinky Afro" (single) (1990)
- "Judge Fudge" (single) (1991)
- "Stinkin' Thinkin'" (single) (1992)
- "The Boys Are Back In Town" (single) (1999) (cover of a Thin Lizzy song)
- "Playground Superstar" (2005) (single) (from the Goal! soundtrack)
Compilations
- Double Easy - The US Singles (1993)
- Loads (1995)
- Greatest Hits (1999)
- The Platinum Collection (2005)
Tropes Used by the Band
- Album Title Drop: Except for the "Squirrel And G-Man" part, Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) gets its title from the chorus of "24 Hour Party People". However, "24 Hour Party People" itself wasn't on the original version of the album - it was only added to the track-list to replace the song "Desmond".
- Anti-Police Song: "God's Cop" is a personal attack on James Anderton, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester at the time the song was recorded and a notorious right-wing nutter and religious fanatic.
- Brutal Honesty: The opening lines of "Kinky Afro".Son, I'm thirtyI only went with your mother 'cos she's dirty
- Cover Version: The Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive", Debbie Harry's "Rush Rush", John Kongos' "Step On" and "Tokoloshe Man" and Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town".
- And while not strictly covers, Shaun Ryder frequently referenced parts of other famous songs, like the "Lady Marmalade" chorus in "Kinky Afro" or the quote from "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" in "Holiday", or the lyrics of "Donovan" being borrowed and twisted from Donovan's "Sunshine Superman".
- The Diss Track: "God's Cop" is directed at the controversial then-Chief Constable of Greater Manchester James Anderton, who became known as "God's copper" since he claimed to speak with God. (Anderton was a regular punching bag for Manchester bands thanks to his fundy craziness, which most notoriously included referring to gay people with AIDS as "drowning in a cesspit of their own making" and trying to get the city's best-known alternative publisher shut down for obscenity. The Fall also took shots at him in "Hit the North", and The KLF defaced a poster of him and used that as the cover for the "What Time Is Love?" single.)
- Easter Egg: Most US CD copies of Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches read "CALL THE COPS" in the matrix area. The sole exception is the Disctronics pressing, which instead reads "HAPPY MONDAYS".
- Format-Specific Joke: The US release of Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches has the message "CALL THE COPS" laser-etched in the CD matrix (the little ring around the disc hub usually containing catalog information for the label and/or manufacturing plant). The Disctronics US CD, meanwhile, instead reads "HAPPY MONDAYS." These messages are not present on LP or cassette copies, and the trick is obviously impossible to achieve with a digital download or streaming release.
- Hidden Track: After a minute or so of silence, ...Yes Please ends with a montage of Shaun Ryder calling various world leaders (specifically; the Pope, the Prime Minister, the President, and the Queen).
- Intercourse with You: "Bob's Yer Uncle".
- Lyrical Dissonance: They were masters of this trope. For example, lyrics dealing with STD's ("Tart Tart"), Manchester's crazy Chief Constable who claimed he talked directly to God ("God's Cop"), blowjobs ("Kuff Dam"), being busted for dope smuggling ("Holiday") and most notably, Parental Abandonment ("Kinky Afro"). All over danceable rhythms.
- Shawn also enjoyed quoting famous other songs but twisting them into something considerably more dissonant. For example, "Kinky Afro"'s chorus borrows from Labelle's "Lady Marmalade", except Shawn then sings I had to crucify somebody today, and "Donovan" twists the verse of Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" into Sunshine shone brightly, through my asshole today. Even when not quoting from other songs, Shawn's general Cloudcuckoolander lyrics had a way of causing WTFing among listeners: "Holiday"'s contrast between upbeat music and lyrics about being arrested by customs for smuggling drugs isn't helped by Shawn barking "Lemme look up your arse, you!" at the end of one verse.
- Loudness War: A possible Ur-Example comes from the album Bummed. Producer Martin Hannett basically put a lot of echo and reverb in the drum sound, which gave the album a good amount of power and volume. Justified, in the sense that it probably reflected and was made for clubs.
- Lower-Class Lout: Being working-class blokes from Oop North, they certainly came across this way and were happy to play up this image.
- New Sound Album: Bummed.
- Ode to Intoxication: Virtually every other song.
- Oop North: As expected with a band from Manchester.
- Parental Abandonment: "Kinky Afro". Unlike most examples of said trope in popular culture, Ryder sings it in-character, and in a rather defiant and non-apologetic way:Son, I'm 30I only went with your mother 'cause she's dirtyAnd I don't have a decent bone in meWhat you get is just what you see yeah
- Pun-Based Title: The album Uncle Dysfunktional. From that album, there's "Anti Warhole On The Dancefloor".
- Record Producer: Their debut album was produced by John Cale, Bummed by Martin Hannett, Pills 'n' Thrills by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, and Yes Please! by Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz (of Tom Tom Club).
- Sampling: Quite a lot of it.
- The beat of "God's Cop" is sampled from Banbarra's "Shack Up".
- "Step On", despite already being a cover, samples part of the guitar riff of the original "He's Gonna Step On You Again".
- The "Think About the Future" remix of "W.F.L." samples a beat from N.W.A's "Express Yourself (Extended Mix)" and the "Think about the future!" vocal from Prince's "The Future".
- "Donovan" is named because its vocal melody is taken from Donovan's "Sunshine Superman".
- Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: They were infamous for this. In fact, their behavior is believed to be partially responsible for Factory Records going bankrupt.
- Shout-Out: Marlene Dietrich's most famous line of Shanghai Express is quoted in "Angel" ("It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily").
- "Moving In With" lists off the main characters from the fairy tale Henny Penny (or, as it's known outside of Britain, Chicken Little) in its chorus. As Shaun Ryder would later explain in the book Wrote For Luck, these lines actually referred to the band members' nicknames that they often used for drug deals.
Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Goosey LooseyTurkey Lurky, Ducky Lucky, Chicky LickyIt seems we're all on the move when the sound's falling inIt seems we're all on the move when the sound's falling inI'd say they're all on the move when the sky's coming in- "Cowboy Dave" namedrops PC Plod.
- Singer Namedrop: From "Hallelujah":Shaun William RyderWill lie down beside yaFill ya full of junk.
- Singing Simlish: Sort of. Ryder's deep Manc accent makes it hard to understand the lyrics at times, making it sound like he's doing this.
- The Something Song: "Country Song".
- Title-Only Chorus: "Hallelujah".
- Word Salad Lyrics: This didn't stop Tony Wilson from once praising Shaun Ryder as "the greatest poet since Yeats". (Presumably, he wasn't serious.)
