Happy Mondays
Along with the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays were the leaders of the late-'80s/early-'90s dance club-influenced Manchester scene, experiencing a brief moment in the spotlight before collapsing in 1992. While the Stone Roses were based in '60s pop, adding only a slight hint of dance music, Happy Mondays immersed themselves in the club and rave culture, eventually becoming the most recognizable band of that drug-fueled scene. The Mondays' sound relied heavily on the sound and rhythm of house music, spiked with '70s soul licks and swirling '60s psychedelia. It was bright, colorful music that had fractured melodies that never quite gelled into cohesive songs.
Unwittingly or not, Happy Mondays personified the ugly side of rave culture. They were thugs, pure and simple -- they brought out the latent violence that lay beneath the surface of any drug culture, even one as seemingly beatific as England's late-'80s/early-'90s rave scene. Under the leadership of vocalist Shaun Ryder, the group sounded and acted like thugs, especially in comparison with their peace-loving peers the Stone Roses. Ryder's lyrics were twisted and surrealistic, loaded with bizarre pop culture references, drug slang, and menacing sexuality. Appropriately, their music was just as convoluted. Happy Mondays were one of the first rock bands to integrate hip-hop techniques into their sound. They didn't sample, but they borrowed melodies and lyrics and, in the process, committed rock blasphemy. For a band that celebrated their vulgarity and excessiveness, Happy Mondays were appropriately undone by their addictions, but they left behind a surprisingly influential legacy, apparent in everyone from dance bands like the Chemical Brothers to rock & rollers like Oasis.
With their second album, 1988's Bummed, Happy Mondays became British superstars, particularly Ryder. Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, released in 1990, marked the height of the band's popularity, creativity, and influence; although the record made the Top 100 albums chart in America, it didn't establish them as stars in the U.S. After that, the fall was quick. By the time they released their next studio album, Yes, Please, Manchester had disappeared from public consciousness; it sold respectably, but the group didn't have the commercial impact that they had just two years earlier. Besides the lack of public interest, Ryder had become addicted to heroin, tearing the band apart in the process. At a high-level record contract meeting, he walked out for some "Kentucky Fried Chicken," which was the band's slang for heroin. He never returned and the group quickly fell apart.
Ryder and the Mondays' full-time dancer, Bez, re-emerged in the mid-'90s with Black Grape. The band released its critically acclaimed debut, It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah, late in the summer of 1995. Black Grape's sound pursued the same direction as the Mondays only with a harder, grittier edge. In 2007, 15 years since their last record, the band (minus about half the original members, including guitarist Mark Day) released their fifth studio album, Uncle Dysfunktional. Paul Ryder, Shaun's brother and the group's bassist and co-founder, died on July 15, 2022 at the age of 58.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo
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Discography
18 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches (Collector's Edition)
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Music Stream on Nov 5, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bummed (Collector's Edition)
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Music Stream on Nov 1, 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Early EP's (Remastered)
Rock - Released by London Music Stream on Oct 25, 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Hallelujah (Ewan Pearson Remix)
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Music Stream on Dec 1, 1989
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hallelujah
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Music Stream on Dec 1, 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Uncle Dysfunktional (2020 Mix)
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Music Stream on Jul 3, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Greatest Hits
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Music Stream on Nov 27, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Squirrel And G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Music Stream on Apr 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tart Tart
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Music Stream on Jul 8, 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
...Yes Please
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Music Stream on Nov 27, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Happy Mondays - Live 2012
Alternative & Indie - Released by Concert Live Ltd on Jul 9, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Music Stream on Nov 27, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Call the Cops - Live in New York 1990
Alternative & Indie - Released by Floating World on Jul 9, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ooo La La to Panama (from "Singing in the Rainforest")
Film Soundtracks - Released by Madison Gate Records on Sep 21, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Happy Mondays (sped up)
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Records (Because Ltd) on Jan 1, 1996
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Happy Mondays (super sped up version)
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Records (Because Ltd) on Jan 1, 1996
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Happy Mondays (slowed down)
Alternative & Indie - Released by London Records (Because Ltd) on Jan 1, 1996
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo