5 from Happy Mondays

Photo by Kevin Cummins

I often think that Happy Mondays don't get the credit they deserve. They were like nothing before or since. Unmanageable, inventive, street wise, not only at the heart of the scene, but dealing drugs for the scene and also soundtracking it. Of the time, but completely different from any other band around. 

24-Hour Party People was the title of their third single and it described them perfectly. The Mondays lived and breathed the lifestyle. It seemed like they didn't stop from 1987 - 1992, releasing 4 albums and a string of singles. 

The band were self confessed drug fuelled scallies and chancers. Their don't give a f**k attitude was pure punk. Happy Mondays were out for a ride and they were going to ride things until the wheels fell off. 

Would anyone other than Tony Wilson and Factory Records have invested so much time, patience and money in Shaun Ryder and co? The Mondays grew and developed with the times, but there is also an element of the band being in the right place, the right city (Manchester), with access to the right club (the Hacienda), at the right time (Acid House), when the right drug came out (ecstasy) and on the perfect record label. 

The Mondays had something; raw and untamed. Pure but dirty. Post punk, post funk, double double good. Wilson saw it and so did New Order, Mike Pickering and others in and around the Factory scene. The band learned to play their instruments along the way - but they always had an ear and feel for a groove. Producers helped bring some structure to their madness - John Cale, Martin Hannett, Paul Oakenfold . Listen back to those first few albums and you can see the direction of travel and how producers helped them to develop their sound. 

You couldn't create the Mondays. They were real, genuine and complete one-offs. That's what made them so magical. You didn't know what they were going to do next - what they would create, what Ryder would say or do, or if they would show up! They had the look, the flares, the drugs, the club, the label, the songs, the producers, the front man and ... Bez!

Listening back to some of my favourite Mondays tunes, watching YouTube clips and reading about their adventures has been immensely entertaining. My big takeaway has been how integral Mark Day's guitar is to a lot of the Mondays songs, especially my favourites. The reverb drenched Performance, the baggy riff that is central to Kinky Afro, the scuzzed Chic riff on WFL .. Day (and indeed the rest of the band) are rarely talked about when it comes to the Mondays. Along with Gaz Whelan on drums and Paul Ryder on bass, the beats and grooves they conjured up were sensational.

Against all the odds, Ryder and Bez and co are still touring and will be playing 3 sold out nights at the Barrowland Ballroom next week to celebrate 35-years of their seminal Pills, Thrills & Bellyaches album.

Here, in no particular order, are 5 of my favourite Happy Mondays songs (moments and stories!).

1. Performance

The Happy Mondays drug consumption was merrily discussed in the music weeklies as much as their music, if not more. And no wonder! They revelled in the lifestyle, on stage and off. And ... they made it look fun, to the extent they turned Manchester into Madchester.  Things were bright for a long, long time, before they turned decidedly darker.

The first time I heard Performance was on a Happy Mondays and Stone Roses VHS cassette bootleg that I bought from a record fair. The bootleg mashed together band interviews, performances and videos recorded from the TV. I played that video to death.

Photo by Kevin Cummins

My jaw dropped when I saw The Mondays playing Performance on Tony Wilson's Other Side Of Midnight show. Visibly off their heads, Bez dancing in a trance around the set, looking like he is attempting the breast stroke through air. Ryder just eggs him on, vibing off him. The chemistry, no pun intended, between them is incredible. At 1-minute 42 seconds into this performance, Ryder is literally playing his maracas on Bez. The energy is off the scale. I can't take my eyes off them, even all these years down the lines.

The reverb on the guitar is sublime, The Mondays are completely locked in to create an infectious groove, while Ryder and Bez look like they are having the time of their lives. Bez, eyes shut, just constantly grooving. Ryder somehow loses his glasses and at 2-minutes 40 seconds, when Mark Day takes off on an inspired solo, Shaun is off to groove with Bez, squatting, vibing, his mate is lost in the groove. Utterly spellbinding.

2. Kinky Afro

Late 1990, certainly in terms of chart performance, was peak Happy Mondays. Step On, the lead single from Pills, Thrills & Bellyaches reached number 5 in the charts in spring and seemed to hang around all summer. Kinky Afro, the follow up, wasn't released until October and it also reached number 5.

The groove of the song originated from bass player Paul Ryder jamming around Hot Chocolate tunes that he had been listening to. Gaz Whelan came up with some beats and the working title of the song was Groovy Afro, changed to Kinky Afro after The Farm released their Groovy Train single.  They took the groove out to LA where the band were going to work with Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osbourne.

Oakenfold and Osbourne cleaned and polished the Mondays sound. They kept the grooves that the band had displayed on the likes of Wrote For Luck and Hallelujah, but gave them a sheen that made them more radio and chart friendly. What would Pills, Thrills & Bellyaches have sounded like if Martin Hannett had continued as a producer following his work on Bummed?

Photo by Kevin Cummins

Any excuse to get on an E!

However, the band had already moved on with the W.F.L single that saw Vince Clarke and Paul Oakenfold (through his Think About The Future) remix Wrote For Luck. 

The change in producer certainly helped with the Mondays sound. Some would say they transformed it. However the move from recording Bummed in Stockport to Pills ... in the sunshine of Los Angeles also played a part. You can almost feel the sunshine and warmth coming out of the record. Factory also licensed the album to London Records - the Mondays were going big time.

The groove is there from the off, synth strings, Day's guitar riff, then Ryder coming in with a catchy vocal melody with self-confessional and self-reflective lyrics. 

Son, I'm thirty

I only went with your mother 'cause she's dirty

And I don't have a decent bone in me

What you get, is just what you see, yeah

Ryder's hook for the chorus is a cross between Bruce Willis in Die Hard and Lady Marmalade by Labelle. The instrumental section comes back to Day's circular guitar riff. The video is like the Mondays take on Robert Palmer's classic Addicted To Love promo - more colour, street clothes for the band and Shaun's hairstyle looking like he could be in the Inspiral Carpets.

It was the first song they'd written that felt like a massive pop song. Rowetta, The Guardian, 2014

3. Stinkin' Thinkin'

Tales of the Mondays heading to Barbados to record Yes Please, their fourth album, are legendary. Factory allocated a phenomenal £150,000 budget and Barbados was suggested as a location as there was no heroin available. However, there was a bountiful supply of crack. The Mondays, by all accounts, were in complete disarray there were marriage breakdowns, copious amounts of drugs and alcohol and mere scraps of songs to take to Barbados.

Shaun Ryder reportedly spent 20-hours a day smoking crack. Bez broke his arm 3 times - crashing a car, in a speedboat accident and when his girlfriend sat on it. This resulted in some legendary photos of the dancer with an external metal brace pinning his arm together.

Ryder sold his clothes for crack, sun loungers for crack and even held the master tapes to ransom. The £150,000 that had been budgeted was now a drop in the ocean. 5-weeks in, the Mondays had only completed one song. The album eventually cost £380,000!

Despite the frazzled and fractured state and status of the band, Stinkin' Thinkin' is a gem. The groove is like Barry White and his band if they landed in Manchester and had a weekend at the Hacienda - soul funk sleaze, super cool. Ryder is half singing, half whispering;

Kiss me for old times sake

Kiss me for making you wait

Day's guitar lifts off a little, in tandem with Shaun changing the vocal melody

I've got to pick out what's in the pockets

So I can leave those pockets clean

It's a delicious groove, the Mondays just keep it going and Ryder, as he always does to the best grooves and riffs, lifts his own game too. Rowetta's vocals add extra soul and a club feel. This is a real favourite of mine. 

4. W.F.L. - The Vince Clark Remix 

For their 1988 Bummed LP, that Wrote For Luck featured on, the band worked with Martin Hannett, consuming ecstasy on a daily basis and taking in all kinds of influences to create sounds on whatever instruments they could get their hands on. 

Hannett found an incredible guitar sound for Mark Day, one that, even through all the synths and beats, is central to Wrote For Luck. A funk punk Chic sound, scuzzed up and drenched in reverb. 

Wrote For Luck starts at pace, big beats and Day's guitar over the top, Shaun then begins to sing and spout his unique poetry over the top.

You were wet, but you're getting drier

You used to speak the truth 

But now you're liar

You used to speak the truth 

But now you're clever

The original version of Wrote For Luck has a sense of urgency and even danger to it; a raw white boy funk groove stretched out to a little over 6-minutes, riding on Day's guitar, Shaun groaning and moaning an extra little melody to add to the feeling.

Vince Clarke, in his W.F.L remix totally gets the groove and brings the bass to the fore, the guitars (at least at the start) are gone, the beats are more clubby, the synths are making all kinds of cool noises and it's Shaun at the heart. The original raw version is just cleaned up a little, becoming more clinical ... more chemical. 

The guitar groove is finally dropped in for the last 2-minutes and it sounds even more glorious over the menacing bass groove that Clarke has created and the clubby beats. The video captured the times perfectly - Ryder off his face in a club, ecstasy fuelled grin plastered on his face, with everyone around him going for it big time. FULL BLOG HERE

5. Hallelujah - Club Mix

It's difficult to pinpoint peak Happy Mondays. In terms of success, there is no doubt that it was the Pills, Thrills & Bellyaches album, singles, tours and festivals. Musically and in terms of being completely in the zone as a band (totally original) and with culture, I'd argue that it was in the last quarter of 1989 through the W.F.L single, which was followed by the Madchester and Hallelujah EP's, just before the whole rave/house music scene went overground.

The Mondays released their Madchester Rave On EP in November 89, with Hallelujah as the lead track. Memorably, they played Top of the Pops with fellow Mancunians The Stone Roses who brought out the phenomenal Fools Gold 9.53 the same month. Check my blog on that landmark release HERE.

Ryder and Mani discussed taking acid and mixing the bands up, but I'm glad that didn't happen. The Roses went out and smashed it out the park, looking impossibly cool. Their appearance on TotP is still discussed regularly to this day. For some reason, the Mondays isn't. 

Kirsty MacColl joins them in double denim (she sang on one of the remixes) and the TotP camera doesn't really know whether it should be focusing on Ryder and Bez or not! Given the amount of times it pans away from them for extended passages, I like to imagine the producer and directors of the show screaming 'move away from the mad men, not the mad men!'

The Hallelujah Club Mix has both Andy Weatherall and Paul Oakenfold working on their magic on the Mondays sound. The result is sensational. Like a pure MDMA rush - a synth bass groove, a scream of hallelujah, chemical beats, house piano pushed to the fore ... Weatherall and Oakenfold have fun - dropping things in, taking them out, building it up, letting it fall and then lifting it higher. 

Ryder is almost rapping in his own distinct Mancunian style;

Hallelujah, hallelujah

Shaun William Ryder

Will lie down beside you

Fill you full of junk

Then the Mondays go off on one, Day's piercing guitar then falls back to a dirty groove, things are stripped to the persistent house piano and a beat, Ryder returns and the Mondays, aided by Weatherall and Oakenfold, roll on. There is an energy and urgency to this song and mix that can't be replicated. Magical.

Regret

Trust me #98
Regret by New Order

I always feel warmer when I hear Regret by New Order. That opening burst of guitar and synth combining so naturally is a real rush that sends tingles down my spine. When it comes in again, like a stutter, you know you're in for something special. Then the groove supplied by Hook and Morris kicks in and oh how Regret groove and flows. Barney starts singing at 40-seconds in;

Maybe I've forgotten, the name and the address

Of everyone I've ever known, it's nothing I regret

This song always reminds me of travelling to Manchester on the Glasgow Manchester United Supporters Club bus. I'd previously travelled down by train the odd time, unaware that a bus left Glasgow for every home game! I only found out during a stadium tour when the guide told me about it. How had I missed this? 

Branch secretary Dave Sharkey had encouraged me to make a mixtape up for my first bus down. Regret kicked in just as the bus was crossing over a flyover just outside of Manchester, sun streaming through the windows, bottle of beer in hand ... perfect. United beat Wimbledon 5-1, Cole (2), Giggs, Beckham and Yorke got the goals.

The chorus to Regret might be the most uplifting out and out chorus in the New Order cannon, bittersweet reflection wrapped in a euphoric melody. 

I would like a place I could call my own

Have a conversation on the telephone

Wake up every day that would be a start

I would not complain about my wounded heart

I was a upset you see, almost all the time

You used to me a stranger, now you are mine

By the early '90s, New Order were at a crossroads. Factory Records was collapsing, their relationship with each other was strained, and Republic would ultimately be their last album for over a decade. Yet somehow, amidst the turmoil, they created Regret, a song that feels effortlessly cool and confident, yet loaded with unspoken emotion.

Peter Hook’s bass is played low down the fret, typically distinctive, immensely cool, it's tasty throughout, while his solo is delicious. Stephen Morris’ drums push everything forward with an urgent, driving energy. Gillian Gilbert’s synths shimmer in the background, giving the song that unmistakable New Order glow.

New Order are wizards with intro's and outro's and Regret is one of their very best with Peter Hook's bass groove beautifully entwined with Bernard Sumner's guitar chimes,

Just wait til tomorrow

I guess that's what they all say

Just before they fall apart

Did the band really play Regret on the set of Baywatch for Top of the Pops? Of course they did, this is New Order we're talking about. Surreal and sublime! Hooky throwing all kinds of shapes to impress the bikinin clad babes, Gillian wearing factor 90 and Barney looking super cool.

Regret official video

Regret - Baywatch for Top of the Pops

Regret is added to my Trust Me playlist; search for Everything Flows - Trust Me on Spotify or CLICK HERE. Check below for all previous blogs in my Trust Me series.

Previous Trust Me blogs

1. Something On Your Mind by Karen Dalton

1A. Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells

2. I Am, I Said  by Neil Diamond

3. Where's The Playground Susie?   by Glen Campbell

4. If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lighfoot

5. Gimme Some Truth by John Lennon

6. Gone With The Wind Is My Love by Rita and the Tiaras

7. In The Year 2525 by Zager and Evans

8. The Music Box by Ruth Copeland

9. The Ship Song by Nick Cave

10. Sometimes by James

11. I Walk The Earth by King Biscuit Time

12. Didn't Know What I Was In For by Better Oblivion Community Centre

13. When My Boy Walks Down The Street by The Magnetic Fields

14. The Man Don't Give A F**k by Super Furry Animals

15. All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun by Jeff Buckley and Liz Fraser

16. Are You Lookin' by The Tymes

17. A Real Hero by College & Electric Youth

18. Feelings Gone by Callum Easter

19. Sunday Morning by The Velvet Underground

20. Did I Say by Teenage Fanclub

21. Don't Look Back by Teenage Fanclub

22. Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From by Teenage Fanclub

23. Belfast by Orbital

24. Clouds by The Jayhawks

25. Dreaming Of You by The Coral

26. Everlasting Love by Love Affair

27. Walk Away Renee by The Left Banke

28. Teenage Kicks by The Undertones

29. Shaky Ground by Sneeze

29. Rill Rill by Sleigh Bells

30. I Can Feel Your Love by Felice Taylor

31. The State We're In by The Chemical Brothers w/ Beth Orton

32. Sunshine After The Rain by Ellie Greenwich

33. Losing My Edge by LCD Soundsystem

34. Mondo 77 by Looper

35. Les Fleurs by Minnie Riperton

36. Rat Trap by The Boomtown Rats

37. How High by The Charlatans

38. I Can't Let Go by Evie Sands

39. Pop Song 89 by R.E.M.

40. Summertime Clothes by Animal Collective

41. There She Goes by The Las

42. We're Going To Be Friends by White Stripes

43. Autumn Sweater by Yo La Tengo

44. Sister Rena by Lomond Campbell

45. Revolution by The Beatles

46. Lazarus by The Boo Radleys

47. Wrote For Luck by Happy Mondays

48. American Trilogy by The Delgados

49. Loser by Beck 

50. Silent Sigh by Badly Drawn Boy

51. Comedy by Shack

52. Take The Skinheads Bowling by Camper Van Beethoven

53. Freakscene by Dinosaur Jr

54. Thank You For Being You by The Pastels

55. I Think I'm In Love by Spiritualized

56. Chestnut Mare by The Byrds

57. Cannonball by The Breeders

58. Like A Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan

59. You Make Me Weak At The Knees by Electrelane

60. Lucky by Radiohead

61. Strange Currencies by R.E.M.

61. I Am The Cosmos by Chris Bell

62. Like A Ship (Without A Sail) by Pastor TL Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir

63. Nothing But A Heartache by The Flirtations

64. Made of Stone by The Stone Roses

65. Tonight In Belfast by Orbital, David Holmes, DJ Helen and Mike Garry

66. Anything by Adrianne Lenker

67. I Hold Something In My Hand by Bill Ryder-Jones

68. I Meant Every Word by Burnett Sisters

69. Dream Baby Dream by Suicide

70. Stove by The Lemonheads

71. Red Lady by Phil Cordell

72. Little Fluffy Clouds by The Orb

73. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart by Taylor Swift

74. Turnin' My Heartbeat Up by The M.V.P.'s

75. Razzle Dazzle Rose by Camera Obscura

76. Such Great Heights by The Postal Service

77. The Rat by The Walkmen

78. My God Has A Telephone by Aaron Frazer

79. Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack

80. Sweet and Tender Romance by The McKinleys

81. Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros

82. 69 Police by David Holmes

83. Hey Lisa by David Holmes

84. I Am A Rock by Simon & Garfunkel

85. Kung Fu by Ash

86. Kids by MGMT

87. Slight Return by The Bluetones

88. Give Peace A Chance by John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band

89. Cut Your Hair by Pavement

90. Race for the Prize by The Flaming Lips

91. Waitin' for a Superman by The Flaming Lips

92. Acquiesce by Oasis

93. This Is Music by The Verve

94. Lone Swordsman by Daniel Avery

95. Sparky's Dream by Teenage Fanclub

96. Common People by Pulp

97. Let Our Love Grow Higher by Eula Cooper

Technique by New Order

Technique recorded in Ibiza and released early in January 1989 in perfect time for the Second Summer Of Love, is probably my favourite New Order album.

The band had experimented with synths and beats from the off, leading to some impeccable electro pop like Bizarre Love Triangle, Thieves Like Us, The Perfect Kiss and of course the more experimental side of things with Blue Monday. And if you explore their albums you'll find gems like Your Silent Face and Face-Up.

The band take things to another level with Technique - although the band started recording in Ibiza (in a sh*t hole of a studio - but with a swimming pool according to Peter Hook) they finished it in Peter Gabriels Real World Studios. The discovery of Ecstasy while in Ibiza may have influenced with the sound, style and lyrics on the album, but it didn't help with the work ethic and actually finishing anything.

Still, the 4-months in Ibiza laid a path not only for New Order but for the Hacienda, Manchester and Madchester as Factory Records label mate Bez came out to sample Ibiza and proceeded to import ecstasy to the Hacienda, transforming it overnight. Bez's autobiography and Peter Hook's books on New Order and the Hacienda are all extremely entertaining reads and really highlight how quickly ecstasy transformed a club, sounds, style and a generation.

Opener Fine Time sets the tone; high-hat action leads to synths, beats and squelchy bass. There are all kind of riffs floating about and all coming together to sound incredible. Sumner's vocals are whispery and then a Barry White style vocal kicks in (Sumner with effects) which is typical New Order humour.

At 2 minutes 28 seconds everything cuts out to a thumping beat over a high-hat before everything comes colliding into place after a Hooky bass riff.

New Order being New Order had to perform live on Top of the Pops rather than mime and Peter Hook describes the issues this caused with much hilarity in his book. Bernard Sumner looks he was enjoying himself!

Technique isn't all beats and synths though. All The Way is stunning guitar pop with Sumner singing about taking years to find the truth within himself and not caring what others say. The guitars shimmer, Hooky's bass grooves and it sounds like pure summer.

Love Less is built on a Hooky bass groove and Sumner sings as good as he ever has about a love broken down.

But you know

I watch every step that you make

To find some other fool you can take

Round and Round was another single from the album and it starts with real urgency in the synths before finding a groove. It's two verses and two choruses and then it takes off on a little instrumental journey, the synths programmed for stun, eventually leading back to the chorus.

The picture you see is no portrait of me

It's too real to be shown to someone I don't know

And it's driving me wild

It makes me act like a child

The darkest song on the album is probably Guilty Partner. Sumner's lyrics and song titles throughout the album perhaps indicate where he was at around this time. He injects extra urgency into the chorus and Hook's bass just jams and leads along throughout.

Then we come to Run, my favourite song on the album. This is just guitar pop perfection, Sumner plays a 12-string acoustic at times, then fires off a huge electric guitar riff after the first verse. Sumner is one of my favourite singers and guitar players. His ability to find a melody and let it flow is incredible, as is his knack of simple guitar solos. What a glorious uplifting outro.

Run was remixed and released as a single as Run 2.

Sumner's vocal melodies flow with ease on Mr Disco. The song almost comes as two, going off down a more electro path after 2 minutes 36 seconds before bring the chorus

I can't find my piece of mind

Because I need you with me all of the time

I used to think about you night and day

I used to feel what language cannot say

Oh I can't find you

I can't find my piece of mind without you

Then we progress to the astonishing Vanishing Point, this is New Order at their very, very best in my book. There is a euphoric 90-second intro before Sumner comes in. Musically, this is insanely good the way everything comes together, Hooky's bass before a hands in the air breakdown that then leads to the beats and chorus kicking back in - incredible.

My life ain't no holiday

I've been through the point of no return

I've seen what a man can do

I've seen all the hate of a woman too

Ibiza may have influenced the lyrics on Dream Attack. There is another beautiful intro and Sumner sings about waking up in the sunshine with the sound of music in his head.

There is a classic Sumner contradiction in the chorus; I don't belong to no-one, but I want to be with you before we are led to another piece of Peter Hook genius bass playing. Check how low he goes in the live video from 1989 below.

New Order were untouchable in the 1980's. To go from Ceremony and Movement in 1981 to Technique and Vanishing Point in 1989 is remarkable. Their resilience in the way they came together out of the tragic death of Ian Curtis, the way they experimented, created, pioneered and the sensational run of singles and albums they released is almost unbelievable to look back on.

The band went on to peak commercially in 1990 with the release of the England World Cup song - World In Motion. A lengthy break after the subsequent Republic album was brought to an end with the brilliant comeback single of Crystal and the Get Ready album.

Peter Hook and his band The Light continue their remarkable journey through the back catalogues of Joy Division and New Order in chronological order by playing Technique and Republic at SWG3 in Glasgow on Sunday 30th September.

I'll be there!