Happy Mondays

Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up consisted of brothers Shaun Ryder (vocals) and Paul Ryder (bass), Gaz Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry later joined the band onstage as a dancer and maracas player. Rowetta began working with the band as guest second vocalist in 1990. They were originally signed to Tony Wilson's Factory Records label.

The group's work bridged the Manchester alternative rock music of the 1980s and the emerging UK rave scene, drawing influence from funk, house, and psychedelia to pioneer the Madchester sound. They experienced their commercial peak with the releases Bummed (1988), Madchester Rave On (1989), and Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches (1990), with the latter going platinum in the UK. Happy Mondays disbanded in 1993. They reformed several times and released the reunion album Uncle Dysfunktional (2007).

The band were signed to Factory Records after passing a demo tape to Phil Saxe, a trader at Manchester Arndale who was on friendly terms with Mike Pickering, a DJ at The Haçienda nightclub. Saxe became the band's manager.

Their first release was the "Forty Five EP", often called the "Delightful EP" after its first track. It was released on Factory Records in September 1985. Their first album, Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out), was released in 1987 and was produced by John Cale. This was followed by two further albums: Bummed, in 1988, produced by Martin Hannett, and Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, in 1990, produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne. The latter, recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, went platinum in the UK, selling more than 350,000 copies. Singles "Step On" and "Kinky Afro" from this album both reached number 5 in the UK singles chart.

By the late 1980s, the Happy Mondays were an important part of the Manchester music scene and personified rave culture. The line-up of the band during this first and most important ten-year phase never changed, and the six original members Shaun Ryder, Paul Ryder, Gaz Whelan, Paul Davis, Mark Day, and Bez remained a tight unit until the first incarnation came to an end in 1993. The band headlined the Friday night at Glastonbury Festival 1990. In November of that year, Paul McCartney commented in NME: "I saw the Happy Mondays on TV, and they reminded me of the Beatles in their 'Strawberry Fields' phase."

Musically, the band fused indie pop guitars with a rhythmic style that owed much to house music, Krautrock, funk, and northern soul. Much of their music was remixed by popular DJs, emphasising the dance influences even further. In 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.^{[citation needed]} One of their most popular songs is "Lazyitis (One Armed Boxer)", featuring a surreal duet between Ryder and Karl Denver. In February 1991, Happy Mondays played in Rock in Rio 2 at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and went to meet Ronnie Biggs in Brazil with Piers Morgan, who at the time was a writer for The Sun newspaper. The Mondays influenced many bands around the Northwest and beyond, including the Stone Roses, Oasis, and the Charlatans. A multi-city US tour followed, with the group returning home early in May 1991. In 1991, they played to 30,000 people at Elland Road, Leeds, said to be the Happy Mondays' own Spike Island. By July that year, they revealed details of a fourteen track 'official bootleg' live album, Baby Big Head, recorded at the Elland Road concert. The official record label release, Live followed later in the year.

Yes Please! followed in 1992, produced by Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, recorded at Eddy Grant's studio in Barbados. The album was a commercial failure that bankrupted Factory Records.

Happy 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. Seven years passed, and in 1999 Happy Mondays re-formed, with founding members Shaun Ryder, Paul Ryder, Gaz Whelan and Bez but without Paul Davis and Mark Day. In the place of Day and Davis were Wags and a number of other session musicians including Ben Leach who had once been a member of The Farm, percussionist Lea Mullen, and rapper "Nuts". Also appearing with the new line-up was soul diva Rowetta Satchell (who sang back-up on Pills, Thrills, and Bellyaches, as well as Yes Please!). The band toured extensively in the UK and internationally, selling out the 20,000 capacity Manchester Arena and two nights at Brixton Academy, and released a new single, a cover version of the Thin Lizzy hit "The Boys Are Back in Town". The single reached number 24 in the UK Singles Chart. They provided support for Oasis on their "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" arena tour, played at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, numerous European festivals including T in the Park and also toured Australia the same year. The band once more ceased their activity in 2001 following the departure of bass player and founding member Paul Ryder.