I grew up primarily on classic rock. I wasn't until 10 years ago I started brodening my horizons and listening to "alternative" and "indie" and "new wave".

After watching 24 Hour Party People a couple years ago, I decided to get Happy Mondays' Pill & Thirlls and Bellyaches. Wow, one of the best records I have ever heard. Very little throwaway tracks on this one and they still sound fresh as much of the "Madchester" scene music does today. Any other must have Happy Mondays to get?

Ha, a friend of mine just gave me Black Grape's It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah. I think it involves some dude named Bez from Happy Mondays (just now learning about these cats)...this record looks to be the shit.

You might like...

Ride
Inspiral Carpets
early Blur
early Charlatans
that period XTC


I dont know what aspect of HM you like though, so who knows...

also check out The Stone Roses, the band that was front and center of the Madchester craze along with The Happy Mondays.

Love the Stone Roses (even Second Coming)

Pills has five or six truly great songs, but the production is way too thin and the songwriting is way too inconsistent (the first side, after "God's Cop," is pretty rough). Bummed is actually the far superior album--same shaky songwriting consistency, but better pacing, better filler and MUCH better production. Both fairly classic albums.

I haven't heard the first or last album, because nobody likes either, but at the very least, "24 Hour Party People," "Tart Tart" and "Freaky Dancing" are very worth searching out. And the Hallelujah EP is fairly essential as well.

Pretty much agree with Bill but have to say that the production by Oakenfold on P&TnB sounds jarring listening today in that it predicts the way in a lot of records that straddled the rock/dance divide in the 90's would sound.

I may well be voting for both it and Bummed.

dude i hear you, i discovered 24 hour party people a couple years ago and that album blew my mind

martin hanett has some compliations out, you might wanna check those out

Martin.

Madchester

Morley

Great singles band. GREAT!

Bummed is the better album.

a casualty of self-mythologizing if ever there was one.

if shaun ryder had devoted a tenth of the time he spent coked out of his mind in the carribbean islands to the music the Mondays were creating, I have no doubt they would've gone down as one of the greats.

as it stands, they've got a legacy propped up by some colorful drug escapades, designed to distract from their dearth of musical accomplishments.

that Madchester compilation is brutal. no fucking way were Teenage Fanclub, Suede and Depeche Mode part of that scene and sound.

Got my hands on the 2 disc editions of Bummed and P&TnB and having a bit of a rave up as the primal screams might say.

Yeah, and World Party's "Ship of Fools"?!?

i have seen some US dates spring up for happy mondays opening for psychedelic furs this fall. who's even in happy mondays anymore? does it have any potential to be a good show?

Great band. I thought "Uncle Dysfunktional" was a lot of fun, but it appears to have gone completely under the radar.

looks like i will be getting blind drunk on Oct 14th.

sean, bez & a gaz are in

sean has cleaned up a bit (& if you have the 2 disc 24 hpp with th einterviews you'll see why he had to - what a state!)

saw them at summercase in madrid in 2005/6 (can't remember which but think was 2006) & they were fun
not as good as back in the day, but the songs still worked

first time i saw them was bez free supporting new order in 89, they were much rawer then

Suit looks like a loose fit.