Happy Mondays

Formed in Salford, near Manchester, in 1980, Happy Mondays began in the local post-punk scene before blending indie guitars, danceable rhythms, funk, house and psychedelic touches into a formula that became a hallmark of the Madchester scene. Built around Shaun Ryder, Paul Ryder, Gaz Whelan, Paul Davis and Mark Day — joined on stage by Bez — Happy Mondays emerged on Factory Records in the mid-1980s with the EP Forty Five (1985) and the album Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) (1987). Their sound crystallised with Bummed in 1988, before moving more directly into rave culture and dance-rock on Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches (1990), featuring Rowetta on vocals, and later Yes Please! (1992). The band split in 1993 and underwent several reunions from 1999, while Shaun Ryder and Bez pursued Black Grape in parallel. A new incarnation released Uncle Dysfunktional in 2007. Since the 2000s Happy Mondays have alternated tours, festival appearances and sporadic comebacks with different line-ups, remaining associated with Manchester’s musical history and that very British intersection of alternative rock and dance music.