When the Happy Mondays emerged from the mid-80s in their home of Manchester, England, they were known as hooligans at best. Led by singer Shaun Ryder, his bassist brother Paul, guitarist Mark Day, keyboardist Paul Davis, drummer Gary Whelan, and percussionist/mascot Bez. After a battle of the bands contest in the famed Hacienda nightclub, the band won last place but Factory Records chief and co-founder Tony Wilson signed the band. After working with early singles with Joy Division/New Order’s Bernard Sumner, the band released their 1987 debut album “Squirrel & G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carn’t Smile” that was produced by the legendary Velvets Underground co-founder John Cale.
Though the debut was unfocused and messy because the band simply couldn’t play a note, they did have promise thanks to Shaun Ryder’s gritty, catchy lyrics and the band’s mesh of British indie rock aesthetics and dance music. When it was time for the band to release a second album, former Joy Division producer Martin Hannett, was approached to producing the band despite his problems with Tony Wilson. Yet, Hannett and the Mondays did share their love for drugs, notably Ecstasy, where the drug helped inspire on one of the finest albums of British indie music that would launch the Madchester movement of the late 80s/early 90s in Britain entitled “Bummed”.
Released in 1988 with Manchester’s house music scene was growing in the U.K., “Bummed” was an album that really fulfilled the Monday’s gritty sound of indie rock, funk, hip-hop, dance, and psychedelic textures with the hazy, tough lyrics of Shaun Ryder. With Martin Hannett’s masterful, crisp production, “Bummed” founded the tone and sound that the Mondays were looking for that would lead them to their greatest effort in 1990 with “Pills ‘n’ Thrills & Bellyaches”. With the band growing as musicians and putting in more cut-and-paste style of hip-hop sampling through lyrics and melodies, notably the Beatles’ “Ticket To Ride” in “Lazyitis”. With its mesh of psychedelic grooves and house textures, “Bummed” is one of the most definitive albums of the Madchester music scene that would come to fruition a year later where everyone wanted to be Mancunian.
The album’s first song “Country Song (Sad C*nt From Preston)” is a strange, psychedelic-country song with additional pianos from Steve Hopkins, who also does banjo and warbling percussions from Dave Hassell. Leading the charge with the song is Shaun Ryder and his hazy, wailing baritone vocals spurred by his dirty, drug-induced lyrics with marijuana references and violence. The song features a nice, smooth mid-tempo groove that has a nice, stony feel that include Mark Day’s guitar slide but Ryder’s lyrics gives the song a toughness that couldn’t be overlooked. “Moving In With” is a more traditional sound for the Mondays as the song features a faster, bouncier rhythm from drummer Gary Whelan and bassist Paul Ryder with Day bringing more droning guitar riffs to Shaun Ryder’s hazy, snarling vocals. Singing more obscene lyrics of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll, Shaun Ryder is the man while being accompanied by Day and keyboardist Paul Davis for this danceable but rocking song that is something to dance to without looking like a wimp.
“Mad Cyril” is a more blazing track with wailing keyboard riffs and guitar slides along with its pulsating rhythm and percussion where the band gets a bit funky due to Paul Ryder’s bass and Shaun’s gritty, street-wise lyrics that conveys the madness of drug abuse, even though the band enjoy the drugs. Giving the band a perfect, sonic groove is Martin Hannett in the production booth where helps give the band that wailing, fast pacing to the song with Shaun’s wailing, Mancunian vocal range. “Fat Lady Wrestlers” is a more mid-tempo driven track with a slow-funk groove and droning guitar slides with Shaun Ryder’s dirty lyrics of addiction and its dealers filled with strange ambiguities and words that Ryder is clever enough to convey in its toughness. With its danceable groove, the song has that mix of rock, funk, and house that has that bopping rhythm. “Performance” is a smoother track in its rhythm and tone but with Day’s funky guitars and Shaun Ryder’s lyrics, the song doesn’t go soft. The song’s sexual lyrics are filled with a lot of ugliness and sometimes, very offensive in reference to eating. Here, the Mondays with their sleazy, rocking dance song just go for it and be uncompromising in their bad boy ways.
“Boom” is a bonus track from the U.S. edition of the album (which was later replaced by a remix of “Lazyitis” with Karl Denver on vocals for “One Armed Boxer”). With Paul Ryder’s slap bass riffs and Day’s droning guitars, the song is another funk-drenched track with wailing organ accompaniments from Davis and bouncy beats from Whelan. Shaun Ryder is truly the man with his drug-induced lyrics and his love for Ecstasy where he channels that psychedelic trip to his wailing, baritone vocal style. “Brain Dead” is another drug-induced song with some swanky funk and shimmering synthesizer melodies spurred by the break-bouncing rhythms of Whelan and Paul Ryder. Shaun Ryder of course, taking the lead with his wailing, stoned vocals and his demeaning lyrics filled with violent references to drugs and the streets.
The best track single from this album is “Wrote For Luck (W.F.L.)” with its break-pounding beats from Whelan and Paul Ryder’s funk-drenched bass accompanied by the swanky, charging guitars of Day. Shaun Ryder then brings a more sneering vocal style to the song with his lyrical prowess of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. This song is a definitive style of Madchester with pulsating, infectious beats and Ryder’s stoned vocals set with its house-like grooves from Hannett’s masterful production and Davis’ keyboards. Lasting nearly six-minutes, “W.F.L.” is by far one of the most brilliant singles ever written and produced of the 1980s and its infectious dance ethics remains fresh.
“Bring A Friend” is a slower but funkier track with its slap bass licks and swanky guitars along with infectious rhythms from Whelan, Dave Hassell and Bez on percussions, and Shaun Ryder’s sneering vocals. With his growling, drug-laden lyrics, Ryder goes more into the dark, fun subject while being his bad boy persona. With its pulsating beats and funky textures, this song is a standout with Ryder in tow. “Do It Better” is a more pounding track with Whelan’s drums and Day’s swanky, indie-fused guitar riffs. With Day’s melodic synthesizer accompaniment, Ryder brings another song of drugs and sex with his demeaning, humorous tone. Though the song’s subject matter might be uncomfortable for some, Ryder’s cleverness in lyrics proved he could make a disturbing subject funny, even if it’s for the wrong reasons.
“Lazyitis” is an infectious, melodic gem with its Indian-like sitar guitar riffs and psychedelic textures while still relying on Whelan and Paul Ryder’s bouncy rhythm. Shaun Ryder again, sings more lyrics about the street life of Manchester and its violent behavior while ripping off a melody of the Beatles “A Ticket To Ride” in response to a recent suit their publishers had over the song “Desmond” that contained Beatles lyrics and melodies. Here, Ryder just gets more stoned and brash with his vocals and lyrics while Day brings a blazing guitar solo to the song’s mesh of psychedelic and house. The final track is a remix of “W.F.L.” by former Depeche Mode co-founder Vince Clarke, who also co-founded Yaz and Erasure. The club mix of “W.F.L.” includes more pulsating sequencers and synthesizer textures for a more rhythmic, danceable tone for the clubs, notably the Hacienda in Manchester. While the original track is rockier, the remix is well done since it stays true to its grittiness while making it an infectious dance track.
While “Bummed” isn’t as good as their follow-up release, “Pills ‘n’ Thrills & Bellyaches”, it’s still a definitive, majestic album from the Happy Mondays. With some credit going to Martin Hannett for his masterfully detailed production, “Bummed” would serve as the breaking point for the band where a year later, a popular single and EP would follow to spur the rise of Madchester with counterparts the Stone Roses, Charlatans UK, Inspiral Carpets, and old school acts like New Order, Morrissey, and Vini Reilly. Unfortunately, “Bummed” remains out-of-print in the U.S. as Factory Records continues to be in its rebuilding stage. For fans that loved “Pills ‘n’ Thrills & Bellyaches” should get “Bummed” since it’s an album that has everything you could want from the Happy Mondays.
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