Happy Mondays

Salford and Factory

Happy Mondays began in Salford in 1980, when brothers Shaun Ryder and Paul Ryder started the band. Shaun sang and Paul played bass, and the early line-up was completed by Gaz Whelan on drums, Paul Davis on keyboards and Mark Day on guitar. Mark "Bez" Berry joined the live act as a dancer and maracas player. They signed to Tony Wilson's Factory Records, and their first release was the Forty Five EP in September 1985.

The debut album, Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out), came out in mid-April 1987. John Cale produced it at Fire House in London over two weeks in December 1986. The first copies carried a track called "Desmond", which borrowed heavily from "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da". It was replaced by "24 Hour Party People", recorded at Suite Sixteen Studios in Rochdale.

Bummed

For the second album Factory turned to Martin Hannett. Bummed was recorded in August 1988 at The Slaughterhouse, a residential studio in Driffield, with engineers Colin Richardson and John Spence. Hannett then took the tapes to Strawberry Studios in Stockport, where he added percussion, piano and banjo. The banjo was played by Derek "Horseman" Ryder, father of Shaun and Paul. The album was released on 21 November 1988, and much of its lyrical content drew on the 1970 film Performance.

Bummed reached number 2 on the UK Independent Albums Chart and number 59 on the main UK Albums Chart in January 1990. Its lead single, Wrote for Luck, was remixed by Paul Oakenfold and Vince Clarke and reissued as "W.F.L." in September 1989. The BBC's Daryl Easlea wrote in 2007 that with that remix "Madchester as we know it was born." The closing track, Lazy Itis, became a single in a version that paired Ryder with the yodeller Karl Denver. In November 1989 the Madchester Rave On EP followed. Its lead track "Hallelujah" reached the UK top twenty and brought the band their first Top of the Pops appearance.

Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches

In 1990 Oakenfold and Steve Osborne produced "Step On", a cover of John Kongos's 1971 song. It was the first time either of them had produced a record. The band then recorded Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles from 23 July 1990, finishing at Eden Studios in London in September. Oakenfold told Uncut that the players were recorded one at a time, with the drums first and Ryder's vocals last, "very late in the evening". The approach was that of a DJ building a track from the rhythm up.

The album was released on 5 November 1990. It reached number 4 in the UK, was certified platinum there in March 1991 and reached number 89 in the US. The singles were Step On, Kinky Afro and Loose Fit, and God's Cop was the track the band wanted next. "Kinky Afro" reached number one on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The band headlined the Friday night at Glastonbury in 1990, and that November Paul McCartney told NME what the group made him think of.

they reminded me of the Beatles in their 'Strawberry Fields' phase

Paul McCartney, NME, November 1990

Yes Please! and the split

Yes Please! was released on 21 September 1992. Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth produced it at Blue Wave Studio in Barbados and at Comfort's Place Studio in Lingfield, Surrey. It reached number 14 in the UK. Factory Records went into administration the following month, and the band broke up in early 1993. Shaun Ryder and Bez then formed Black Grape.

Reunions

Happy Mondays re-formed in 1999 and had a UK number 24 with a cover of Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town". They stopped again in 2001, and the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People gave them a fictionalised screen version. The band re-formed again in 2004 and released the album Uncle Dysfunktional in 2007. In January 2012 Shaun Ryder announced the return of the original line-up.

Later tours marked the anniversaries of both essential albums. A 16-date UK tour in November 2013 celebrated 25 years of Bummed, and the band performed Pills in full in 2015 and again in Australia and New Zealand in 2019. In December 2024 the band and Rowetta announced that she would no longer perform with them, ending a 34-year association. A UK and Ireland tour with The Farm and Northside was announced for March and April 2026 to mark 35 years since Pills.