• 1980-

  Shaun RyderVocals

  Paul RyderBass1980-2022

  Mark "Cow" DayGuitar

  Paul DavisKeyboards, samples1980-1993, 2012-2015

  Gary "Gaz" WhelanDrums

  Mark "Bez" BerryDancing, maracas

  RowettaVocals, percussion1990-1993, 2012-2024
• Their most popular song, "Step On," is a cover of a 1971 song called "He's Gonna Step On You Again" by John Kongos. Happy Mondays used the same lyrics but took the song in a very different musical direction and added spoken bits like "You're twistin' my melon man" and "you talk so hip."
• Happy Mondays are very much associated with British rave culture, so much so that the 2002 movie on the subject, 24 Hour Party People, is named after one of their songs.
• Lead singer Shaun Ryder is their lyricist. Early on, Tony Wilson, their boss at Factory Records, told him he wrote like the Irish poet WB Yeats. Ryder didn't know who that was but learned it was high praise.
• When they formed, Shaun Ryder wanted to be their drummer, so he got a drum kit and quickly learned that he couldn't play them very well. To stay in the band, he had to become their singer and main songwriter.
• Shaun Ryder is very artistic and intelligent, but he was terrible at school. That's largely because he's dyslexic, and he naturally writes with his left hand. At primary school, there was no diagnosis of his dyslexia, and they forced him to write with his right hand, which made a mess of his handwriting.
• Happy Mondays are one of the few groups with an official member whose primary function is dancing on stage. That would be Mark Berry, known as "Bez." He does shake maracas when the band performs, so sometimes he's listed as a percussionist, but really he's there to create a vibe with his dancing.
• Shaun Ryder credits the drug ecstasy for helping sharpen their musical focus starting with their 1988 album Bummed. "We was all taking E at that time," he told Classic Pop magazine. "[Ecstasy] just chilled us out."
  
  Ecstasy may have had some creative benefit, but Sean and his brother Paul soon got addicted to heroin, which fractured the band and led to their 1993 split.
• The Happy Mondays have had fits and starts throughout their career, starting when they split up in 1993 as egos and drug use took their toll. Their first reunion was in 1999, when they embarked on a world tour. They split two years later, had another run from 2004-2010, then got back together in 2012.
• In 1993, after Happy Mondays broke up the first time, Shaun Ryder and Bez formed Black Grape, a group that leaned into funk. Many had written off Ryder at this point as an irredeemable junkie, but he proved them wrong when the first Black Grape album, It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah, went to #1 in the UK when it was released in 1995. The title is a reference to his newfound sobriety.
• Paul Ryder died suddenly on July 15, 2022 at age 58, just hours before the band were due to play the Kubix Festival in Sunderland. The coroner listed the cause of death as ischaemic heart disease and diabetes.

Comments

More Songfacts:

All StarSmash Mouth

"All Star" was written as a confidence builder for fans who were bullied for liking Smash Mouth.

MacArthur ParkRichard Harris

Richard Harris, who played Professor Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies, had a hit in 1968 with "MacArthur Park."

Bad RomanceLady Gaga

Lady Gaga is a big fan of horror movies; listen for the names of these three Alfred Hitchcock films in the lyrics to "Bad Romance": Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window.

The Battle Of EvermoreLed Zeppelin

"The Battle of Evermore" is the only song Zeppelin ever recorded with a guest vocalist. It features Sandy Denny from Fairport Convention duetting with Robert Plant.

Put Your Records OnCorinne Bailey Rae

Corinne Bailey Rae's 2006 hit "Put Your Records On" borrows the opening line ("Three little birds sat on my window") from the Bob Marley song "Three Little Birds." Both songs have the same message: Don't worry, because every little thing's going to be alright.

Coming HomeDiddy - Dirty Money

"Coming Home" by Diddy - Dirty Money was originally iwritten for for T.I., who was getting out of prison at the time.

Editor's Picks

Lita FordSongwriter Interviews

Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

Jon Oliva of Trans-Siberian OrchestraSongwriter Interviews

Writing great prog metal isn't easy, especially when it's for 60 musicians.

Joe Elliott of Def LeppardSongwriter Interviews

The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.

Tony Joe WhiteSongwriter Interviews

The writer of "Rainy Night in Georgia" and "Polk Salad Annie" explains how he cooks up his Louisiana swamp rock.

Early Days of MTVFact or Fiction

If you can recall the days when MTV played videos, you know that there are lots of stories to tell. See if you can spot the real ones.