About Happy Mondays

If the Stone Roses added a Beatles-esque tunefulness to the Madchester melee, then the Mondays brought with them the swagger of the Stones. Reckless, lawless and, if legend is to be believed, regularly legless, their piratical smash'n'grab on urban gloom, drug rock excess and acid house euphoria inspired a generation to 'get on one.' If they peaked with the string of singles released from third album Pills'N'Thrills'N'Bellyaches, their bleak comedown album follow-up Yes Please — produced by Talking Heads' Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth — remains a lost classic. Irregular reunions have failed to dim their wayward legend. Paul Moody