The Ivors Inspiration Award - Happy Mondays

No less a star than Oasis’ Noel Gallagher once described Happy Mondays as a “heroic” band, adding that the Manchester group were – along with their counterparts The Stone Roses – the reason “why I started in music”.

Inspiring the most successful songwriter of his generation is probably enough to justify the Mondays picking up The Ivors Inspiration gong in itself. But in fact, while their career may have been chaotic at times, the Mondays have encouraged countless bands to make their mark. The music press may still resound to tales of the band’s legendary excess, but there was much more to the original line-up – Shaun Ryder on vocals, his brother Paul on bass, Mark Day on guitar, Paul Davis on keyboards and Gary Whelan on drums – than the tales of hellraising that followed them from Moss Side to Barbados.

Their early work, in particular, was mind-blowing, as songs such as 24 Hour Party People, Wrote For Luck and Lazyitis introduced the world to their maverick, genre-splicing musical approach, not to mention the freeform lyrical genius of frontman Ryder.

The head of Happy Mondays’ record label Factory, the late, great Tony Wilson, once put Ryder’s words “on a par with WB Yeats”. And, while it seems unlikely Yeats ever penned a couplet like Kinky Afro’s opening salvo of “Son, I’m 30/I only went with your mother ‘cos she’s dirty”, Ryder’s grasp of the surreal, scattershot soundbite elevated Happy Mondays into one of the most important bands of their era.

As their career progressed, they incorporated more of the dance grooves they heard in Manchester’s clubs into their sound, helping to give birth to the Madchester/baggy scene that gripped Britain in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s. But their classic 1990 album Pills ‘N’ Thrills ‘N’ Bellyaches would have succeeded in any era, built as it was on irresistible anthems such as God’s Cop and Loose Fit.

The Mondays’ original incarnation came to a messy end after final album Yes Please! in 1992, although their regular reunions remain in high demand on the live circuit. But their real legacy was the huge list of artists they’ve influenced. Everyone from Robbie Williams to Kasabian contains a little bit of Happy Mondays, and anyone out there keeping rock’n’roll’s maverick spirit alive owes Shaun, Paul, Mark, Paul and Gary the greatest of thanks.