...and we've got a song from the Manchester Factory school, and a song that has grown on me quite a bit. I remember when they first emerged from the Manchester scene--this was their first American single, from 1990's Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches--I was not impressed much at all. I found them kinda weak, like New Order without the sheen of gloom and regret. Admittedly, I didn't know that it was a cover of 'He's Gonna Step On You Again' by John Kongos originally intended for Rubiyat, the 40th Anniversary Elektra Records album that had their present roster of acts covering songs by their original roster. But even by that standards, 90's me would probably have written the Happy Mondays off as a not very funny joke...
'00s me, however...sort of likes the breezy, funky feel of it. This band would get a little darker as it progressed through the 90's, but here it's all about having fun and making you dance...and there's nothing wrong with that a'tall. It's not for nothing that the Mondays became a significant act in the creation of rave culture, which was a dominant form of youth culture for years. And it's got a little more substance than what passes for dance music these days (I'm looking at you, (Am I A) Lady Gaga....). Is it something I'd want to hear every day? No. But it is something that stood up to the ravages of time and is still listenable twenty years later, something I guarantee you won't be the case with 90 percent of the autotuned, shallower than a drop of water, dance music we're suffering through right now.
Here's the video. I rather like how, even though it's a performance video at its core, it manages to exemplify the easy-groove attitude of the band at the time....
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