Bummed was the second album by British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 band Happy Mondays

Happy Mondays

Happy Mondays are an English alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day, keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan...

. It was released in November 1988.

Warner later released a 2CD Collector's Edition on . This release collected the original 1988 album with a second disc of remixes from the era.

Production

The album's sound is noticeably different from any preceding or succeeding albums in the Madchester

Madchester

Madchester was a music scene that developed in Manchester, England, towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The music that emerged from the scene mixed alternative rock, psychedelic rock and dance music...

 genre. This can be explained by the producer, Martin Hannett

Martin Hannett

Martin Hannett , sometimes credited as Martin Zero, was a record producer and an original partner in Factory Records with Tony Wilson...

, who was notable for pioneering use of electronics in music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

. What is most noticeable production-wise on this album is the use of echo

Echo (phenomenon)

In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound, arriving at the listener some time after the direct sound. Typical examples are the echo produced by the bottom of a well, by a building, or by the walls of an enclosed room and an empty room. A true echo is a single...

 and reverb on the drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

 sound; while some appreciate this production work for being groundbreaking and unique, others have criticised it for the claustrophobic effects it renders on the music.

Remixes

Several of the songs on this album were later remix

Remix

A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....

ed. These included "Mad Cyril", "Wrote For Luck" and "Lazyitis". "Mad Cyril" was remixed into "Mad Cyril (Hello Girls Mix)", "Wrote For Luck" was remixed twice, firstly into "WFL" and then "Wrote For Luck (Think About The Future Mix)"; Vince Clarke

Vince Clarke

Vince Clarke is an English synthpop musician and songwriter. Clarke has been involved with a number of successful groups, including Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly and Erasure....

 remixed the former, Paul Oakenfold

Paul Oakenfold

Paul Mark Oakenfold is a British record producer and a trance DJ.-Early Career: 1979–84:Paul Oakenfold's career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band. He describes his early life as a "bedroom deejay" in a podcasted interview with Vancouver's 24 Hours, stating he grew...

 the latter. "Lazyitis" was remixed into "Lazyitis (One-Armed Boxer Remix)" which featured Country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 legend Karl Denver

Karl Denver

Karl Denver was a Scottish singer, who, with his trio had a series of UK hit singles in the early 1960s. Most famous of these was a 1961 version of "Wimoweh", which showed off Denver's falsetto yodelling register...

 on guest vocals. Paul Oakenfold would become vastly important to the Happy Mondays when he produced their 1990 opus

Masterpiece

Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....

 Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches

Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches

Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches was the third album by British band Happy Mondays. It was released in 1990 and was produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne at Eden Studios in London....

. These remixes are significant as they were a sign that the Happy Mondays were beginning to embrace the burgeoning rave

Acid house

Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...

 scene, then taking place in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

Cultural impact

This album arrived at a time when the Madchester

Madchester

Madchester was a music scene that developed in Manchester, England, towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The music that emerged from the scene mixed alternative rock, psychedelic rock and dance music...

 genre was only beginning to formulate into what could be termed a "scene", closely connected to acid house

Acid house

Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...

. However, on this album the Happy Mondays played mostly pure rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

, with funk rhythms played on the drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s and bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 and electronic flourishes showcased by the keyboard

Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

 melodies

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

. The real dance

Dance music

Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...

 influence shone through when the songs were remixed by people such as Paul Oakenfold

Paul Oakenfold

Paul Mark Oakenfold is a British record producer and a trance DJ.-Early Career: 1979–84:Paul Oakenfold's career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band. He describes his early life as a "bedroom deejay" in a podcasted interview with Vancouver's 24 Hours, stating he grew...

, as described above. This was when the band first made a cultural impact on a regional and national level.

Reception

In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at #18 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s".

Original Release

All tracks written by The Happy Mondays except 10 (Happy Mondays/Lennon/McCartney)

1. "Country Song" – 3:24 - Originally called "Some Cunt from Preston"
2. "Moving in With" – 3:36
3. "Mad Cyril" – 4:36
4. "Fat Lady Wrestlers" – 3:25
5. "Performance" – 4:09
6. "Brain Dead" – 3:10
7. "Wrote for Luck" – 6:05
8. "Bring a Friend" – 3:45
9. "Do It Better" – 2:29
10. "Lazyitis" – 2:48

2007 Collector's Edition

CD1

1. "Country Song" – 3:24
2. "Moving in With" – 3:36
3. "Mad Cyril" – 4:36
4. "Fat Lady Wrestlers" – 3:25
5. "Performance" – 4:09
6. "Brain Dead" – 3:10
7. "Wrote for Luck" – 6:05
8. "Bring a Friend" – 3:45
9. "Do It Better" – 2:29
10. "Lazyitis" – 2:48
11. "Lazyitis" [*/mix] – 2:44
12. "W.F.L." [*/mix] – 5:47

CD2

1. "Wrote For Luck" (7" Version)
2. "Hallelujah" (Club Mix)
3. "Wrote For Luck" (12" Version)
4. "Hallelujah" (MacColl Mix)
5. "Lazyitis (One Armed Boxer)" (Feat. Karl Denver)
6. "WFL" (Think About The Future)
7. "Hallelujah" (12" version)
8. "Kilamenjaro" (aka 'Rave On')
9. "WFL" (Vince Clarke 12" Mix)
10. "Hallelujah" (Deadstock Mix)

Band

• Shaun Ryder
  Shaun Ryder
  Shaun William Ryder, aka X, is an English musician, occasional newspaper columnist, actor, author, singer-songwriter and television personality, best known as lead singer for Happy Mondays and Black Grape – and more recently as the runner-up of the 2010 version of the British TV Show I'm a...
  
   - Vocals
• Paul "Horse" Ryder
  Paul Ryder
  Paul Ryder is the former bass player and a founding member of the Manchester band Happy Mondays. He was an active member of the band from its inception in 1983 through to 2000 and was often credited for giving the band their trademark groove upon which some of their biggest hits were built...
  
   - Bass
• Mark "Cow" Day - Guitar
• Paul Davis - Keyboards
• Gary Whelan - Drums
• Mark "Bez" Berry - Bez

Recorded

• August 1988
• At the Slaughterhouse, Great Driffeld, East Yorkshire
• Overdubs and Vocal tracking recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, Greater Manchester.

Engineering Credits

• The Slaughterhouse
• Colin Richardson
• John Spence
• John Pennington.
• Strawberry
• Laurence Diana

External links

• Review from Stylus Magazine
  Stylus Magazine
  Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....