It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah is the first 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 Black Grape

Black Grape

Black Grape were a 1990s rock band from England, featuring former members of Happy Mondays. The group's music was funky and eclectic, using varied instrumentation and samples.-History:...

. It was released in 1995. The album was seen as something of a triumphant comeback for both 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...

 and Bez (both formerly of 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...

). The album represented what some considered an evolution of the Happy Mondays sound on their 1990 album 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....

, with more of a hip hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 influence, down mostly to the rapping of Kermit, formerly of the band The Ruthless Rap Assassins

Ruthless Rap Assassins

The Ruthless Rap Assassins were a British hip hop group from Hulme, Manchester, England. The group was formed by MC Kermit La Freak and brothers Dangerous Hinds and Dangerous C .-History:Kermit grew up in Moss Side, Manchester - where he learnt to play violin at the age of 6 - and was...

. The album was a critical

Music journalism

Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...

 and commercial

Commerce

While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...

 success.

The album art features a famous photograph of infamous international terrorist Carlos the Jackal

Carlos the Jackal

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez , better known as Carlos the Jackal, is a Venezuelan pro-Palestinian currently serving a life sentence in France for shooting to death two French secret agents and a Lebanese informer in 1975....

 colored in pop art style. This album art was inspiration for Issue 2 of the Image Comics

Image Comics

Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...

 series, Phonogram.

The opening lines of 'In the Name of the Father' are quoted in the novel The Demented Lands by Alan Warner

Alan Warner

Alan Warner , a Scottish novelist, grew up in Connel, near Oban.He is the author of six novels: the acclaimed Morvern Callar , winner of a Somerset Maugham Award; These Demented Lands , winner of the Encore Award; The Sopranos , winner of the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award; The Man...

.

The song "A Big Day In the North" was used as the opening song in the 1995 scifi movie "Virtuosity

Virtuosity

Virtuosity is a 1995 techno-thriller film directed by Brett Leonard. The movie tells the story of a virtual villain's successful attempt to escape into the "real world". SID 6.7, the villain program portrayed by Russell Crowe, is eventually transplanted into an android body and escapes...

" with Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington

Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

 and Russel Crowe.

The song "Yeah Yeah Brother" featured in the film "The Devil Wears Prada

The Devil Wears Prada (film)

The Devil Wears Prada is a 2006 comedy-drama film, a loose screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel of the same name. It stars Anne Hathaway as Andrea Sachs, a recent college graduate who goes to New York City and gets a job as a co-assistant to powerful and demanding fashion magazine...

" (2006). The line It's Frothy Man in the song is partly a reference to advertising the 1970s soft drink Cresta

Cresta (soft drink)

Cresta was a frothy fruit-flavoured drink produced from the early 1970s through the beginning of the 1990s. It originally came in four different flavours; strawberry, lemon & lime, pineapple and orange with blackcurrent added later. Eventually the drink was withdrawn from sale, reputedly because it...

.

The album was certified platinum by the BPI

British Phonographic Industry

The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...

 on 1 April 1996 and got nominated for the Mercury Prize

Mercury Prize

The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize and currently known as the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established by the British Phonographic Industry and British...

, which lost to Pulp

Pulp (band)

Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker , Russell Senior , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....

's Different Class

Different Class

Different Class is an album by English Britpop band Pulp. It was released in 1995 at the height of Britpop, and led to the band being regarded as part of that movement. Two of the singles on the album – "Common People" and "Disco 2000" – were especially notable, and helped propel Pulp to...

.

Track listing

1. "Reverend Black Grape
   Reverend Black Grape
   For Reverend Black see The Rockin' Vickers"Reverend Black Grape" is a song which was released in May 1995 by UK band Black Grape. It was the first single to be taken from their debut album It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah and peaked at #9 in the UK chart.The song was co-produced by Danny...
   
   " – 5:12
2. "In the Name of the Father" – 4:21
3. "Tramazi Parti" – 4:45
4. "Kelly's Heroes" – 4:22
5. "Yeah Yeah Brother" – 4:10
6. "A Big Day in the North" – 4:10
7. "Shake Well Before Opening" – 5:40
8. "Submarine" – 3:50
9. "Shake Your Money" – 4:13
10. "Little Bob" – 5:33

Personnel

• 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
• Kermit - vocals
• Psycho - vocals
• Helen Vigneau - backing vocals
• Paul "Wags" Wagstaff - guitar
• Anthony Guarderas - bass
• Jed Lynch
  Jed Lynch
  Ged Lynch is an English percussionist and composer.Lynch had early commercial success drumming with the Ruthless Rap Assassins, which included Kermit. In 1989 he joined The Icicle Works. He and Kermit joined Shaun Ryder and Bez in Black Grape in 1993. They had a No...
  
   - drums, percussion
• Danny Saber
  Danny Saber
  Danny Saber is a Los Angeles, California musician, audio engineer, record producer, and remixer. A former member of Black Grape and Agent Provocateur, Saber plays guitar, bass, organ, and keyboards, and is also a prominent Los Angeles DJ....
  
   - guitars, bass, keyboards, hammond organ, programming, mixing, engineering, production
• Stephen Lironi - keyboards, hammond organ, slide guitar, programming, production
• Martin Slattery
  Martin Slattery
  Martin Slattery is a British multi-instrumentalist best known as a member of Joe Strummer's backing band The Mescaleros. He played there amongst others electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, saxophone, and flute. He is currently in the band The Hours alongside Antony Genn.- References :...
  
   - saxophone
• Michael Scherchen - programming, engineering
• Bez - vibes/dance
• Phil Ault, Ewan Davis - additional engineering
• Tom Lord-Alge
  Tom Lord-Alge
  Tom Lord-Alge is a four-time Grammy Award–winning record producer and mixer. He is the youngest of Vivian Lord's five children, Mark Lord-Alge, Lisa Lord-Alge, Chris Lord-Alge, Jeff Lord-Alge and Tom Lord-Alge...
  
   - mixing
• Ted Jensen
  Ted Jensen
  Ted Jensen is an American recording engineer. Jensen is the chief mastering engineer at Sterling Sound. He started his career as a mastering engineer in 1976 and is currently the most active Mastering Engineer in the industry...
  
   - mastering