Steve Jones’ famous quote “Actually, we’re not into music..we’re into chaos” rarely threw itself itself more appropriately forward than to the world of Tony Wilson’s Factory Records, or indeed to the label’s enfants terribles the Happy Mondays. In the course of eighteen bizarre and tumultuous months they would both it’s saviour and destroyer, but even through the prism of three and half decades, the story absolutely deserves to be retold.
Wilson himself was a late and sceptical adopter of the acid house music scene his own club had played a huge part in establishing. He was similarly unimpressed with the idea too of having DJ Paul Oakenfold produce the Mondays’ follow up to 1988’s Bummed, but after his remix of Wrote For Luck and the unlikely top five hit Step On, Shaun Ryder and co. were insistent.
Decamping to LA, Oakenfold challenged the band to elaborate on his ideas in the studio, a freestyling approach Ryder thrived on. Pills ‘n’ Thrills And Bellyaches as a result was a supremely funky, nasty, sleazoid realisation of the band’s vision, from the twisted wisdom of Kinky Afro to Donovan’s tongue in cheek hippiedom. The process knocked off their rough edges but created new ones – Loose Fit’s references to air force bases and Armageddon didn’t go unnoticed – but if this was Madchester fully realised, then it’s hedonistic brutality was a triumph.
Hot on the heels of the Singles collection released at the end of 2025, this anniversary edition tacks on the infamous 1991 concert at Leeds United’s Elland Road – self bootlegged by Ryder at the time – plus a slew of remixes new and old which nod to a period when The Stone Roses could be followed by Chad Jackson in clubs up and down the country. It was chaos alright, but maybe a New Order wasn’t what the masses wanted.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 