Bummed

Happy Mondays? Ha! One of my students told me that when they imagine my voice in their head I am saying "Happy Tuesday", which I said only ironically, so maybe that's what's happening here.

The album is pretty boring. A lot of lot of lot of repetition in the lyrics, too. I didn't like it, but I guess I didn't dislike it enough for a 3.

A lot of nostalgia for this as a relic of a place and time, but maybe better as a memory than something to listen to today.

There were a few interesting parts but they did not make a better whole

I think this record still sounds great. Ecstasy informed funky white boy psyche. Even though it kick started the shortly lived and mostly rubbish Baggy genre and the even less appetising 'indie dance' scene there isn't really anything else that sounds quite like it, including their own other records. Probably the Hannett effect.

I get why people call this a classic Madchester record, you can basically hear the late 80s rave culture in every track. It’s got that messy, funky, psychedelic vibe that definitely defined a specific moment in time.

But honestly? It just doesn’t do it for me. Without the nostalgia, it mostly sounds like a drug fueled mess with shaky vocals and annoying synths. It feels way more like a band just throwing random stuff at the wall than an actual album. If their later stuff is the peak, this just feels disjointed and pretty boring.

I mean it's not terrible. Most of the popular reviews on here talk at length about how atrocious the album is. And I get it. It sounds super cluttered, all the songs sound almost the same (except for Country Song which is just plain bad and unfunny.) But for what it is, I had a decent time.

I had never heard of this band in my life before listening to this. So I did a bit of reading beforehand, and found that not only was the band high out of their minds, some of them were actually drug dealers? Like...dealing ecstacy? That's crazy. The album does sound like the state of mind for someone who's outrageously high. It's redundant, hard to understand, and just super messy. But hey, I had a good time. It meant no harm.

Fun fact for myself: today, April 29th, is my 26th birthday. I currently have 1065 albums left to rate. There is a new edition of 1001 Albums coming out later this year. If that edition has exactly 35 new albums, which feels possible, then I will finish my journey on April 29th, 2029. My golden birthday.

I could have done without this.

pretty alright

Meh...

Not quite as good as Pills 'n' Thrills, but I still enjoy the shambolic energy of it, and i like Shaun Ryder's vocals even if he's not the best singer in he world. I also listened to a few of the bonus tracks, and it's clear that it was the remixes that brought them initial success; the Kirsty MacColl/Steve Lillywhite remix of Hallelujah is clearly superior. High three.

trash

This sounds like nobody was close enough to their microphones during recording - tinny and hollow. Production matters! Maybe try being sober for at least part of the recording process?

Underneath the issues, there's some decent tunes. What could have been...

I was always kinda meh on Happy Mondays, but I feel like it clicked on this listen. It sounds like a synthesis of all the best Manchester music of the late 70s/80s. And Martin Hannett has a magic ability to find the right echo box.

Never before listened to a happy mondays albums only know the singles.

I have always found the Happy Mondays fairly average, and Bummed did not really change that opinion.

I can completely understand why Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches made the list. That album has the big, undeniable hits like Step On and Kinky Afro. Bummed, on the other hand, feels like a much less focused version of the band and lacks those standout moments.

There are flashes of the groove and attitude that would define the Madchester sound, but across the album it feels inconsistent. At times it drifts into fairly ordinary pop rock territory, and the occasional country twang in the arrangements feels strange rather than interesting. Instead of sounding experimental, it often just feels unfocused and a bit dull.

Ironically, some of the tracks I enjoyed most were on the later collector’s edition rather than the original album itself.

Favourite songs: Mad Cyril and Fat Lady Wrestlers
Least favourite song: Country Song
Album artwork: A cool cover that captures the late 80s Madchester aesthetic

An interesting sound with decent songs. I didn't absolutely love it, but it's not bad.

80's alternative/electronic/dance is my kind of 80s music. Entire albums by the same band can get a little boring sometimes though. I liked the music and the vocals. Don't think I had ever heard of this group before.

It felt like an intersecting of bands I like but not the parts of the bands that I care for. It wasn't bad. It just never made its way to a really memorable moment for me.

I guess between a 2 and 3, but the shady lyrics made the call. not painful to listen to at all, but also not something i would actively put on, or at least a song that caught my attention in particular.

Pretty shit honestly