I’ve written a fair bit about Happy Mondays in the past – some of which you can find posted here, and here – and I’m in no doubt that I`ll eventually write a whole lot more. 

The Mondays were the savant-like, struggling to be articulate, coded, argot-addled, funky poet laureates of Thatcher’s “non-working class” – the voice of the ITT, the “International Tourists & Thieves”, the robbers and blaggers, the 24 hour party people, the folks who were the real force behind acid house and the UK`s second summer of love. They weren’t observing the scene, but living, and absolutely central to it. 

Paul Anthony Ryder Rest In Peace. 

Photo, from the back of the van, London circa 1989, care of my amigo, and friend of the band, Andy Thomas.