Shaun Ryder

This book probably appeals to 0.1% of the population, so feel free to switch off now if you have no idea who the Happy Mondays were (are) and/or have zero interest in them.

This is a fairly mediocre book, and is likely to appeal to proper Mondays fans only. As Shaun Ryder is probably most famous for still being alive after taking truck loads of drugs for 20 years, not surprisingly drugs account for more pages than most people could ever be interested in reading about them for. I expect that he had folks filling in a lot of blanks in his story for him too as a result.

Whilst doubtlessly ghost-written, the book is told in Ryder's Manc patter, and there are a few moments of black humour. The Mondays have always held a soft spot in my heart as the song 'Step On' is quite possibly my favourite track ever and is one of those anthems-to-a-stage-in-my-life tracks. I just need to hear a Mondays' track and I'm 19 again and bouncing around the dance floor in a club. However, drugs-no success-kids by one girl-robbing-drugs-success-kids by another girl-drugs-no success-kids by another girl-robbing-drugs-semi-success is dry fodder for a full biography.

2.5 stars - the book and the man might have twisted my melon, but they'll always be my 90s anthem.… (altro)