Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro

I wasn't their biggest fan to begin with and I was particularly befuddled about the hype over Pills 'N Thrills And Bellyaches, but I give them credit for this song because (a) it's just a good song, simples and (b) the opening couplet is sheer brilliance. Remember when 30 seemed old? Jeez.

Inspiral Carpets - Tainted Love

I don't post a lot of cover versions here but I heard this one again the other day and it struck me that it's a really, really good example of a band taking a song that everybody knows and truly making it their own. Which is what a cover should be.

This actually isn't even the best Inspirals version of it - the one on the NME Ruby Trax collection is even better - but it's the only one I can find a video for online and I won't have the time to make one today. Just take my word for it.

Happy Mondays - Lazyitis

I was never really much of a Mondays fan. For some reason, they just didn't grab me in the way a lot of their contemporaries did. I tend to think it was because I didn't spend the late '80s / early '90s raving away in a drug-fuelled haze, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, that's why I haven't posted any Mondays here yet. I just didn't like them that much.

But this song really sums up how I felt all day yesterday when I had a billion things to do and just couldn't unglue myself from the TV. Warm weather does that to me, I guess. Today will be more productive. I promise.

It's from their second album, 1988's Bummed.

New Fast Automatic Daffodils - Big

I had a complete technology meltdown yesterday. First my broadband, then my iPhone, and finally my electricity all went out on me, one after the other. Just one of those days I guess.

I'd meant to post this song yesterday anyway - can't really believe I haven't posted it yet, since it's one of my absolute favourites from the Madchester era. But it really sums up the kind of day I had.

Autumn Parade - White Sand

Another band whose entire recorded output was on the 1992 Expo1 compilation. Autumn Parade, I gather, were from the Cheshire area and had a sort of jangly psychedelic baggy sound along the lines of Spirea X or what the Soup Dragons were doing at the time. Actually better though. Not that that would be difficult.

Inspiral Carpets - She Comes in the Fall

Always really fond of this one from the Inspirals, who to this day I am convinced were much better than Happy Mondays. Heresy to some, I know.

From their debut album Life, from 1990.

The Charlatans - Sproston Green

The Charlatans were sort of seen as the poor man's Stone Roses when they first started out but I suppose a few years later they had the last laugh when they were still selling loads of CDs after the Roses imploded. Which doesn't mean the initial impression of them was wrong.

I never really listened to them much; the whole baggy thing wasn't really my, er, bag. Perhaps because I wasn't doing enough drugs at the time.

Anyway, this one's a nice catchy pop tune, from their 1990 debut Some Friendly.

My Jealous God - In Her Eyes

My Jealous God were a London band active in the early 1990s. They put out a few singles which saw them lumped in with their northern compatriots in the baggy scene, but none of them ever really went anywhere.

Their first single, "Everything About You", struck me as overhyped at the time and let's just say age hasn't improved it. This b-side was a far superior track, I think.

The Stone Roses - Elephant Stone

With all the massive hype around the Roses at the time, it's easy to forget that they really did have some absolutely magnificent tunes. I just heard this one again recently for the first time in a while and I'm still struck by what a great little three-minute pop song it is. A genuine classic.

And don't they look so young and innocent in the video, too?

Inspiral Carpets - Joe

Continuing on the theme of rather odd Manchester bands, I was always a bit surprised by Inspiral Carpets' popularity. Not that they didn't deserve it, but there wasn't much about them that would ordinarily lead you to expect the level of commercial success they achieved. Farfisa organs, really bad bowl-cut hairdos over not-terribly-attractive faces, and cows - it just doesn't scream "hit" to me. And yet, they were a hit. I guess it was probably a case of being from the right city at the right time, and not having the too-serious side that I wrote about yesterday.

This was one of their earliest singles, and still one of my favourites.

The High - Box Set Go

How about a bit of baggy? The High were a "Madchester" band that not many people seemed to care about then and almost nobody remembers now. Which is a shame, because a lot of their debut album Somewhere Soon is pretty good. Nothing to go bananas over, but enjoyable enough if you're into that sort of thing.

This was their first and best single. I always thought it bore an uncanny resemblance to a 1980s tune called "Trusted Woods" by the Reverbs, but I'm sure that's a complete coincidence since nobody ever heard of the Reverbs. I must put that up here sometime, it's really good. Anyway, here's the High song... with apologies for the rubbish video.