I think you are missing the point that Alex was making. The fact that the Happy Mondays achieved so much considering that they were a bunch of scallys from Little Hulton was incredible. Much the same way as it was for NWA and thousands of other bands in the past / future. It would have been the easy way out for them to turn into car thieving, crack smoking, gangsters from Salford (not to say that they didn't 'experiment' with this type of thing ;). In comparison if the same thing was achieved by a bunch of well off, suburban lads from Didsbury then yes it's still an incredible feat but not half as impressive. Yes, the proximity of the Mondays to Manchester was convenient as they were in a better position to tout themselves to independents like Factory but this doesn't disregard the fact that Ryder & Co. acheived a hell of a lot regarding their environment & circumstances. Environment/location has everything to do with it (ask Mike Banks) but not in the way you point out. Personally I don't think the Mondays' music would have been half as raw & exciting if they came from say, Didsbury and I don't think they would have been as famous/popular either (the media loved the whole 'scallys from salford on drugs' angle).
Chris. > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > the difference between those estates/areas, and say, Didsbury (4 miles away > > from the afore mentioned places), (and where Factory had their first > > office), is something akin to the difference between Beverly Hills and > > South Central L.A. > > > > does that help to explain? > > So, to use a similar analogy, would you say that "N.W.A. achieved a lot > you know, coming from 'round Compton"? > > I wouldn't. Their *immediate 'hood* might be a horrifically depressed > ghetto (like the East Side of Detroit), but the fact is, they were from an > area that surrounded them which is one of the biggest music megalopolistic > cities in the world, so it was much easier for them to get their music out > to the rest of the world from (t)here than it would've have been if they > were just 5 Niggas from Mississippi. > > I assert that the same thing is true of being from anywhere near > Madchester. Maybe the Mondays are from a horrifically part of that > area, but there's still the fact that Manchester is England's 2nd biggest > musical megalopolis (as seem from the outside world, anyway - though I > suppose some Scousers may disagree :-) ), so it was a lot easier for > them to go far than if they'd been from East Buttfunk, miles away from > Manchester or London or Liverpool. > > </end OT mini-rant> > > - Greg > >
