A Loose Fit Happy Monday
I wanted Abby to seem mysterious and alluring when Mark first sees her in Chapter one of Dream Dancing. One of the songs that I listened to when I wrote that scene was “Loose Fit” by the Happy Mondays.
I loved the third album by the Happy Mondays called, “Thrills, Pills and Belly-Aches.” I still play the compact disc. Sadly, it is no longer available on itunes. It’s one of those albums with no weak points. Every track is good.
It was produced by Paul Oakenfeld, who is more known in America for dance remixes of other people’s songs.
Shaun Ryder, Paul Ryder, Mark Day, Paul Davis and Gary Whelan formed the Happy Mondays in Manchester, England in 1980. It would take ten years before an American alternative radio station would play them. In 1990, a big dance- EDM type scene came out of Manchester called Madchester. There were dance parties called raves, a fashion sense and there were drugs. More importantly for me in America, there were great bands putting out very different and exciting music.
I’m not going to do a blog on the Manchester scene, but if you get the chance check out:
The Stone Roses
808 State
Inspiral Carpets
James
Charlatans UK
The Happy Mondays made an impression on US radio with the song, Step On. A remake of an older reggae song. It made it on to American Pop music charts, albeit on the low side.
Loose Fit was released as a single, but made no dent in the mainstream music. In college radio, I remember WBRU in Providence played it a lot. The song was about the style of clothes popular in the Madchester scene. Baggy pants and loose shirts.
Notice this bit of mystery in the chords from the opening guitar? I thought Abby should make her first appearance during a dance song, even though she isn’t dancing. She needed mystery. Mark sees her from the back. Who is this new woman? She turns but she is mostly in blinding lights. If they make a movie of this book I would use this song for that scene.
The Happy Mondays wiki page:
During the week I'm going to post videos from the Happy Mondays on my twitter and Facebook pages for the next few days. If you follow me on the socials, you'll see it.
next week: settings in Dream Dancing