Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) is the debut studio album by the English rock band Happy Mondays, which was released in mid-April 1987 by Factory Records. After finalising their line-up, the band began playing local venues in Manchester, toured with New Order, and released an EP and a single in 1985. Happy Mondays' debut album was recorded at Fire House in London in December 1986 with producer John Cale. Halfway through the two weeks of sessions, they scrapped all their recordings and began again. Cale and engineer Dave Young did not understand the band members' vision of the album, and found them difficult to work with. Deemed a punk-funk and post-punk album, most of its songs were lyrically akin to stories on The Twilight Zone.
Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) received generally-positive reviews from music critics; some liked Happy Mondays' musicianship, and others were indifferent about Cale's production. The album sold 3,500 copies within six months of release, and "Tart Tart" was released as its lead single in March 1987. It gave the band national exposure when its music video was played on Channel 4's The Chart Show. Over the next five months, Happy Mondays headlined shows and supported a number of bands; the most notable were two dates supporting New Order, one of which was an all-day benefit hosted by Factory Records. "24 Hour Party People" was released as the album's second single in October 1987.
Background At age 16, Shaun Ryder left school in 1978 and found a job with his father at a post office.Spence 2015, p. 11 Two years later, he formed a band with his brother Paul Ryder on bass, their cousin Matt Carroll on guitar, and the Ryders' father's drum machine. Paul joined his brother at the post office after finishing his education.Spence 2015, p. 15 Mark Day began working at the post office in 1981, and quickly joined the band on guitar.Spence 2015, pp. 17, 19 When they were rehearsing in Day's attic by early 1982, they called themselves Something in the Attic. Carroll left after a few more rehearsals, after naming the band Avant-Garde.Spence 2015, pp. 19–20 Shaun learned about drummer Gary Whelan through his fiancé's sister; she and Day separately asked Whelan to join them.Spence 2015, pp. 24–25 By the end of 1982, the band – now named Penguin Dice – were writing original material.Spence 2015, pp. 30, 33 Their name was changed to Happy Laws in early 1983, and eventually to Happy Mondays.
The band talked about Whelan's schoolmate, Paul Davis, whom Shaun Ryder saw around the neighbourhood.Spence 2015, p. 33 Davis attended a few rehearsals before joining the band on keyboards.Spence 2015, pp. 33–4 After meeting them at a club, Phil Saxe became the band's manager.Middles 1997, p. 33 Over the next 18 months, the band performed at venues across Manchester such as the Boardwalk and the International and supported New Order on the last date of their United Kingdom tour in January 1985.Middles 1997, pp. 38, 41Spence 2015, p. 52 Saxe met Mike Pickering, who was working in A&R for Factory Records, and told him about Happy Mondays. Factory founder Tony Wilson and directors Rob Gretton and Alan Erasmus saw the band at the Haçienda, and were impressed.Middles 1997, p. 42 Happy Mondays released their debut EP, Forty Five EP (produced by Pickering), on Factory in September 1985.Spence 2015, p. 311
Happy Mondays met Mark "Bez" Berry through their mutual friend, Little Mini;Spence 2015, p. 68 Bez had attended school with Davis, Day and Whelan.Middles 1997, p. 23 At the band's next gig, Bez was invited to dance on stage because Shaun Ryder had a bad acid trip earlier that evening.Spence 2015, p. 70 The latter befriended Terry Hall, whom he knew from Hall's work with the Specials and Fun Boy Three.Middles 1997, pp. 42–43 Ryder and the rest of Happy Mondays (with Bez in tow) supported Hall on tour with his newest outfit, the Colourfield, studying the band's stage presence in an attempt to improve their own.Middles 1997, p. 43Spence 2015, p. 78 Happy Mondays' next single, the Bernard Sumner-produced "Freaky Dancin, was released in June 1986.Middles 1997, p. 50 It had wah-wah guitar over a backbeat, which could potentially become the band's core sound.Middles 1997, p. 51 During a promotional shoot while producing the song, Bez graduated from being the band's friend to becoming their percussionist and dancer.Middles 1997, pp. 51, 53Warburton; Ryder 2011, p. 12
Recording Vini Reilly of Happy Mondays' labelmates, the Durutti Column, was touted as the producer of the band's upcoming debut album. Happy Mondays, however, wanted to enlist Sumner again; he took a temporary break from producing to focus on New Order's Brotherhood (1986).Spence 2015, p. 91 Sumner had worked on remixes for other acts, and mixed From the Hip (1984) by Section 25; both projects were too energy-consuming, and he felt that his efforts were best spent working with New Order. Sumner was also concerned that he would accidentally make Happy Mondays sound closer in style to New Order.Verrico 1998, p. 45 Wilson, who had shifted his focus to new signees the Railway Children and Miaow, suggested Reilly despite reservations about Happy Mondays' debut. Reilly met the band; he was dismayed by their attitude, and criticised Day's guitar playing.Spence 2015, p. 92 Shaun Ryder said that he was initially brought in to produce "Freaky Dancin before Sumner, but "only lasted about two hours before he decided he couldn't handle us".Ryder 2012, p. 95 Wilson searched through his record collection to find a suitable producer for Happy Mondays' debut album. After comparing Ryder's lyrics with those by Patti Smith, Wilson thought of John Cale, who had produced Smith and was a member of the Velvet Underground.
Wilson theorised that if the album sold poorly after release, it would be ensured steady sales in the years that followed by having Cale's name attached to it.Middles 1997, p. 55 Saxe saw Happy Mondays as Manchester's answer to New York's Velvet Underground. Concerned that Wilson would not accept Cale as the producer, Saxe asked Sumner to suggest Cale on his behalf.Spence 2015, p. 93 Wilson knew Cale, because he had appeared on Wilson's So It Goes programme for Granada Television.Spence 2015, p. 94 Happy Mondays recorded at Fire House in London over two weeks in December 1986. Cale picked the studio because he had been in a band with its owner, Dave Young. The sessions cost £6,000 and were produced by Cale; Young was the engineer, with assistance from Zuni and Andy Kelly.
Factory set Happy Mondays up in a Belsize Park house, with the band living in one room and electricians and builders living in the other rooms.Spence 2015, p. 95 Day was the only band member with a full-time job by this point, and could afford food; the others resorted to theft. The first two days consisted of playing songs for Cale, who was impressed with Day's skills. After the first week, they scrapped their efforts and began again.Spence 2015, p. 97 Young was bewildered by the band's performances, saying that its members did not seem to know what they were playing much of the time.Spence 2015, p. 96 Cale found it difficult to work with Shaun Ryder; he liked his voice, but was unable to follow the lyrics. Ryder wrote them on pieces of scrap paper before discarding them, leaving Cale unable to see if they could be improved. Many of his vocals included ad-libs (making it difficult to re-do a specific line), and Ryder said that he had forgotten what he sang moments before.Spence 2015, p. 98
The band wanted to make a rap version of "Little Matchstick Owen" after recording it, and Pickering suggested enlisting London-based Three Wise Men. The studio's window cleaner said that he could rap, however, to the band's surprise. Mike Bleach then rapped over this new version, which was renamed "Little Matchstick Owen's Rap". Wilson regretted using Cale, because he "didn't have a fucking clue what was going on" and did not understand the band or their vision of the album.Middles 1997, p. 56 Shaun Ryder was the only band member who was aware of Cale's previous work, and did not want to waste "weeks in some studio grafting away, fuck that".Middles 1997, pp. 58–59 Wilson attempted to visit the band during recording, but was unable to find the studio. He regretted this, since he was disappointed with the final recordings and "stunned by how incredibly lame the songs were"; they "sounded really thin and amateur".Verrico 1998, p. 46 Ryder said that Cale captured their live sound "pretty much", and "didn't do much" to enhance their performances. Cale was struggling with sobriety, and ate tangerines as a result; the band complained that all he would do was sit around and eat the fruit.
Composition and lyrics Overview The sound of Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out) has been described as mixing the punk-funk of ESG with the atmosphere of Joy Division. Classic Pop Mag described its sound as "rough-around-the-edges funky post-punk." In his biography of the band, Shaun Ryder: Happy Mondays, Black Grape & Other Traumas, Mick Middles referred to album as "a thousand nights, drunk on funk, dull thuds and a wandering bass, [with] a wholly intoxicated... sound".Middles 1997, p. 57 It has many characteristics which would be developed on the band's second studio album, Bummed (1988), such as Shaun Ryder's seemingly-nonsensical lyrics combined with funk rhythms. Ryder said that house music was seeping into club nights, although the band was unable to bring that influence into their songs because they were insufficiently competent. He attributed the pauses in the songs to attempts to emulate the music of the Doors. In hindsight, he said that it could be viewed as latter-day indie rock: "At the time, indie [rock] meant, tight, fast, neat music" while the band sought to have a "really spacious, trippy sound".Verrico 1998, p. 47
During their live performances, the band would unintentionally play songs longer than necessary; Shaun Ryder said that they "could never get the timing right to end a song together". He freestyled lyrics over these extended versions, and new songs would evolve from the freestyles.Ryder 2012, p. 99 They recorded the shows, and worked on material during practice sessions.Ryder 2012, pp. 99–100 The album's title is partially the result of Little Mini. He visited them, took one look, and exclaimed: "Fucking hell, twenty-four hour party people, plastic people smile a white out...."Ryder 2019, p. 13 The full title had a number of references; "Squirrel" is the nickname of Davis' mother, "G-Man" alludes to Bez's father being a police officer, "Twenty Four Hour Party People" is a synonym for the band, and "Plastic Face" and "Carnt Smile" were two truncated Salford expressions meaning "miserable bastards".Middles 1997, pp. 57–58 Ryder considered the sentence a joke before liking the sound of it as an album title, which "[k]ind of summed the whole thing up".Middles 1997, p. 58
Songs