I've been investigating a lot of the Madchester music scene of the late 80s and early 90s recently. Whilst the main two groups of the scene were the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, many other great bands existed around this time as part of the scene. One of my favourites is short lived group Flowered Up. They weren't actually from Manchester, instead they were from London but were seen as the London answer to these two groups. Personally I find their sound to be more akin with Happy Mondays. The group were a classic example of a massive buildup of hype followed by meltdown. They were originally known for their wild live shows and embracing "baggy" culture. They actually had been on the cover of NME before releasing any music! Their debut single Its On became something of a club anthem and the group released their debut album A Life Of Brain, but overall it dissapointed in both the critical and commercial stakes. They were subsequently dropped from their record label but resigned to Heavenly. The group broke up following a number of live shows and recording sessions, becoming a victim of their own "party all the time" philosphy. Some of the band members went on to do other projects, but a planned reunion tour for 2007 fell through. Sadly, a reunion now will definitely never happen, vocalist Liam Maher died of a heroin overdose aged 41 in 2009. They may not have been everyones cup of tea but I personally liked them!Top tracks:
- Its On
- Egg Rush
- Weekender
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