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As a key part of the Madchester scene, Happy Mondays helped meld indie-rock and the growing rave movement into a 24-hour, psychedelic party in the late 1980s and early 1990s. When the band fell apart in a haze of drugs and hedonism, frontman Shaun Ryder and dancer/mascot Bez formed Black Grape with rappers Kermit and Psycho from Ruthless Rap Assassins and joined the booming Britpop craze with their brand of funky, sprawling indie-pop. Their debut album It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah (1995) shot to number one in the UK and produced the top ten singles "Reverend Black Grape," "In the Name of the Father" and "Fat Neck" but Shaun Ryder got himself banned from Channel 4 after repeatedly swearing on a notorious live broadcast of Chris Evans's TFI Friday. The band reached number six when they teamed up with Keith Allen for the Euro '96 football song "England's Irie" but second album Stupid Stupid Stupid in 1998 didn't fare as well and the band split after Shaun Ryder fired everyone midway through a UK tour. In 2015 Black Grape announced a reunion to celebrate 20 years since It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah followed two years later by a brand new album, Pop Voodoo, with the singles "Nine Lives" and "I Wanna Be Like You" being released from the album. The band returned in November 2023 with new album Orange Head, which was anchored by the singles "Pimp Wars" and "Milk."
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