Album · Happy Mondays
Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches by Happy Mondays
Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches is an album by Happy Mondays, released in 1990. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 56 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Step On”, on 42 lists with a best position of #8.
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, the third Happy Mondays album, came out on Factory on 5 November 1990, and it's Madchester at full, wide-eyed tilt. Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, who had remixed the band and then produced their cover of John Kongos' "Step On", took the controls, Oakenfold building the loops and Osborne shaping the arrangements. Sessions started at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles after an American tour and wrapped at Eden Studios in London that September.
Shaun Ryder drawls his gutter poetry over grooves that fuse funk, house and psychedelia, with Paul Ryder's bass, Gaz Whelan's drums, Paul Davis on keyboards, Mark Day on guitar, Rowetta's soaring vocals and Bez shaking the maracas. "Step On" and "Kinky Afro" both went top five in the UK. The album peaked at number four, went platinum on 400,000 UK sales, and several critics called it the band's creative peak.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Step On | 42 | #8 | – | 1990–2026 | |
| 2 | Kinky Afro | 10 | #32 | – | 1990–2026 | |
| 3 | Bob's Yer Uncle | 4 | #73 | – | 1991–1994 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.