Bit of a follow up to yesterday's Manchester theme this. If ever a cult band and a mass audience met as one it was when Happy Mondays released Step On. The indie/dance scene had already had WFL and Hallelujah from them but Step On had crossover hit written all over it, in huge marker pen letters. The video, on top of a hotel, with Shaun and Bez looking like a modern day Mick 'n' Keef, climbing all over a giant E. The wolf-whistles at the start, the Twistin' My Melons and Call The Cops shouts, the funky guitar riff, that drum beat.
So it came as a bit of a surprise when we learnt, probably via the NME, that it was a cover. South African John Kongos wrote and preformed the original (and also another Mondays' song Tokoloshe Man). In those pre-internet and refusing to buy compact disc days I didn't hear the original until much later when I found a 7" copy at a record fair. It's a cracker as well- fading-in big tribal drumming, that same funky guitar riff, great vocals with half the emphasis different from Shaun's vocals, which throws you out the first time you hear it. Great record.
hes gonna step on you again.mp3
So it came as a bit of a surprise when we learnt, probably via the NME, that it was a cover. South African John Kongos wrote and preformed the original (and also another Mondays' song Tokoloshe Man). In those pre-internet and refusing to buy compact disc days I didn't hear the original until much later when I found a 7" copy at a record fair. It's a cracker as well- fading-in big tribal drumming, that same funky guitar riff, great vocals with half the emphasis different from Shaun's vocals, which throws you out the first time you hear it. Great record.
hes gonna step on you again.mp3
Morning Adam,
ReplyDeleteI would just LOVE to hear the Mondays' version of Tokoloshe Man again ... any chance you put it up for me?
Cheers,
Dirk
I'll have a look when I get home tonight.
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