Bummed was recorded in six weeks at the Slaughterhouse studio in Driffield. The band's manager Nathan McGough stated that the group were heavily taking the rave drug ecstasy during the recording. Describing the drug's impact on the recording, McGough recollected: “There was a lot of ecstasy taken on a daily basis during the making of Bummed, we took two hundred E with us but they ran out after ten days so I had to go back to Manchester and collect another hundred. Bummed is definitely an E album, perhaps the first full album ever made on that drug.” Frontman Shaun Ryder also noted the influence of LSD and the 1970 filmPerformance on the sessions. Producer Martin Hannett, known for his work with Joy Division and New Order, saturated the recording in effects such as reverb and echo. The band provided the alcoholic Hannett with large amounts of ecstasy to keep him from drinking during the sessions. Referring to the origin of the album's name, the band's drummer Gary Whelan recalled that "'Bummed', was a saying at the time. Shaun used to say he was out all night and he bummed her all night long, a slang word for sex. I didn't even know what the album was called until it came out."
Artwork and packaging
The sleeve for the album was designed by Central Station Design, a Mancunian design agency known for their hand-painted and collage-based album covers for the Happy Mondays and other Manchester-based acts. The front cover is a cropped portrait of Shaun Ryder, while the inner artwork of the vinyl release include two pictures of a nude female model.
Remixes
Several of the songs on this album were later remixed. These included "Mad Cyril", "Wrote For Luck" and "Lazyitis". "Mad Cyril" was remixed into "Mad Cyril ", "Wrote For Luck" was remixed twice, firstly into "WFL" and then "Wrote For Luck "; Vince Clarke remixed the former, Paul Oakenfold the latter. "Lazyitis" was remixed into "Lazyitis - One Armed Boxer" which featured Scottish singer Karl Denver on guest vocals. Paul Oakenfold would become vastly important to Happy Mondays when he produced their next album Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches. In 2007, Warner released a double albumcollector's edition on. This release collected the original 1988 album with a second disc of remixes from the era.
Reception
awarded Bummedthree stars out of five. The album, wrote Martin Aston, "continues the band's warped version of Northern Soul rhythms, with stabbing guitars and Hammond organs, wayward sequencers, a dislocated rhythm section and surly sardonic vocalist ... only real failing is its lack of versatility, but it's Happy Mondays' stroppy spirit that counts most of all." AllMusic praised Hannett's production as "all smeared colors and harsh edges," and wrote that "decadence has rarely sounded as dangerous as it did in the hands of the Mondays and this is where they reveled in that debauchery, pumping out stiff psychedelic funk as Ryder spat out rhymes of luck, lazyitis and fat lady wrestlers." In 2006, Q placed the album at #18 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s". The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Track listing
Original release
Notes
"Mad Cyril" opens with the line "We've Been Courteous" sampled from Performance.
In "Brain Dead", Ryder's opening line "You're rendering that scaffolding dangerous!" is a quote from the film Gimme Shelter, in which it is uttered by Sam Cutler, referring to the set at the Altamont Free Concert.
"Lazy Itis" explicitly borrows from "Ticket to Ride" by The Beatles, but also nods to "Family Affair" and "Gonna Make You a Star" by David Essex in the "One Armed Boxer" single release.
