Weekender
February 15, 2012 6:34 PM   Subscribe

Towards the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s the Madchester sound swept the UK. Spearheaded by The Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays Manchester became the dominant force in English music. One notable exception to this Northern domination were the boys from London's Camden Town known as Flowered Up.

Started in 1989 by Liam Maher and his brother Joe, they never really achieved any mainstream success, being seen largely as a London attempt to copy the Mondays, even down to having a musically superfluous dancer à la Bez, the large-plastic-flower-wearing Barry Mooncult.

They only released a handful of singles and had an early success with It's On but in 1992 they released the 13-minute long Weekender. Both a celebration and criticism of early 90s drug and club culture the video (part 1, part 2) perfectly captures the ups and downs of a night out at the time.

The band split shortly after releasing Weekender and in 2009 Liam Maher died of a heroin overdose, aged 41.
posted by jontyjago (25 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
I've never understood the British habit of making joints that are like 90% tobacco. Harsh tokes.
posted by Flashman at 6:58 PM on February 15, 2012 [2 favorites]


Alternate Stone Roses link for those of us not in the allowed country for the link above.
posted by ceribus peribus at 7:00 PM on February 15, 2012


the British habit of making joints that are like 90% tobacco

Don't they mostly smoke hash? You don't really need a lot.
posted by DecemberBoy at 7:16 PM on February 15, 2012 [2 favorites]


Sounds like they're not copying the Mondays, but preempting Black Grape.

Thanks. I'll check them out!
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 7:45 PM on February 15, 2012


Ahhhh woopsy on the old OD. Yeah, that Weekender song was alright back in the day (still got the CD). Frankly I'm a little surprised, even in hindsight, how few deaths occurred in that Ravey/Rock alliance that dominated back then and over there.
posted by rhizome at 8:48 PM on February 15, 2012


Haw, just watched the "It's On" video. Man, what a gig. That paisley sunburst Strat? That was kind of a Prince thing back in the day. A little male-pattern baldness on the keys for sure...token maraca guy, plus the singer dude is a menacing cross between Joe Rogan and Travis Bickle, and his accent is making me think he's gonna glass me for being a ponce any second (do not google images for glassing). The kids don't look like they're really having any fun. Now I think he just fucked my girlfriend like a bad penny. Bright flowers. Reminds me of Terence Stamp's "Screw" rant in The Limey. Fantastic.
posted by rhizome at 9:04 PM on February 15, 2012


For an opposing viewpoint: I Don't Like Mondays
posted by twoleftfeet at 9:06 PM on February 15, 2012


Oh lord, I remember these guys. They tried sooooo very hard to cultivate their bad-boy image. I remember the American print ads for their debut album featured an alleged letter from some police department or another, from which they'd extracted the line "SNIFFER DOGS WERE CALLED IN" in great-big bolded text. Oh noes, sniffer dogs! The scandal!

Sad news about the overdose, as always, but even the bloody Soup Dragons had more credibility than these twerps.
posted by mykescipark at 9:47 PM on February 15, 2012


Don't they mostly smoke hash? You don't really need a lot.

That, and their weed sucks or something. Canadian weed prob isn't the best in the world but it's pretty good. Every. Single. Brit I have smoked with brags about how much "skunk" they smoke and thinks they can keep up, and every single one I've met gets insanely giggly and eventually passes out when they smoke a Canadian joint. Not a lot of joints mind you, just one. This hip hop producer that came to visit, worked with the Creators for a bit and worked at Beanos Records in Croydon. Someone I thought could smoke. He talked a good game, insisted on king size Rizlas. He rolled it, it was an entire cigarette with a bit of green sprinkled in it. Between 4 of us. He dropped the "I'm a cool DJ" routine instantly, giggled like a schoolgirl, and passed out within an hour. I don't even smoke much anymore, but just this summer I was at a wedding in Toronto, cool guy British cousin of somebody is there I tried to warn him, it only made him want it more. Same damned thing happened. It's entertaining.
posted by Hoopo at 10:24 PM on February 15, 2012 [5 favorites]


Sounds like what happens when the right sort of British tourist comes over to Amsterdam....

Worked a treat keeping things orderly at Euro 2000; weak beer and strong weed and all those nasty hooligans are suddenly a lot more mellow...
posted by MartinWisse at 10:51 PM on February 15, 2012


Take It is a thing of joy.
posted by Decani at 11:27 PM on February 15, 2012


The epic video for Weekender was, I dimly recall, fun. I seem to remember that it wa 18 rated but I cannot for the life of me recall why.
posted by dmt at 12:38 AM on February 16, 2012


Every. Single. Brit

Hoopo, you may be right with your theory that all British people are lightweights compared to your Canadian splendour :p. On the other hand, I once met Howard Marks in a nightclub in Cardiff. Man's skin appeared to have been smoked like kipper-flesh. Can we send him over (at your expense) as a means of testing your hypothesis?
posted by howfar at 12:43 AM on February 16, 2012 [3 favorites]


Needs moar MC Tunes.

I was seven in 1990 and I bloody loved baggy music - possibly because I was desperate to move to Manchester and I knew who Tony Wilson was as he was the anchorman on our local news. I bought the Happy Daze compilation from a car boot sale and had a little sticker of The Stone Roses, covered in paint (this was possibly around the time they vandalised Silvertone's studios) stuck on my bed. In my head, I think of James as being loosely part of the baggy thing, but I doubt Tim Booth has ever eaten anything stronger than a mung bean.
posted by mippy at 1:56 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]


Every. Single. Brit

Hoopo, you may be right with your theory that all British people are lightweights compared to your Canadian splendour :p. On the other hand, I once met Howard Marks in a nightclub in Cardiff. Man's skin appeared to have been smoked like kipper-flesh. Can we send him over (at your expense) as a means of testing your hypothesis?
posted by howfar at 12:43 AM on February 16 [1 favorite −] Favorite added! [!]

Well, if we're having a dick-measuring contest about who can smoke more dope …

My experience with Americans coming to the UK was that even those who were heavy weed smokers were universally felled by a few gravity bongs full of hash smoke - one even accused me of having given him opium without his knowledge O.o

So … just maybe, there are differences in the smoke composition between buds and hash and some of your tolerance is down to what you're used to.

I smoked hash in the UK for about 7 years before I moved to the US, and have been smoking buds here ever since, and I can smoke every single one of you under the table, across the floor, up the wall, and onto the ceiling(*)

* - ehh, maybe, maybe not. But it would be fun to try.
posted by kcds at 4:03 AM on February 16, 2012 [2 favorites]


the British habit of making joints that are like 90% tobacco

Don't they mostly smoke hash? You don't really need a lot.
posted by DecemberBoy at 7:16 PM on February 15 [1 favorite +] [!]

When I was living and toking in the UK (20 years ago, mind), it was universally hash - we basically *never* saw buds, or even grass. Hash typically came in from the Netherlands and was allegedly sourced either from Afghanistan (the squidgy, dark, oily stuff) or Morocco (the paler, hard stuff aka Rocky or soap bar). As the Russians withdrew from Afghanistan, it became harder and harder to find squidge, and by 1990 it was practically nonexistent.

When I go back to the UK now, it seems you can get either hash or buds just as easily.

Also, DecemberBoy is right - but it's not just a quantity thing; you can't really even roll a pin joint with crumbled hash and have it stay lit - the tobacco doesn't just act as a "carrier", it also keeps the whole thing lit.

Tobacco/dope joints (aka spliffs) don't have to be harsh - sure, if you break the filter off a Marlboro and use that, then you should expect it to be pretty nasty. But we used to roll with very mild rolling tobacco like Three Castles (aka Three Caftles) or Golden Virginia and they were a lot less harsh and cough-inducing than a pure-marijuana joint.
posted by kcds at 4:13 AM on February 16, 2012


The Weekender video was interesting as a snapshot of the times, but definitely not a lost classic. Sort of an epic in length only song. Although they seemed like a me-too band even at the time, it would have been pretty much impossible to predict which bands would have staying power. I mean, who woulda thunk the Charlatans would be awesome for decades?
posted by snofoam at 4:21 AM on February 16, 2012


They tried sooooo very hard to cultivate their bad-boy image

I saw them play Leicester University in 1991 and after the gig they trashed the dressing room and set off fire extinguishers. The police arrested them at the Watford Gap services as they were driving back to London. Pretty much the most rock 'n roll thing to happen in Leicester in my time there.

They were seen as a bit of a joke, novelty band even back then but Weekender does stand out and the video, whilst not a classic, stands up to the test of time better than others.

Oh, and love the Charlatans.
posted by jontyjago at 4:56 AM on February 16, 2012


Not so much love for It's On? Wonderful tune.

"Did you doooo.....forty? Have you got.....rather large.....pock-ets?" (or was he saying "rather large...cock"?)
posted by Infinite Jest at 6:41 AM on February 16, 2012


So … just maybe, there are differences in the smoke composition between buds and hash and some of your tolerance is down to what you're used to.

Absolutely; I would be like your American friend if someone gave me good hash.
posted by Hoopo at 7:50 AM on February 16, 2012


I remember buying the 'It's On' 12" having listened to them drunk (not a good sign).

The b-side was etched with the same flower shape they used in the video, which struck me as nice. Then it struck me as odd that they couldn't think of some other track to use as a b-side.

Then having listened to the a-side a few times I realised that coming up with another track was going to be a challenge for this lot.

Sad news about Liam, though.
posted by dowcrag at 7:58 AM on February 16, 2012


I had the Weekender 12" - bought years later - and it was blank on the B-side as well. It was also slightly warped, so I had to 'play' it using my finger to nudge it round.
posted by mippy at 8:03 AM on February 16, 2012


I have the 'success' of Flowered Up to thank for me getting a job when I moved to London full time. IIRC two of them used to deliver car parts for a company based at the bottom of Highgate Hill and when they left to do more band stuff, me & my friend got the jobs.

I've still got a scar on my lip from a motorbike accident sustained in the call of duty & my friend was one of my best men at my wedding last year.

IIRC they all lived on the Talacre Estate in Kentish Town which wasn't the easiest of places to grow up back then. (But was the site of the best goal I ever scored at football, but that's another story...)
posted by i_cola at 8:13 AM on February 16, 2012 [2 favorites]


never 'eard of 'em before... i can sort of see why, but still fun in a completist sort of way.
posted by kuppajava at 8:15 AM on February 16, 2012


Mentioning "Madchester" without at least some reference to the genius of New Order isn't right.

Yes, they were around before Madchester really hit, but were still a key part of it.

And James were a great band as well.
posted by chris88 at 3:18 PM on February 16, 2012


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