Black Grape

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Black Grape
OriginSalford, Greater Manchester, England
GenresAlternative dance, alternative rock, funk rock, Madchester, Britpop
Years active1993–1998, 2010, 2015–present
LabelsRadioactive, UMC
WebsiteOfficial Facebook page
MembersShaun Ryder
Kermit
Past membersGed Lynch
Psycho
Danny Williams
Bez

Black Grape are an English rock band, featuring former members of Happy Mondays and Ruthless Rap Assassins. Their musical style fuses funk and electronic rock with electronic programming and samples.

Black Grape

History[]

Formation, first two albums and break up (1993–1998)[]

The band was formed in 1993 by former Happy Mondays members Shaun Ryder and Bez. It was Ryder's first musical project after the disintegration of Happy Mondays due both to his multiple drug addictions and to disagreements about revenues with other band members. The formation of the new band was intended to draw a line between his past life and his new one. Ryder and Bez recruited rappers Paul "Kermit" Leveridge and Carl "Psycho" McCarthy, drummer Ged Lynch (like Leveridge, a former member of Ruthless Rap Assassins), and guitarist Wags (formerly of the Manchester-based group the Paris Angels) and Oli "Dirtycash" Dillon on ocarina. Recording of new material started that year, although the group was not under contract.[1]

In 1995, Black Grape was signed by Radioactive Records (an imprint of major label BMG) and released its debut album It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah.[1] The album debuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart, and spawned three top 20 singles.[2] The album was certified platinum in the UK in April 1996.[3]

The third single, "Kelly's Heroes" – a song lampooning society's obsession with celebrities and idols that had much to do with Ryder's own previous hero worship of people he now saw as wastrels – had its opening lyric changed before recording from "Don't talk to me about heroes – Most of these guys snort cocaine," to "Don't talk to me about heroes – most of these men sing like serfs". Another song on the album, "Temazi Party", mocked the then-current craze for abusing temazepam sleeping pills (a.k.a. 'jellies'), but was deliberately misspelt on the album sleeve as 'Tramazi' instead of 'Temazi' to forestall any legal injunction against the album's release.

The subsequent album Stupid Stupid Stupid was less commercially successful, but was certified gold in the UK in January 1998.[3] The group split in 1998 after Ryder fired the rest of the band while touring, starting with Kermit (who was suffering from septicaemia) and ending with Bez (who was unsatisfied with his financial situation).[1]

Lynch went on to play drums and percussion on many other musical works, becoming a noted session musician.

Reunion (2010–present)[]

On 1 April 2010, Ryder briefly reformed Black Grape with producer Danny Saber and Kermit for a concert as part of the 'Get Loaded in the Dark' gig series at The Coronet in London.[4]

In 2015, Black Grape signed to Creation Management run by Alan McGee and Simon Fletcher and announced a reunion tour to coincide with 20 years of the It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah album.

Black Grape recorded and released a song "We are England" in support of the England national football team for the UEFA Euro 2016 football competition, in collaboration with DJ Paul Oakenfold and singer Goldie, under the name 4 Lions. It was released by the management label Fletcher McGee Ltd under license to BMG Rights Management.

On 4 May 2017, it was announced that the group's next album, Pop Voodoo would be released on 7 July. On the same day, "Everything You Know Is Wrong" was released.[5] The album was eventually released on 4 August.[6] Louder Than War listed the album as one of its top 100 albums of 2017, placing it high at #23.[7]

Discography[]

Studio albums[]

Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
UK
[2] 		CAN
[8] 		NZ
[9] 		SCO
[10] 		SWE
[11]
It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah 1 80 20 2 13
Stupid Stupid Stupid
  • Released: 10 November 1997
  • Label: Radioactive (RAR 11716)
  • Formats: CD, CS, DL, LP
 11 — — 10 40
Pop Voodoo
  • Released: 4 August 2017[6]
  • Label: UMC
  • Formats: CD, DL, LP
 15 — — 8 —
"—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Singles[]

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
UK
[2] 		UK
Dance
[12] 		AUS
[13] 		SCO
[14] 		US
Alt.
[15]
1995 "Reverend Black Grape" 9 — — 5 — It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah
"In the Name of the Father" 8 — 107 5 31
"Kelly's Heroes" 17 — 158 13 —
1996 "Fat Neck" 10 — — 6 — Non-album singles
"England's Irie" 6 — — 19 —
1997 "Get Higher" 24 — 177 12 — Stupid Stupid Stupid
1998 "Marbles" 46 39 — 44 —
2017 "Nine Lives"[16] — — — — — Pop Voodoo
"I Wanna Be Like You"[17] — — — — —
"—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Promotional singles[]

  • 1997 - "Dadi Waz a Badi"[18]

Film[]

  • The Grape Tapes (1997)

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 137. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "UK chart peaks". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "BPI Certification". British Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  4. ^ Clarke, Betty (5 April 2010). "Black Grape". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  5. ^ Trendell, Andrew (4 May 2017). "Black Grape announce first new album in 20 years with new track 'Everything You Know Is Wrong'". nme.com. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Shaw, Mathew (2 August 2017). "Black Grape – Pop Voodoo – album review". louderthanwar.com. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  7. ^ "Louder Than War's Top 100 Albums of 2017". Album of The Year. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  8. ^ Canadian studio albums:
  9. ^ "charts.nz – Discography Black Grape". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  10. ^ Scottish albums:
  11. ^ "swedishcharts.com – Discography Black Grape". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  12. ^ UK dance singles:
  13. ^ "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 24 May 2016". Imgur.com. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  14. ^ Scottish singles:
  15. ^ "US alternative songs chart peaks". billboard.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  16. ^ "Nine Lives (Radio Edit) - Single". iTunes. Apple Inc. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  17. ^ "I Wanna Be Like You (Radio Edit) - Single". iTunes. Apple Inc. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  18. ^ Dadi Waz a Badi (Sleeve). Black Grape. Radioactive. 1997. BLACKPROMO 1.97.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

External links[]

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