Shaun Ryder: Twisting My Melon
The raw, undiluted autobiography of a true rock star whose music and antics inspired a generation of 24-hour party people.
In May 1982, Tony Wilson opened the Hacienda’s doors for the very first time, and a new era of British music was born.
The sound that emerged from the Madchester scene mixed drug-fuelled psychedelic rock with new dance music, and spawned huge new bands including The Stone Roses, The Inspiral Carpets, The Charlatons and the Happy Mondays.
Shaun Ryder has lived a life of glorious highs and desolate lows. A young scally from Salford, he left school at fifteen without ever learning his alphabet and became addicted to heroin by the age of 18 but in late summer of 1980, the Happy Mondays were formed and they never looked back.
The singles ‘Step On’ and ‘Funky Afro’ were released to widespread acclaim and in 1990 their third album Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches, produced by Paul Oakenfold, entered the UK album charts at number one.
Huge chart success and a Glastonbury headline slot followed, plus numerous arrests and world tours. Then Shaun’s drug addiction reached its height, Factory Records was brought to its knees and the Happy Mondays split.
But was this the end for Shaun Ryder? Not by a long shot. Two years later he was back with new band Black Grape, and their groundbreaking debut album topped the charts in possibly the greatest comeback of all time.
Even his continuing struggle with drugs did not stem the tide of critically acclaimed tracks and collaborations as he went on to prove his musical genius time and again. And then there was the jungle...
In 2010, Shaun Ryder entered the I’m a Celebrity jungle a rock ‘n’ roll hell-raiser and emerged a national treasure.
Rock’n’roll legend, reality TV star, poet, film star, heroin addict, son, brother, father, husband, foul-mouthed anthropologist and straight-talking survivor, Shaun Ryder has been a cultural icon and a 24-hour party person for a quarter of a century. Told in his own words, this is his story.
Published by Bantam Press on 15th September 2011, priced £18.99
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