Black Grape
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:EngvarB Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox musical artist Black Grape are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1993, featuring former members of Happy Mondays and Ruthless Rap Assassins. Their musical style fuses funk and electronic rock with electronic programming and samples.
History
Formation, first two studio 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.<ref name="Larkin">Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1995, Black Grape were signed by Radioactive Records (an imprint of major label BMG) and released its debut studio album It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah.<ref name="Larkin"/> The album debuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart, and spawned three top 20 singles.<ref name="UK"/> The album was certified platinum in the UK in April 1996.<ref name="UK CERT"/>
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 sink like subs". 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 studio album Stupid Stupid Stupid was less commercially successful, but was certified gold in the UK in January 1998.<ref name="UK CERT"/> The group broke-up 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).<ref name="Larkin"/>
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 for a concert as part of the 'Get Loaded in the Dark' gig series at The Coronet in London.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2015, Black Grape reunited for a gig in April at the Old Granada Studios in Manchester. The gig was a benefit for Bez's political party, We Are the Reality Party, which coincided with his bid for Parliament in the upcoming general election. Although Ryder and Kermit took to the stage, Bez joined them on stage towards the end of the gig. Soon after, it was announced that Black Grape had signed to Creation Management run by Alan McGee and Simon Fletcher and announced a reunion tour to coincide with 20 years of the band's debut studio album It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah (1995). Although an original member, Bez did not rejoin the band.
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 studio album, Pop Voodoo would be released on 7 July. On the same day, "Everything You Know Is Wrong" was released.<ref name=NMEPV>Template:Cite web</ref> The album was eventually released on 4 August.<ref name=LTW>Template:Cite web</ref> Louder Than War listed the album as one of its top 100 albums of 2017, placing it high at #23.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In September 2021, Black Grape went on the road to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut studio album – originally planned for 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic saw the original shows rescheduled
Orange Head, the band's fourth album, was scheduled for release in November 2023, preceded by the single "Milk".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Instead the single "Dirt" was released in November, and the album pushed back to January 2024.<ref name="XS">Template:Cite web</ref>
Orange Head was released on 19 January 2024.<ref name="XS"/>
Wags died in March 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK <ref name="UK">Template:Cite web</ref> |
AUS <ref name="aus2">Template:Cite web N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart.</ref> |
CAN <ref>Canadian studio albums:
|
NZ <ref name="NZ">Template:Cite web</ref> |
SCO <ref>Scottish albums: |
SWE <ref name="SWE">Template:Cite web</ref> | |||
| It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah |
|
1 | 111 | 80 | 20 | 2 | 13 |
|
| Stupid Stupid Stupid |
|
11 | 139 | — | — | 10 | 40 |
|
| Pop Voodoo |
|
15 | — | — | — | 8 | — | |
| Orange Head |
|
78 | — | — | — | 5 | — | |
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK <ref name="UK"/> |
UK Dance <ref>UK dance singles:
|
AUS <ref name="AUS">Template:Cite web</ref> |
SCO <ref>Scottish singles: |
US Alt. <ref name="US ALT">Template:Cite web</ref> | |||
| 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 | — | rowspan="2" Template:N/A |
| "England's Irie" | 6 | — | — | 19 | — | ||
| 1997 | "Get Higher" | 24 | — | 177 | 12 | — | Stupid Stupid Stupid |
| 1998 | "Marbles" | 46 | 39 | — | 44 | — | |
| 2017 | "Nine Lives"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | — | — | — | — | — | Pop Voodoo |
| "I Wanna Be Like You"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2023 | "Pimp Wars" | — | — | — | — | — | Orange Head |
| "Milk" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Dirt" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||||
Promotional singles
- 1997 – "Dadi Waz a Badi"<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>
Film
- The Grape Tapes (1997)
References
External links
- Alternative dance musical groups
- English dance music groups
- English rock music groups
- Madchester groups
- Britpop groups
- Alternative rock groups from Salford
- Musical groups established in 1993
- Musical groups disestablished in 1998
- Musical groups reestablished in 2010
- Musical groups reestablished in 2015
- 1993 establishments in England