{"id":298966,"date":"2025-11-21T09:27:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T09:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/298966\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T09:27:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T09:27:12","slug":"baggy-bass-hero-whose-melodies-made-the-madchester-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/298966\/","title":{"rendered":"baggy bass hero whose melodies made the Madchester movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

His loping melodic bassline was the first thing you heard on \u2018The Stone Roses\u2019, gliding across the cosmic opening of \u2018I Wanna Be Adored\u2019, and the last thing you remembered of the record \u2013 driving the euphoric psych rock coda of \u2018I Am The Resurrection\u2019. Snaked around John Squire<\/a>\u2019s chiming guitar work, it was the winding core of The Stone Roses<\/a>\u2019 groove and the jolting heartbeat of the entire Madchester movement.<\/p>\n

Gary \u201cMani\u201d Mounfield, who died today<\/a> (November 20) aged 63, held a rare place in the world of bass heroes; just as much as the melodies and the mercurial playing he supported on the band\u2019s legendary 1989 debut album, he drafted and defined a scene with some of the most infectious and hypnotic basslines ever recorded.<\/p>\n

Among his more silent, surly and boggle-eyed peers, the Manchester mainstay also became the amenable face of baggy and one of the most revered bassists of his generation. Going on to join Primal Scream<\/a> in the wake of The Roses\u2019 split in 1996, Mani was at the core of the group\u2019s highly acclaimed and influential future rock rejuvenation with 1997\u2019s \u2018Vanishing Point\u2019 and 2000\u2019s \u2018XTRMNTR\u2019 and, having crossed from one seminal rock act to another \u2013 via a supportive-cum-disruptive role around the major recordings of Oasis<\/a> \u2013 became a much-loved, era-straddling figure at the core of \u201890s music and beyond.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Born in Crumpsall in 1962, Mounfield attended Rusholme\u2019s Roman Catholic Xaverian College until leaving at the age of 16, soon finding himself embroiled in the Manchester music scene of the early 1980s. Around 1981, he joined The Fireside Chaps with Squire and singer\/guitarist Andy Couzens; having changed their name to the Waterfront, they very nearly became The Stone Roses when Ian Brown<\/a> joined as singer in 1983. The band floundered and split, though, and Mounfield spent some time in another band called The Mill (who played live as The Hungry Socks) with Clint Boon \u2013 soon to form the Inspiral Carpets<\/a> \u2013 while The Roses evolved without him, finding local success with jangle-heavy indiepop fare such as \u2018Sally Cinnamon\u2019.<\/p>\n

In June 1987, however, bassist Pete Garner quit the band, and Mani was recruited as his replacement. On his arrival, the tone and depth of The Stone Roses\u2019 music instantly evolved into a sound in tune with the elastic groove of the emergent dance scene and the amorphous melodicism of indie rock at once. It would make The Stone Roses the definitive band of the baggy era. \u201cWhen Mani joined, it almost changed overnight,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt became a totally different groove\u2026Straight away, everything just fell into place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StoneThe Stone Roses in 2011, l-r John Squire, Mani, Ian Brown, and Reni. Credit: Dave J. Hogan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Both weighty and melodic, Mani\u2019s bewitching basslines became the bedrock and, often, the driving force of The Roses\u2019 breakthrough tracks \u2018Elephant Stone\u2019, \u2018Made Of Stone\u2019 and \u2018She Bangs The Drums\u2019, and underpinned the band\u2019s low-slung funk development on \u2018Fools Gold\u2019 \u2013 arguably a four-minute encapsulation of the entire late-\u201980s dance rock scene.<\/p>\n

Following the debut album\u2019s Top Five success, The Stone Roses\u2019 cultural coronation at the \u201cbaggy Woodstock\u201d Spike Island<\/a> in 1990 \u2013 and legal wrangles with label Silvertone which kept the band from releasing any new material for several years following 1990\u2019s \u2018One Love\u2019 single \u2013 it was Mani\u2019s dense, funky bass which provided the major through-line to their second album \u2018Second Coming\u2019 in 1994: a record otherwise dominated by Squire\u2019s more blues rock tendencies. In the fallout which followed, culminating in a notoriously poorly-received headline set at Reading Festival<\/a> in 1996, Mounfield was Brown\u2019s only permanent ally in the band as Squire and drummer Alan \u201cReni\u201d Wren departed.<\/p>\n

A popular figure in the \u201990s alt-rock scene \u2013 he was revered by the Gallagher brothers, who had been inspired to form Oasis by watching The Stone Roses perform \u2013 Mounfield quickly found himself taken in by Primal Scream, one of just three bands he\u2019d claim to be willing to join (the others being The Jesus & Mary Chain<\/a> and Oasis).<\/p>\n

Fortuitously, he arrived just as the Scream were making a giant leap away from their own country-blues era on 1994\u2019s \u2018Give Out But Don\u2019t Give Up\u2019 towards a period of dark, experimental dance rock which would see them reappraised for a second time (following 1990\u2019s \u2018Screamadelica\u2019<\/a>) as one of the most important groups of the decade. Indeed, Mounfield\u2019s upbeat attitude and musical energy have been credited with reviving the band, amid talk of splitting after the disheartening and drug-heavy experience of \u2018Give Out\u2026\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"BobbyBobby Gillespie and Mani celebrate Primal Scream\u2019s Godlike Genius award at the 2007 NME Awards. Credit: Claire Greenway\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Acriss 15 years and five albums with Primal Scream, encompassing experimental rock masterpieces (\u2018XTRMNTR\u2019) and blues rock revivals (\u2018Riot City Blues\u2019 in 2006), Mani acted as frontman Bobby Gillespie\u2019s right-hand man, while also managing to fit in stints with bass-player supergroup Freebass \u2013 alongside New Order<\/a>\u2019s Peter Hook<\/a>, The Smiths<\/a>\u2019 Andy Rourke and Haven<\/a>\u2019s Gary Briggs \u2013 and tours with Ocean Colour Scene<\/a> and guest appearances at Ian Brown solo shows. In 2011, he left the Scream for good to rejoin The Stone Roses, playing major festival sets and stadium shows with the group until their ultimate disbanding in 2017.<\/p>\n

Less than a week after announcing a talking tour, An Evening With Gary \u201cMani\u201d Mounfield<\/a>, which was set to begin in September 2026, Mani\u2019s death was confirmed in an online statement by his brother Greg. He added that the bassist was joining his wife Imelda, mother of their twin sons, who died from cancer in 2023<\/a>. His groove will continue to infect generations: his legacy made of stone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His loping melodic bassline was the first thing you heard on \u2018The Stone Roses\u2019, gliding across the cosmic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,1770,136,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-298966","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-indie","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-top-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}