It’s a tale that encapsulates the mischievous charm of the man known as Mani, who sadly died yesterday aged 63. Not only was he the definitive bassist of the baggy era and much of the decade beyond – his deeply melodic basslines always an ear-catching, groove-setting counterpoint to guitarist John Squire’s guitar pyrotechnics – but an amenable figure who, more than many of his peers and bandmates, really was adored. If Shaun Ryder was Madchester’s drug-widened mind and Bez its saucer eyes, Mani was its broad, welcoming smile. Funny, friendly and inclusive, he was a unifying character across the alternative rock world; a man who didn’t just loosen up the indie rock sphere to allow the poutier kids to dance, but bonded it too. For the Roses, Oasis, Primal Scream, Inspiral Carpets, Ocean Colour Scene and many more, Mani was inspiration, compadre, rejuvenator and partner in crime. In a half-shadowed kind of way, Mani was Nineties rock music.
