I'm very grateful for the kind people who have commented on this little series. These interesting remarks have opened my eyes to a number of Madchester bands I missed on completely: the Mock Turtles, Northside, the New Fast Automatic Daffodils, Flowered Up, The Top, World of Twist etc. Maybe it's better that I've never heard some of them, but I'm happy to learn there's more out there to explore.  Judging from James's insight, I should begin by listening to Northside and New FADS.

For some bands, it seems to come easy. Tony Wilson, the founder and boss of Factory Records, signed Northside to his influential label before the band had played one show. Under Wilson's watch, Northside released two moderately popular singles in the U.K. in 1990, "We Take A Trip" (which was banned on Radio 1 for its drug allusions) and "My Rising Star".

Following these successes, the band went into the studio with Ian Broudie (of Big in Japan, Lightning Seeds fame) and produced their only record, Chicken Rhythms. "... something brilliant is happening ... Northside are for real" wrote New Musical Express. Others were less kind. "Northside takes some chances here and there, and one can admire its desire to strive for originality," Alex Henderson opines in his All Music review. "But unfortunately, most of the songs are forgettable."

In May of 1991, NME writer Dele Fadele met with Northside to discuss their new single, "Take 5" (MP3), which the writer described  as sounding like "Keith Richards after an amphetamine bout":

"Dermo [lead singer Warren Dermody] is convinced that they're doing something new and worthwhile, admits to loving Minder on TV, and says that anyone who compares them to Happy Mondays hasn't seen 'em live or listened for themselves and is just blindly following what's been (inaccurately) written about them. So what bothers him at the moment?

`The way a lot of indie music just sounds the same. Everyone's going on this big Ride noise thing, there aren't any individuals anymore. Oh, and by the way, Manic Street Preachers are crap. Who wants to burn out at 25? We're going to be around for a long while yet.'"

In this case unfortunately, a long while meant 1993. When Factory Records went broke in 1992, Northside were left without a label and soon split. Is Chicken Rhythms the last the world would hear from them? "Dermo's got a new band, I hear," James wrote in the comments for the Inspiral Carpets feature. "Timmy [Walsh, the guitarist] is missing, presumed stoned and Cliff's [the bassist Cliff Ogier] still Cliff. No-one ever hears anything from Paul [Walsh, drums]. 'Bass guitar!'"