"Happy Hour" is a 1986 single by British

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...

band

The Housemartins The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull who were active in the 1980s and charted three top-ten albums and six top-twenty singles in the UK. Many of their lyrics conveyed a mixture of socialist politics and Christianit ...

. It was the third single from the album ''

London 0 Hull 4 ''London 0 Hull 4'' is the debut album by The Housemartins, released in June 1986. It contains the singles " Flag Day" (#124 UK), "Sheep" (#54 UK), " Happy Hour" (#3 UK) and " Think for a Minute" (#18 UK). The title refers to the band's home ci ...

'' and reached number three in the UK Singles Chart. Vocalist Paul Heaton had been working on the lyrics for some time, with the song originally being called "French England". It was completed on 22 January 1986, the same day "

Me and the Farmer "Me and the Farmer" is a single by British Indie rock band The Housemartins from the album ''The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death''. It reached #15 in the UK singles chart the week of 12 September 1987. The song had been written some 18 mont ...

" was written. Guitarist Stan Cullimore had a chord progression planned for the verses, but wanted to finish the song quickly in order to go and buy some cakes, so he reused the same chords for the chorus and a quick demo was recorded, the whole process taking less than ten minutes. The band's first big hit, it stayed on the singles chart for 13 weeks, peaking in the week of 28 June 1986. The song also enjoyed exposure on United States

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' noted that despite "irrepressibly giddy music hooks", the song's "sobering" lyrics "hammer away at the hypocrisy and sexism of young British business types on the move." On their 1992 album, ''

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

'', the

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reached ...

paid tribute to this song by breaking into it at the end of the song "Hello City". ("the Housemartins (whose wonderful minor hit Happy Hour is now best remembered as the coda to Barenaked Ladies' Hello City)") The video for the song, set in a pub, featured animated plasticine figures of the band members. Comedian

Phill Jupitus Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is an English stand-up and improv comedian, actor, performance poet, cartoonist and podcaster. Jupitus was a team captain on all but one BBC Two-broadcast episode of music quiz ...

makes an appearance in the music video, reading a newspaper. It was filmed in

The Star ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

Charts

References

External links

Song lyrics
1986 singles The Housemartins songs Songs about alcohol Songs written by Paul Heaton Songs written by Stan Cullimore 1986 songs Go! Discs singles {{1980s-rock-song-stub