"I can
feel the earth begin to move / I hear my needle hit the groove / And spiral
through it all the day / I hear my song begin to say, / Kiss me where the sun
don't shine / The past was yours but the future's mine / You're all out of
time..." Brash and full of
confidence, The Stone Roses' debut is an album that will never die. It is one of those rare moments in
music where the past and future collide and perfectly encapsulate their
generation.
The Roses
self-titled debut, like no other British album of its era, has garnered, and
kept, the accolades heaped upon it.
Let’s not mince words here, everything that Nirvana did and represented
for American indie-rock, The Stone Roses did and represented for British
indie-rock two years earlier. The
popularity, the influence on popular culture and style, the uplifting and
giving voice to a generation who felt they had no representation in their
culture are all accolades that have been heaped on Nirvana, and all of these
things can be said about the Roses.
Any questions of the Manchester bands relevance were completely washed
away in the summer of 2012, when their Heaton Park homecoming shows sold out
over 250,000 tickets in 90 minutes, according to The Guardian, becoming the fastest selling rock show in British
history. What is it about the
album that has grabbed listeners across generations and refused to let go?
To start
with, the album captured the spirit of its time, place and the energy of the
working class youth, longing for something better. The thing that set the combination of Ian Brown on vocals,
John Squire on guitar, Gary "Mani" Mounfield on bass, and Allen
"Renni" Wren on drums and percussion, apart from other bands was they
didn’t just believe they would arrive at a better life, they were going to take
it, and not just take it, they would take it and splatter paint all over it,
marking it as theirs.
Releasing
their first single, "So Young," in 1985, The Stone Roses began
receiving acclaim in the British press with their second single, 1987's "Sally
Cinnamon." The following year
the band signed to Silvertone Records and began recording their eponymous debut
with producer John Leckie, releasing the single "Elephant Stone," in
1988.
Their debut
album would yield five UK singles, while the US release would also add the
singles “Elephant Stone” and “Fool’s Gold.” Track for track the album builds from the static train
station rumblings of “I Wanna Be Adored,” through Brown’s aforementioned
proclamation on “She Bangs The Drums;” on to Squire’s jangling hooks and solos
on “Waterfall;” sliding its feet through Renni’s shuffling beats on “Shoot You
Down;” all coming to a thunderous climax driven by Mani’s thunderous grooving
bass line on “I Am The Resurrection.”
The working
class protest against the Royal Family, “Elizabeth My Dear,” the jangle-pop
perfection of “Bye Bye Badman,” and the chiming punches of “This Is The One,”
all sound as fresh and timeless today, over 20 years later, as they did in the
Summer of 1989.
Leckie, who
had attracted the attention from the band through his work on the XTC's
psychedelic side project Dukes Of The Stratosphere, achieved the difficult task
of catching lightning in a bottle, crafting an album that is truly
timeless. The Stone Roses is an album that sounds perfectly in place
alongside the late ‘60’s work of The Beatles and The Byrds, the late ‘80’s
albums of The Smiths and The Cure, as well as sounding so fresh and new it
could have come out over twenty years later.
In November
of the same year, the band made their first appearance on the UK top 10 singles
charts with the double single "Fool's Gold" and "What the World
is Waiting For." "Fool's
Gold" was nine-plus minutes of pure funk and groove, highlighting the
rhythm section of Mani and Reni, while "What the World is Waiting
For" stands alongside anything off of their debut album. By 1991 the band had recorded and
released the single "One Love," were headlining their own festival on
Spike Island, and were being hailed as one of the most important and promising bands
of their generation.
A lengthy
legal dispute with Silvertone Records stalled the band's return to the studio,
as the band sought to leave their label, eventually signing with Geffen
Records. The band eventually
returned to the studio in late 1992, recording with an array of producers
between '92-'94.
The Stone
Roses eventually returned to a changed music scene in December of 1994, with Second Coming. The album instantly divided critics and fans, which would
debate the albums merits endlessly.
It seems almost unfair to judge the album by the incredibly high
standard of its predecessor; however, if you are able to divorce your
expectations from their first album, Second
Coming will unveil itself as a rich mine full of carefully crafted
treasures.
Opening with
four minutes of building guitar sounds, jungle rhythms and sounds,
"Breaking Into Heaven" eventually does just that - bursting open with
a chorus that triumphantly announces the band's intention to pick up right
where they left off. "Listen
up sweet child of mine / Have I got news for you / Nobody leaves this place
alive / They'll die and join the cue, sing it / I'm gonna break right into
heaven / I can't wait anymore," sings Brown over grooves reminiscent of
earlier songs "Fool's Gold" and "I am the
Resurrection." Squire
unleashes his blues chops on the guitar solo heavy tracks "Driving
South," "Good Times," and the album's closer and first single
"Love Spreads."
The band
relies on their jangle-pop hooks on the album's second single "Ten Story
Love Song," as well as "How Do You Sleep?," while
"Daybreak" and "Straight to the Man" are based around funky
grooves. The album's third single,
"Begging You," thunders with the dancehall boom of the rave culture
they helped create.
Often
underrated, Second Coming would not
prove to live up to its boastful title.
Before touring could begin, Renni would leave the band, being replaced
for the tour by drummer Robbie Maddox.
A short U.S. tour followed, with tensions building between Brown and
Squire throughout the tour, eventually stalling after Squire broke his collar
bone mountain biking in Marin, CA, following the band's show at The Fillmore in
San Francisco. The band attempted
to continue the following year, but the animosity between Squire and Brown
would lead to Squire pulling out of the tour. The band limped through its scheduled dates with replacement
guitarists filling in for Squire's absence, and finally disbanded following a
disastrous headlining performance at the Redding Festival in 1996. In the ensuing years, Brown and Squire
would trade barbs and accusations through the press, until Squire eventually
retired from music to focus on his artwork.
Over the
years, several reunion offers and rumors were shot down by the band, which
continually stood by the claim that the anger was too much to work
through. Eventually, however, the
four gathered together for drinks following the funeral of Mounfield's mother
in 2009. When reports emerged of
Brown and Squire talking together at the same table came out, the reunion
rumors gathered new steam. In late
2011, the band announced that the original line-up would reunite for three
nights at Heaton Park, in their hometown of Manchester the next year.
In 2013, the
band is reportedly working on new material for a third album, as well as
performing their first concerts in North America since their brief 1995 tour,
including a headlining slot at the Coachella Music and Arts Fair in Indio,
CA. Whether or not a third album
does emerge, the legacy of The Stone Roses will remain firmly in place; as the
standard-bearers for their generation.
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