Throwback Thursday: The Stone Roses 'The Stone Roses'

Image: The Stone Roses

In Manchester it only takes one poster of a lemon to get people whispering. Everyone knows what it means and everyone gets excited. In little time at all the whispers become rumours, the rumours become tweets and the tweets demand answers. The thing is, in Manchester, when life gives you lemons, it normally means The Stone Roses are involved.

Since 2012, the Roses have been somewhat of an enigma. Burning bright on three triumphant nights at Heaton Park, their comeback shows seemed to ignite the flame that had been blown out of Manchester’s seminal pop group. Following this came a world tour, a host of festival appearances and the highly successful documentation of their reunion, Made Of Stone. All that was left was for the band to fulfil their promise of new material.

So when they disappeared into obscurity it seemed as though the third coming was on the cards. Alas, nothing came; unless you count the string of photographs depicting each of the four Roses with beards of biblical proportions. Had they taken the money and ran, never to be heard of again?

Absolutely not. When the news broke earlier this week that the group would return to their native Manchester to play two enormous gigs, the city erupted with joy and relief. With good reason too. The Stone Roses remain important in that they embody what it’s like to be young and ambitious, a notion perfectly captured on their eponymous début (stream above on Spotify).

Since 1989 that album has fallen into the hands of almost every teenager with even the slightest whiff of indie about them, and remains as one of the most influential records of all time. The vibrancy of the Manchester music scene was at an all-time high by the late eighties and was founded upon baggy clothes, raving and ecstasy.

Whilst bands like Joy Division and The Smiths were drenched in lyrical melancholy, acts such as Inspiral Carpets and Happy Mondays were pivotal to the Madchester sound. Despite dissociating themselves with the scene, the Roses were powerless to comparisons between themselves and the other artists from the city.

After releasing a number of singles including ‘Sally Cinnamon’ and ‘Elephant Stone’ between 1985 and 1988, the band had begun to attract attention around the North West, eventually signing a record deal. By the turn of the decade they had changed music forever. A slow burner commercially, The Stone Roses peaked at Number 32 in the album chart and had no number one singles to boast about. Frankly, this is irrelevant.

What matters more is the feeling you get as ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ opens the album. Mani’s bass emerges over what sounds like spells being cast, John Squire’s guitar follows, delicate as a spider’s web before Reni begins pounding his drum kit. No other record starts as magnificently as this, the song a statement of intent, a war cry for a new generation, a generation who felt like they deserved more.

Ian Brown’s repetition of the song’s title is not a request, it’s an instruction; adoration was an inevitability. From here the songs flow seamlessly. The sixties euphoria of ‘She Bangs The Drums’ shimmers and bubbles rapidly, fitting that it proceeds ‘Waterfall’. With this opening trio of songs, the Roses’ sound is captured perfectly and paves the way for what follows.

The mixture of Squire’s guitar glistening amongst groove heavy basslines is kept neatly in time by shuffling rhythms, and must have been a treat for Ian Brown to sing over. It is this sound that prompted critics to liken the band’s music to the jangly guitar pop of artists like the Byrds rather than the rave music the Roses grew up around.

Lyrically it's a masterpiece in its own right with both Squire and Brown contributing wondrously, penning thoughts of love, fame and revolution. The latter is seemingly the most important of these subjects, and is represented in 'Bye Bye Badman' (“I intend to knock you down“), 'Elizabeth My Dear' (“I’ll not rest till she’s lost her throne”) and Song For My Sugar Spun Sister (“every member of parliament trips on glue”).

This album is truly made up of anthemic experiences yet there is not one song that stands alone in portraying such a feeling of ecstasy. There are in fact, three. 'Made Of Stone' is the quiver before the climax, it's perilous opening lyrics of “your knuckles whiten on the wheel” alert you that you’re in for a bumpy ride. Once the chorus explodes you’re fully immersed and by the end, John Squire’s guitar is literally screaming in your face.

'This Is The One' is undeniable, starting in the pit of your stomach and begins to rise and as it’s sexually charged lyrics take hold, you’re powerless. You lean back, arms outstretched and can’t resist screaming those four words over and over.

And as the opening drums of 'I Am The Resurrection' (above) pound away you think there can’t be room for more, surely not. Wrong. This eight minute masterpiece is the Roses in a nutshell and sees Ian, John, Reni and Mani performing at their very best. The relentless drums feed into an endless groove, the lead guitar soars and the lyrics are boldly religious.

After four minutes it all stops. What follows is quite simply the most exquisite jam ever recorded, simply having to be heard to be believed. Whilst the baggy sound died a death and the rave era made way for new types of dance music, The Stone Roses were a catalyst for what was to come in guitar music.

The proceeding Britpop era, and one of its most successful artists Oasis, are without question the result of this album. The very things that made them the band they were, their massive choruses, their sixties melodies and their Mancunian pride, were learnt from the Stone Roses.

The excitement that still surrounds the band speaks volumes about how influential they truly are. What is more telling is how even to this day, the news of a Stone Roses tour often attracts more excitement than most current bands. When Ian Brown sang the line “the past was yours but the future’s mine” on 'She Bangs The Drums', it wasn't just youthful hyperbole, it was prophecy. 26 years later we're still entranced by the Roses' spell.