The Stone Roses
Encyclopedia
The Stone Roses are an English alternative rock
band formed in Manchester
in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester
movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's most successful lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown
, guitarist John Squire
, bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield
, and drummer Alan "Reni" Wren
.
The band released their début album, The Stone Roses
, in 1989. The album was a breakthrough success for the band; it cemented the band's reputation among critics, and is still rated by some as one of the most important albums ever. At this time the Stone Roses decided to capitalise on their success by signing to a major label; their current record label Silvertone would not let them out of their contract, which led to a long legal battle that culminated with the band signing with Geffen Records
in 1991, and then releasing their second album Second Coming
in 1994 . The group soon disbanded after several lineup changes throughout the supporting tour, which began with Reni first departing, followed by Squire.
Following media speculation, it was announced on 18 October 2011 that the band had reunited for a world tour
in 2012, starting with three homecoming shows in Manchester. They also plan to record a third album in the future.
(at the time the bassist) and guitarist John Squire
, who knew each other from Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, formed a short-lived Clash
-inspired band called The Patrol in 1980 along with singer/guitarist Andy Couzens and drummer Simon Wolstencroft
. They played several gigs in 1980 and recorded a demo tape, but towards the end of that year decided on a change of direction. Brown had got a taste of being a frontman during the last Patrol show, singing The Sweet's "Blockbuster" to close the set, with the band's friend/roadie Pete Garner standing in on bass, and Couzens wanted to concentrate on guitar. The band members lost enthusiasm in 1981, Brown selling his bass guitar to buy a scooter, and Wolstencroft joined the pre-Smiths
band The Freak Party. Squire continued to practice guitar while working as an animator for Cosgrove Hall during the day, while Brown ran a Northern soul
night in a Salford club.
Squire and Couzens started a new band, The Fireside Chaps, with bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield, later recruiting a singer named Kaiser and drummer Chris Goodwin, and changing their name to The Waterfront (after the film On the Waterfront
), their sound influenced by 1960s groups and contemporary bands such as Orange Juice
. Goodwin left before the band recorded their first demo and, shortly after the demo, Squire asked Brown to join as singer. A meeting with Geno Washington
at a party at Brown's flat in Hulme, in which Washington told Brown that he would be a star and should be a singer, convinced Brown to take Squire up on his offer. Brown joined The Waterfront in late 1983, for a time sharing vocals with Kaiser.
Like the earlier attempts at bands, The Waterfront fizzled out, but in late 1983 Couzens decided to try again at starting a band, and approached Brown. They decided on Wolstencroft (who had turned down the job of drummer in The Smiths) as drummer and Pete Garner as bassist (despite his admission that he couldn't play anything but "Blockbuster"). They also decided that they needed Squire in the band, and when he agreed the band's line-up was cemented. Leaving their previous bands behind, they worked solely on new material. Brown's vocal limitations prompted him to take singing lessons for three weeks. After rehearsing for some time without a band name, Squire came up with 'The Stone Roses'. Several stories later emerged suggesting that the band had initially been called 'English Rose' or that the name was somehow linked to The Rolling Stones
, but these were untrue, Brown explaining "No, I don't know where that English Rose story came from. John thought up the name 'Stone Roses' - something with a contrast, two words that went against each other". The band rehearsed for six months, during which time Wolstencroft had been auditioning for other bands, and he left to join Terry Hall
's band The Colourfield
. They got Goodwin to rejoin, but he only lasted for one rehearsal, so they advertised for a replacement and began auditioning, eventually recruiting Alan Wren
in May 1984.
After rehearsing and writing songs over the summer, they recorded their first demo in late August, making 100 cassettes, with artwork by Squire, and set about trying to get gigs. They played their first gig as the Stone Roses on 23 October 1984, supporting Pete Townshend
at an anti-heroin concert at the Moonlight Club in London, Brown having sent the demo with an accompanying letter stating "I'm surrounded by skagheads, I wanna smash 'em. Can you give us a show?". The show was seen by journalists including Sounds
Gary Johnson, who arranged to interview the band a few weeks later. The band received management offers and more gigs soon followed.
Howard Jones, who had recently left his job as manager of The Haçienda
, producer Martin Hannett
, and Tim Chambers agreed to work with the band on an album, setting up Thin Line Records to release it, with Jones taking on management of the band, although they had already made a similar agreement with Caroline Reed in London. The band got their first positive press in late December, with Johnson tipping them for success in 1985 in Sounds, with a feature on the band following in January.
The band played their first headlining gig on 4 January 1985, supported by Last Party, after original headliners Mercenary Skank had pulled out. The band had their first recording session with Hannett in January 1985 at Strawberry Studios in Stockport
, aiming to record tracks for a debut single and an album. Further sessions followed in March, during which they recorded their debut single, the double A-side "So Young"/"Tell Me". The band were invited to play a live session on Piccadilly Radio in March, for which they premiered a new song, "I Wanna be Adored". By this time they had started to build a sizeable following in Manchester, and their first gig in the North of England at Clouds in Preston attracted a large audience, but descended into a riot after technical problems and friction between the bands on the bill.
The Roses embarked on a tour of Sweden in April, with their first gig in Manchester following on their return, at International 1, a venue run by future Stone Roses manager Gareth Evans. A performance at a warehouse party on 20 July helped to build interest in the band, and in August they returned to the studio to record their debut album. Unhappy with the results, and with the band's sound changing, it was shelved (it was later released as Garage Flower). The "So Young"/"Tell Me" single, however, was released in September.
Frustrated with the lack of attention they were getting locally, they engaged in a graffiti campaign, with Brown and Wren spraying the band's name on walls from West Didsbury to the city centre. It brought them much negative publicity, but added to their increasing notoriety. In 1986 they began working on new material, including "Sally Cinnamon
", and the planned follow-up singles to "So Young" ("I Wanna Be Adored" and "This is the One") were shelved. They parted company with Jones and took on Gareth Evans as manager, using Evans's International 1 venue as their new rehearsal space.
As Brown and Squire began collaborating more closely on songwriting, they decided that they should take a larger slice of the money than the other band members; Couzens and Wren left the band in protest, although they soon returned, and Couzens played an ill-fated gig with the band at the end of May before being pushed out of the band by Evans after flying home alone while the rest of the band returned in their van. Although they failed to achieve further success in 1986, their repertoire expanded to include songs such as "Sugar Spun Sister", taking on influences from bands such as The Jesus & Mary Chain and the indie-pop era Primal Scream
("Velocity Girl" being a major influence on "Made of Stone"), and they stopped playing the older songs.
In December 1986 they recorded their first demo as a four-piece, including the first studio recordings of "Sugar Spun Sister" and "Elephant Stone". In early 1987, Evans negotiated a deal with Revolver FM for a one-off release on the specially created Black Records label; by the time of the release of the single, "Sally Cinnamon", the group's sound had changed considerably, with chiming guitar hooks
and a strong melody, alienating some of their old fans but attracting many new ones. "Sally Cinnamon" sold out its 1,000-copy run, but failed to make the desired impact.
In June, Garner announced that he had decided to leave the band, although he stayed until they found a replacement, playing his final gig with the band at the 'Larks in the Park' festival in Liverpool. Rob Hampson was Garner's replacement, with Garner teaching him the bass parts before leaving, although Hampson only lasted a week. A more permanent replacement was found in the form of former-Waterfront bassist Mani (Gary Mounfield
), who played his first gig with the band in November 1987. Brown recalled, "When Mani joined it almost changed overnight. It became a totally different groove ... Straight away, everything just fell into place".
In early 1988 the band played at Dingwalls in London, a show attended by representatives of Zomba
and Rough Trade
's Geoff Travis
, and both subsequently wanted to sign the band, Rough Trade even funding studio time to record a single, "Elephant Stone
", with Peter Hook
producing. Hook was considered to produce an album for the band but was unavailable due to commitments with New Order
, so Travis suggested John Leckie
. In May the band played a high-profile concert at Manchester's International II with James
organized by Dave Haslam
to raise funds for a campaign against Clause 28
. The band attempted to usurp James by putting up posters around town listing The Stone Roses as headliners, and delaying their start time to get the headline time themselves and limit the time that James could play for. In the audience was a sixteen year old Liam Gallagher
, for whom it was the inspiration to form a band himself. Also in the audience was Glaswegian Roddy McKenna (A+R Music executive Zomba Records), who later signed the band to Zomba Records. He asked if they could be transferred internally to Andrew Lauder's newly-created Guitar based Silvertone Records subsidiary. The band were signed to an eight-album deal, buying the "Elephant Stone" tapes from Rough Trade and releasing them as a single in October 1988.
in London and Rockfield Studios
in Wales, produced by Leckie. The first single for Silvertone, "Elephant Stone
", made little impact, and in early 1989 the band's performances outside the north-west were still attracting small audiences. "Made of Stone
" received more airplay and press attention, but peaked at number ninety on the UK Singles Chart
. The Stone Roses
was released in April / May 1989 , initially to mostly positive reviews, and entered the UK Albums Chart
at number 32 in mid-May, the highest position it would reach that year. This was followed with the single "She Bangs the Drums
", which gave them a top forty UK hit, and a number one on the UK Independent Chart, and by that point they were receiving much greater press attention and were selling out shows across the country. The band gained widespread notoriety when, one minute into a live 1989 TV performance on the BBC's The Late Show, the power failed, prompting Ian Brown to repeatedly roar "Amateurs!" at Tracey MacLeod
. Later in 1989 the band released a double A-side single, "Fools Gold/What the World Is Waiting For
", which reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart
in November. Originally intended as a B-side, "Fools Gold" quickly became the Roses' most famous song and a performance of it on Top of the Pops
cemented their national fame. It gave them their first top ten hit and the album rose to number nineteen in the chart early the following year.
Ian Brown - NME
- December 1989
The group won four NME
Readers poll awards that year; Band of the Year, Best New Band, Single of the Year (for "Fools Gold") and Album of the Year (for their debut album). The Stone Roses
is now considered one of the great British albums, although the band themselves were unhappy with the sound on the album, Squire describing it as "twee" and not "fat or hard enough".
The Stone Roses' outdoor concert at Spike Island
in Widnes
on 27 May 1990 was attended by some 27,000 people. The event, considered a failure at the time due to sound problems and bad organisation, has become legendary over the years as a "Woodstock
for the baggy
generation". In mid 2010 footage of the concert was published on Youtube
. The Roses followed Spike Island with another big event, at Glasgow Green
.
By July the band had released their final single for Silvertone, "One Love
", which reached number four in the UK singles chart, their highest placing yet. It was to be the Roses' last original release for four years as they entered a protracted legal battle to terminate their five-year contract with Silvertone, unhappy with how they had been paid by the label. Silvertone owners Zomba Records took out an injunction against the band in September 1990 to prevent them from recording with any other label, but in May 1991 the court sided with the group, which was then released from its contract. The Stone Roses subsequently signed with Geffen Records
(garnering a million-pound advance for their next record) and began work on their second album. However, Silvertone appealed against the ruling, delaying the record for another year.
in Wales, where they spent 347 ten-hour days working on the album.
The Stone Roses finally released the album, Second Coming
, on 5 December 1994. Mostly written by John Squire, the music now had a dark, heavy blues-rock
sound. "Love Spreads
" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart. Second Coming received a mixed reception from the British press, which music journalist Simon Reynolds
attributed to "the resentment that the Roses, divorced from the cultural moment that gave them meaning, were now just another band".
When Reni left the band in March 1995 with no real explanation given for his departure, a replacement drummer, Robbie Maddix, who had previously worked with Rebel MC, was found. Also recruited around this time for the live shows was session-keyboardist/programmer Nigel Ippinson
, who had previously played with the band on the re-working of "Begging You" for its release as a single. A secret "come-back" tour of the UK was planned for April 1995 but cancelled after the music press announced the dates. A major blow was the cancellation of their engagement at the Glastonbury Festival
in June 1995. John Squire had suffered a mountain-biking accident in northern California just weeks before the show, breaking his collarbone. The band finally organised a full UK tour for November and December 1995 and all dates sold out in a day.
John Squire
left the band on 1 April 1996, releasing a statement describing his departure as "the inevitable conclusion to the gradual social and musical separation we have undergone in the past few years". Former Simply Red session guitarist Aziz Ibrahim
, a former classmate of Pete Garner's at Burnage High School, was recruited. The band persevered for another six months, but in performances at Benicassim Festival and the Reading Festival in August 1996 fans booed and threw objects at the stage and Brown's vocals were described as "so off-key it was excruciating to have to listen". The music press was united in its criticism, the NME
describing "I am the Resurrection" as "more like the eternal crucifixion". Brown and Mani dissolved the group in October 1996.
, who released one album before breaking up, as well as releasing two solo albums. In 2007 he told a reporter that he was giving up music for good to focus on his career as a painter. Brown has released six solo albums, all but one of which have charted in the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart
. A large number of these featured Aziz Ibrahim on guitar.
Neither Mani nor Reni have pursued solo careers. Mani joined Primal Scream
as bassist in 1996 and has remained in the band. Reni has remained inactive for the most part since the Roses' breakup. He started a new band called The Rub
in 1999, and played several gigs but nothing has been heard of The Rub since. In an interview in 2005 he said he was writing new songs to perform with Mani.
Couzens joined Steve Diggle
in Buzzcocks F.O.C.
in 1986 and formed The High
in 1989. Garner managed a record shop after leaving the band.
The 20th-anniversary edition of the band's début album was released in August 2009, remastered by John Leckie and Ian Brown, including a collectors' box-set edition and the previously unreleased song 'Pearl Bastard'.
A partial reunion took place on 30 March 2007 at former Smiths' bassist Andy Rourke
's charity concert in aid of Manchester Versus Cancer. Ian Brown was joined by Mani and unofficial fifth member Cressa, along with Andy Rourke
, Maka Simato and Steve White to perform "I Am the Resurrection
". Reni was asked to play drums but declined.
After telling Tim Lovejoy
that, if The Specials
reformed, he would reunite the Stone Roses, Mani announced that he, Reni and John Squire wanted to reunite for the 20th anniversary of the debut album but that he needed to persuade Ian Brown. A spokesman for Squire stated in January 2009 that Squire "has no plans to return to music".
The UK's Daily Mirror reported on 17 March 2009 that "sources" had confirmed that the band was to reform in 2009 for a 21-date tour. The report was given sufficient credence to be repeated on the New Musical Express's website but John Squire and Ian Brown both denied it.
On 19 March 2009, it was reported that John Squire had created a piece of artwork depicting his less than positive views of the band reforming. The piece read "I have no desire whatsoever to desecrate the grave of seminal Manchester pop group The Stone Roses 18.3.09", which strongly indicated that rumours of the band reforming were highly unlikely. In an interview on the BBC's Newsnight
, Squire stated that he thought the reunion of the band would never happen even if Ian Brown and he were on speaking terms as he would refuse, not being interested in reforming the band. He said that he would be dedicating himself to his visual art work and that "music is a young man's game".
On 9 June 2009 Mani stated that the band would reform if they were offered enough money but admitted that he's "very nearly given up" on trying to orchestrate a reunion and two months later told BBC Newsbeat how Ian Brown "isn't up for it at all".
On 7 April 2011, it was reported that the Roses were set to reunite after an "emotional reunion" between Brown and Squire at the funeral of Mani's mother. Mani responded to these rumours with the comment "Two old friends meeting up after 15 years to pay their respects to my mother does not constitute the reformation of The Stone Roses. Please fuck off and leave it alone. It isn't true and isn't happening."
On 26 May 2011, NME
reported that, according to Happy Mondays
frontman Shaun Ryder
, a Stone Roses reunion was "definitely on the cards." Ryder said, "I think it'll happen, I really do. There is more of a chance now than ever of them getting back together. Ian's just split with his missus and I bet she's hit him for a few quid." However, John Squire later turned down any notion of a potential reunion, saying, "When it's just a get-together for a big payday and everyone gets their old clothes out, that seems tragic to me".
published a story on 13 October 2011 citing that the Roses had signed for a series of gigs across the UK, rumours again began to circulate. It was reported that Alan 'Reni' Wren
had responded to these rumours by saying, "Not before 9T will I wear the hat 4 the Roses again". Interpreted first as a rebuttal of the rumours, with 9T referring to age 90, this turned out to be a red herring with the cryptic interpretation: "Not before 9 on Tuesday. I will wear the hat. The roses are 4 again." On 17 October, Dynamo
told The Sun that Brown had confirmed the reunion by saying that the band were "ready to take the world by storm", and that Brown had sent him a text message with the words "It's happening". A press conference scheduled for 18 October was described as "a special press conference for a very important announcement." On 18 October 2011, The Stone Roses announced the end of a fifteen year split. The band are scheduled to play an "extensive" world tour
starting with three shows at Heaton Park, Manchester, on 29, 30 June, 1 July 2012. In a press conference interview, the members of the Stone Roses said that a new album is planned. 150,000 tickets for the two shows sold out in 14 minutes, with the band announcing a third show on 1 July 2012. They then announced a show would take place in Ireland, with Ian Brown saying "After Manchester, Ireland is always next on our list".
A documentry has been planned for the Stone Roses reunion. Film director Shane Meadows
is planned to film it.
, Mod Revival
, Northern soul
, punk rock
, and artists such as The Beatles
, The Rolling Stones
, The Byrds
, Jimi Hendrix
, The Sex Pistols, The Jesus and Mary Chain
, Sonic Youth
and The Clash
.
The band were considered by some to be part of the Madchester
movement, a style of alternative rock that mixed acid house
rhythms with guitar pop sounds. In contrast to their contemporaries Happy Mondays
, The Stone Roses based their sound on traditional pop songs, merely enhanced by dance beats on the two follow up singles Fools Gold and One Love which features the same drum loop.
A typical example of their approach with dealing with the press is the Spike Island press conference (attended by the world's media) in 1990. This ended in chaos when the gathered journalists began a small riot, believing the band to be deliberately stonewalling them. As John Robb commented, "The Stone Roses would stonewall the journalist[s]. With shy guffaws, muttered asides, dispassionate staring, foot-shuffling silences and complete mind-numbing gaps, punctuated by the odd piece of incisive home-spun philosophy from Brown, who occasionally hinted at a well-read mind. There would be complete silence from John Squire, witty banter from Reni, and Mani spouting off if he let his guard drop." However, Robb clarified they, "were no fools when it came to the media". And that, "One feature of the band's career had been their ability to stay on the news pages of the rock press almost permanently for years on end, including the years when they did fuck all. And they did this by hardly saying anything at all."
After main lineup:
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band formed in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester
Madchester
Madchester was a music scene that developed in Manchester, England, towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The music that emerged from the scene mixed alternative rock, psychedelic rock and dance music...
movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's most successful lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown
Ian Brown
Ian George Brown is an English musician, best known as the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses, which broke up in 1996 but are confirmed to reunite in 2012. Since the break-up of the Stone Roses he has pursued a solo career...
, guitarist John Squire
John Squire
John Thomas Squire is an English musician, songwriter and artist.Squire is best known as the guitarist for The Stone Roses, a rock band in which he formed a songwriting partnership with lead singer Ian Brown. After leaving The Stone Roses he went on to found The Seahorses and has since released...
, bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield
Gary Mounfield
Gary Manny "Mani" Mounfield , is an English rock bassist of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream. He has a distinctive playing style that combines a fast moving rock style with a dance rhythm or dub groove...
, and drummer Alan "Reni" Wren
Alan Wren
Alan John Wren , better known as Reni, is the drummer of The Stone Roses.Reni is considered by many to be the best drummer of his generation and the "single most important drummer in UK indie circles." According to former Hacienda General Manager Howard Jones, he "played the drums like Hendrix...
.
The band released their début album, The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses (album)
The Stone Roses is the debut album by English rock band The Stone Roses, released on Silvertone Records in 1989. It cemented the band's reputation among critics, and is still rated by some as one of the most important albums ever...
, in 1989. The album was a breakthrough success for the band; it cemented the band's reputation among critics, and is still rated by some as one of the most important albums ever. At this time the Stone Roses decided to capitalise on their success by signing to a major label; their current record label Silvertone would not let them out of their contract, which led to a long legal battle that culminated with the band signing with Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
in 1991, and then releasing their second album Second Coming
Second Coming (album)
Second Coming is the second studio album by The Stone Roses, released through Geffen Records on 5 December 1994 in the UK and in early 1995 in the US. It was recorded at Forge Studios in Oswestry, Shropshire and Rockfield Studios near Monmouth in Wales between 1992 and 1994...
in 1994 . The group soon disbanded after several lineup changes throughout the supporting tour, which began with Reni first departing, followed by Squire.
Following media speculation, it was announced on 18 October 2011 that the band had reunited for a world tour
Reunion Tour (The Stone Roses)
The Reunion Tour is an upcoming rock concert tour by The Stone Roses. The tour is currently scheduled to begin with three homecoming shows in Heaton Park, Manchester...
in 2012, starting with three homecoming shows in Manchester. They also plan to record a third album in the future.
Formation and early releases (1983–1988)
Ian BrownIan Brown
Ian George Brown is an English musician, best known as the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses, which broke up in 1996 but are confirmed to reunite in 2012. Since the break-up of the Stone Roses he has pursued a solo career...
(at the time the bassist) and guitarist John Squire
John Squire
John Thomas Squire is an English musician, songwriter and artist.Squire is best known as the guitarist for The Stone Roses, a rock band in which he formed a songwriting partnership with lead singer Ian Brown. After leaving The Stone Roses he went on to found The Seahorses and has since released...
, who knew each other from Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, formed a short-lived Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
-inspired band called The Patrol in 1980 along with singer/guitarist Andy Couzens and drummer Simon Wolstencroft
Simon Wolstencroft
Simon Wolstencroft is a musician from Manchester, England, best known for playing drums with The Fall between June 1986 and August 1997.Wolstencroft was a member of an early incarnation of The Stone Roses; having previously been a member of The Weeds and The Colourfield. He was also drummer for...
. They played several gigs in 1980 and recorded a demo tape, but towards the end of that year decided on a change of direction. Brown had got a taste of being a frontman during the last Patrol show, singing The Sweet's "Blockbuster" to close the set, with the band's friend/roadie Pete Garner standing in on bass, and Couzens wanted to concentrate on guitar. The band members lost enthusiasm in 1981, Brown selling his bass guitar to buy a scooter, and Wolstencroft joined the pre-Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
band The Freak Party. Squire continued to practice guitar while working as an animator for Cosgrove Hall during the day, while Brown ran a Northern soul
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...
night in a Salford club.
Squire and Couzens started a new band, The Fireside Chaps, with bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield, later recruiting a singer named Kaiser and drummer Chris Goodwin, and changing their name to The Waterfront (after the film On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront is a 1954 American drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb and Karl Malden. The soundtrack score was composed by Leonard...
), their sound influenced by 1960s groups and contemporary bands such as Orange Juice
Orange Juice
Orange Juice was a Scottish post-punk band founded in the middle class Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. Edwyn Collins formed the Nu-Sonics with his school-mate Alan Duncan and was subsequently joined by James Kirk and Steven Daly, who left a band called The Machetes. The band...
. Goodwin left before the band recorded their first demo and, shortly after the demo, Squire asked Brown to join as singer. A meeting with Geno Washington
Geno Washington
Geno Washington is an American R&B singer who released five albums with The Ram Jam Band between 1966 and 1969, and eight solo albums beginning in 1976.-Early to late 1960s:...
at a party at Brown's flat in Hulme, in which Washington told Brown that he would be a star and should be a singer, convinced Brown to take Squire up on his offer. Brown joined The Waterfront in late 1983, for a time sharing vocals with Kaiser.
Like the earlier attempts at bands, The Waterfront fizzled out, but in late 1983 Couzens decided to try again at starting a band, and approached Brown. They decided on Wolstencroft (who had turned down the job of drummer in The Smiths) as drummer and Pete Garner as bassist (despite his admission that he couldn't play anything but "Blockbuster"). They also decided that they needed Squire in the band, and when he agreed the band's line-up was cemented. Leaving their previous bands behind, they worked solely on new material. Brown's vocal limitations prompted him to take singing lessons for three weeks. After rehearsing for some time without a band name, Squire came up with 'The Stone Roses'. Several stories later emerged suggesting that the band had initially been called 'English Rose' or that the name was somehow linked to The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, but these were untrue, Brown explaining "No, I don't know where that English Rose story came from. John thought up the name 'Stone Roses' - something with a contrast, two words that went against each other". The band rehearsed for six months, during which time Wolstencroft had been auditioning for other bands, and he left to join Terry Hall
Terry Hall (singer)
Terry Hall is the lead singer of The Specials, and formerly of Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield, Terry, Blair & Anouchka and Vegas. He has released two solo albums and has also collaborated with many artists including David A...
's band The Colourfield
The Colourfield
The Colourfield were a British band formed in 1984 in Manchester, when former Specials and Fun Boy Three frontman, Terry Hall, joined up with ex-Swinging Cats members Toby Lyons and Karl Shale...
. They got Goodwin to rejoin, but he only lasted for one rehearsal, so they advertised for a replacement and began auditioning, eventually recruiting Alan Wren
Alan Wren
Alan John Wren , better known as Reni, is the drummer of The Stone Roses.Reni is considered by many to be the best drummer of his generation and the "single most important drummer in UK indie circles." According to former Hacienda General Manager Howard Jones, he "played the drums like Hendrix...
in May 1984.
After rehearsing and writing songs over the summer, they recorded their first demo in late August, making 100 cassettes, with artwork by Squire, and set about trying to get gigs. They played their first gig as the Stone Roses on 23 October 1984, supporting Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
at an anti-heroin concert at the Moonlight Club in London, Brown having sent the demo with an accompanying letter stating "I'm surrounded by skagheads, I wanna smash 'em. Can you give us a show?". The show was seen by journalists including Sounds
Sounds (magazine)
Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company...
Gary Johnson, who arranged to interview the band a few weeks later. The band received management offers and more gigs soon followed.
Howard Jones, who had recently left his job as manager of The Haçienda
The Haçienda
Fac 51 Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England. It became most famous during the "Madchester" years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the 1990s it was labelled the most famous club in the world by Newsweek magazine...
, producer Martin Hannett
Martin Hannett
Martin Hannett , sometimes credited as Martin Zero, was a record producer and an original partner in Factory Records with Tony Wilson...
, and Tim Chambers agreed to work with the band on an album, setting up Thin Line Records to release it, with Jones taking on management of the band, although they had already made a similar agreement with Caroline Reed in London. The band got their first positive press in late December, with Johnson tipping them for success in 1985 in Sounds, with a feature on the band following in January.
The band played their first headlining gig on 4 January 1985, supported by Last Party, after original headliners Mercenary Skank had pulled out. The band had their first recording session with Hannett in January 1985 at Strawberry Studios in Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
, aiming to record tracks for a debut single and an album. Further sessions followed in March, during which they recorded their debut single, the double A-side "So Young"/"Tell Me". The band were invited to play a live session on Piccadilly Radio in March, for which they premiered a new song, "I Wanna be Adored". By this time they had started to build a sizeable following in Manchester, and their first gig in the North of England at Clouds in Preston attracted a large audience, but descended into a riot after technical problems and friction between the bands on the bill.
The Roses embarked on a tour of Sweden in April, with their first gig in Manchester following on their return, at International 1, a venue run by future Stone Roses manager Gareth Evans. A performance at a warehouse party on 20 July helped to build interest in the band, and in August they returned to the studio to record their debut album. Unhappy with the results, and with the band's sound changing, it was shelved (it was later released as Garage Flower). The "So Young"/"Tell Me" single, however, was released in September.
Frustrated with the lack of attention they were getting locally, they engaged in a graffiti campaign, with Brown and Wren spraying the band's name on walls from West Didsbury to the city centre. It brought them much negative publicity, but added to their increasing notoriety. In 1986 they began working on new material, including "Sally Cinnamon
Sally Cinnamon
Sally Cinnamon is a non-album single released by the band the Stone Roses in 1987.The song is the second single to be released by The Stone Roses, and was released before Mani joined the band. It is the first single by the Stone Roses to feature their classic sound...
", and the planned follow-up singles to "So Young" ("I Wanna Be Adored" and "This is the One") were shelved. They parted company with Jones and took on Gareth Evans as manager, using Evans's International 1 venue as their new rehearsal space.
As Brown and Squire began collaborating more closely on songwriting, they decided that they should take a larger slice of the money than the other band members; Couzens and Wren left the band in protest, although they soon returned, and Couzens played an ill-fated gig with the band at the end of May before being pushed out of the band by Evans after flying home alone while the rest of the band returned in their van. Although they failed to achieve further success in 1986, their repertoire expanded to include songs such as "Sugar Spun Sister", taking on influences from bands such as The Jesus & Mary Chain and the indie-pop era Primal Scream
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...
("Velocity Girl" being a major influence on "Made of Stone"), and they stopped playing the older songs.
In December 1986 they recorded their first demo as a four-piece, including the first studio recordings of "Sugar Spun Sister" and "Elephant Stone". In early 1987, Evans negotiated a deal with Revolver FM for a one-off release on the specially created Black Records label; by the time of the release of the single, "Sally Cinnamon", the group's sound had changed considerably, with chiming guitar hooks
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
and a strong melody, alienating some of their old fans but attracting many new ones. "Sally Cinnamon" sold out its 1,000-copy run, but failed to make the desired impact.
In June, Garner announced that he had decided to leave the band, although he stayed until they found a replacement, playing his final gig with the band at the 'Larks in the Park' festival in Liverpool. Rob Hampson was Garner's replacement, with Garner teaching him the bass parts before leaving, although Hampson only lasted a week. A more permanent replacement was found in the form of former-Waterfront bassist Mani (Gary Mounfield
Gary Mounfield
Gary Manny "Mani" Mounfield , is an English rock bassist of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream. He has a distinctive playing style that combines a fast moving rock style with a dance rhythm or dub groove...
), who played his first gig with the band in November 1987. Brown recalled, "When Mani joined it almost changed overnight. It became a totally different groove ... Straight away, everything just fell into place".
In early 1988 the band played at Dingwalls in London, a show attended by representatives of Zomba
Zomba Music Group
The Zomba Group of Companies was a music group and division which was owned by and operated under Sony Music Entertainment. The division was renamed to Jive Label Group in 2009 and was placed under the RCA/Jive Label Group umbrella. In 2011, the RCA/Jive Label Group was split in half...
and Rough Trade
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
's Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis
Geoff Travis is the founder of both Rough Trade Records and the Rough Trade chain of record shops. A former drama teacher and owner of a punk record shop, Travis founded the Rough Trade label in 1978.-Biography:...
, and both subsequently wanted to sign the band, Rough Trade even funding studio time to record a single, "Elephant Stone
Elephant Stone
"Elephant Stone" is the third single by The Stone Roses and their first release on Silvertone Records. Originally released in October 1988, it showcased the group's growing confidence and incorporation of dance rhythms...
", with Peter Hook
Peter Hook
Peter Hook is an English bass player, musician and author.He was a co-founder of the post-punk band Joy Division along with Bernard Sumner in the mid-1970s. Following the death of lead singer Ian Curtis, the band reformed as New Order, and Hook played bass with them throughout their career until...
producing. Hook was considered to produce an album for the band but was unavailable due to commitments with New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
, so Travis suggested John Leckie
John Leckie
John Leckie is a British music producer, notable for producing many high-profile albums such as The Stone Roses's debut and Radiohead's The Bends...
. In May the band played a high-profile concert at Manchester's International II with James
James (band)
James are a British rock band from Manchester, England. They formed in 1982 and were active throughout the 1980s, but most successful during the 1990s. Their hit singles include "Come Home", "Sit Down", and "She's a Star" as well as their American College Radio hit "Laid"...
organized by Dave Haslam
Dave Haslam
Dave Haslam is an author and DJ. Originally from Moseley, Birmingham, and educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham. Having moved to Manchester in 1980, he DJ'd over 450 times at the Haçienda nightclub, including Thursday's Temperance club night in the late 1980s...
to raise funds for a campaign against Clause 28
Section 28
Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 caused the controversial addition of Section 2A to the Local Government Act 1986 , enacted on 24 May 1988 and repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland, and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of Great Britain by section 122 of the Local Government Act 2003...
. The band attempted to usurp James by putting up posters around town listing The Stone Roses as headliners, and delaying their start time to get the headline time themselves and limit the time that James could play for. In the audience was a sixteen year old Liam Gallagher
Liam Gallagher
William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, the former frontman of the English rock band Oasis and currently of the band Beady Eye. Gallagher's erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press...
, for whom it was the inspiration to form a band himself. Also in the audience was Glaswegian Roddy McKenna (A+R Music executive Zomba Records), who later signed the band to Zomba Records. He asked if they could be transferred internally to Andrew Lauder's newly-created Guitar based Silvertone Records subsidiary. The band were signed to an eight-album deal, buying the "Elephant Stone" tapes from Rough Trade and releasing them as a single in October 1988.
Debut album and breakthrough success (1989–1991)
In 1988 and early 1989 The Stone Roses recorded their debut album at Battery Studios and Konk StudiosKonk (recording)
Konk is the name of a recording studio and record label, established and managed by members of British Rock group The Kinks.- Konk Studios :In 1971, The Kinks left Pye Records for a five-album stint with RCA, who offered them a million-dollar advance...
in London and Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth in Wales and just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire are where many of British rock music’s most successful recordings have been made.-History:...
in Wales, produced by Leckie. The first single for Silvertone, "Elephant Stone
Elephant Stone
"Elephant Stone" is the third single by The Stone Roses and their first release on Silvertone Records. Originally released in October 1988, it showcased the group's growing confidence and incorporation of dance rhythms...
", made little impact, and in early 1989 the band's performances outside the north-west were still attracting small audiences. "Made of Stone
Made Of Stone
"Made of Stone" is a single from The Stone Roses' eponymous début album. Jackson Pollock is referenced in the B-side "Going Down" in the line "Yeah, she looks like a painting, Jackson Pollock's No...
" received more airplay and press attention, but peaked at number ninety on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses (album)
The Stone Roses is the debut album by English rock band The Stone Roses, released on Silvertone Records in 1989. It cemented the band's reputation among critics, and is still rated by some as one of the most important albums ever...
was released in April / May 1989 , initially to mostly positive reviews, and entered the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
at number 32 in mid-May, the highest position it would reach that year. This was followed with the single "She Bangs the Drums
She Bangs The Drums
"She Bangs the Drums" was the second single from The Stone Roses' debut album. It was released in the UK, Japan, and Germany. The single was their first Top 40 hit, peaking at #36 on the UK Singles Chart in July 1989. A reissue in March 1990 improved by two places.The single used a noticeably...
", which gave them a top forty UK hit, and a number one on the UK Independent Chart, and by that point they were receiving much greater press attention and were selling out shows across the country. The band gained widespread notoriety when, one minute into a live 1989 TV performance on the BBC's The Late Show, the power failed, prompting Ian Brown to repeatedly roar "Amateurs!" at Tracey MacLeod
Tracey MacLeod
Tracey MacLeod is a journalist and broadcaster who has presented a range of BBC arts and music programming, including The Late Show 1989-95 and its musical offshoots New West and Words and Music, Edinburgh Nights The Booker Prize and The Mercury Music Prize...
. Later in 1989 the band released a double A-side single, "Fools Gold/What the World Is Waiting For
Fools Gold/What The World Is Waiting For
"Fools Gold"/"What the World Is Waiting For" is a non-album double A-side by The Stone Roses. It was released in the UK, U.S., Mexico, Australia, Germany, Japan, and Spain. "Fools Gold" and "What the World Is Waiting For" are also available on the compilation Turns Into Stone...
", which reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in November. Originally intended as a B-side, "Fools Gold" quickly became the Roses' most famous song and a performance of it on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
cemented their national fame. It gave them their first top ten hit and the album rose to number nineteen in the chart early the following year.
Ian Brown - NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
- December 1989
The group won four NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
Readers poll awards that year; Band of the Year, Best New Band, Single of the Year (for "Fools Gold") and Album of the Year (for their debut album). The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses (album)
The Stone Roses is the debut album by English rock band The Stone Roses, released on Silvertone Records in 1989. It cemented the band's reputation among critics, and is still rated by some as one of the most important albums ever...
is now considered one of the great British albums, although the band themselves were unhappy with the sound on the album, Squire describing it as "twee" and not "fat or hard enough".
The Stone Roses' outdoor concert at Spike Island
Spike Island (Halton)
Spike Island, Halton Borough, Widnes, England, a birthplace of the British chemical industry, is a reclaimed toxic waste site. The island is in the Mersey Estuary, a Ramsar Convention site....
in Widnes
Widnes
Widnes is an industrial town within the borough of Halton, in Cheshire, England, with an urban area population of 57,663 in 2004. It is located on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn...
on 27 May 1990 was attended by some 27,000 people. The event, considered a failure at the time due to sound problems and bad organisation, has become legendary over the years as a "Woodstock
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
for the baggy
Baggy
Baggy was a British dance-oriented music genre popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s.The scene was heavily influenced by Madchester, although it was not geographically confined to Manchester. Many Madchester bands could also be described as Baggy, and vice versa...
generation". In mid 2010 footage of the concert was published on Youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. The Roses followed Spike Island with another big event, at Glasgow Green
Glasgow Green
Glasgow Green is a park situated in the east end of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde. It is the oldest park in the city dating back to the 15th century.In 1450, King James II granted the land to Bishop William Turnbull and the people of Glasgow...
.
By July the band had released their final single for Silvertone, "One Love
One Love (The Stone Roses song)
"One Love" is a non-album single by The Stone Roses. The single was released in the UK, U.S., Australia, Germany, Japan, Spain, and France, peaking at #4 in the Roses' home country of the UK, their highest charting single up until that time...
", which reached number four in the UK singles chart, their highest placing yet. It was to be the Roses' last original release for four years as they entered a protracted legal battle to terminate their five-year contract with Silvertone, unhappy with how they had been paid by the label. Silvertone owners Zomba Records took out an injunction against the band in September 1990 to prevent them from recording with any other label, but in May 1991 the court sided with the group, which was then released from its contract. The Stone Roses subsequently signed with Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
(garnering a million-pound advance for their next record) and began work on their second album. However, Silvertone appealed against the ruling, delaying the record for another year.
Second Coming and breakup (1992–1996)
Following the court case The Stone Roses separated themselves from Manchester's club culture and spent much of 1992 and 1993 travelling in Europe before starting work on their second album in mid-1993. Progess was slow, hampered by Brown's and Squire's new fatherhood and the death of several people close to the band. John Leckie ultimately left the project as the band would not sign a production contract. Afterwards The Stone Roses assumed production duties with engineer Simon Dawson at Rockfield StudiosRockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth in Wales and just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire are where many of British rock music’s most successful recordings have been made.-History:...
in Wales, where they spent 347 ten-hour days working on the album.
The Stone Roses finally released the album, Second Coming
Second Coming (album)
Second Coming is the second studio album by The Stone Roses, released through Geffen Records on 5 December 1994 in the UK and in early 1995 in the US. It was recorded at Forge Studios in Oswestry, Shropshire and Rockfield Studios near Monmouth in Wales between 1992 and 1994...
, on 5 December 1994. Mostly written by John Squire, the music now had a dark, heavy blues-rock
Blues-rock
Blues rock is a hybrid musical genre combining bluesy improvisations over the 12-bar blues and extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles. The core of the blues rock sound is created by the electric guitar, piano, bass guitar and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually amplified through a...
sound. "Love Spreads
Love Spreads
"Love Spreads" is a song by The Stone Roses, released in November 1994 as the first single from their second album Second Coming. The record was a number two hit in the UK, the highest peak for any song by the band, as well as the only Stone Roses song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, charting at...
" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart. Second Coming received a mixed reception from the British press, which music journalist Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds is an English music critic who is well-known for his writings on electronic dance music and for coining the term "post-rock". Besides electronic dance music, Reynolds has written about a wide range of artists and musical genres, and has written books on post-punk and rock...
attributed to "the resentment that the Roses, divorced from the cultural moment that gave them meaning, were now just another band".
When Reni left the band in March 1995 with no real explanation given for his departure, a replacement drummer, Robbie Maddix, who had previously worked with Rebel MC, was found. Also recruited around this time for the live shows was session-keyboardist/programmer Nigel Ippinson
Nigel Ippinson
Nigel Ipinson-Fleming is a British keyboardist.Ipinson has been with The Stone Roses, playing keys on the alternative version of "Love Spreads" that appeared on the 1995 HELP! Charity album, on one of the remix versions of "Begging You" and throughout the band's Second Coming Tour of 1995 as well...
, who had previously played with the band on the re-working of "Begging You" for its release as a single. A secret "come-back" tour of the UK was planned for April 1995 but cancelled after the music press announced the dates. A major blow was the cancellation of their engagement at the Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
in June 1995. John Squire had suffered a mountain-biking accident in northern California just weeks before the show, breaking his collarbone. The band finally organised a full UK tour for November and December 1995 and all dates sold out in a day.
John Squire
John Squire
John Thomas Squire is an English musician, songwriter and artist.Squire is best known as the guitarist for The Stone Roses, a rock band in which he formed a songwriting partnership with lead singer Ian Brown. After leaving The Stone Roses he went on to found The Seahorses and has since released...
left the band on 1 April 1996, releasing a statement describing his departure as "the inevitable conclusion to the gradual social and musical separation we have undergone in the past few years". Former Simply Red session guitarist Aziz Ibrahim
Aziz Ibrahim
Aziz Ibrahim is a British musician. He was born in Longsight, Manchester to Pakistani parents. He is best known for his work as guitarist with Simply Red, The Stone Roses and their former vocalist Ian Brown in whose support band he regularly performs – both in the studio and live...
, a former classmate of Pete Garner's at Burnage High School, was recruited. The band persevered for another six months, but in performances at Benicassim Festival and the Reading Festival in August 1996 fans booed and threw objects at the stage and Brown's vocals were described as "so off-key it was excruciating to have to listen". The music press was united in its criticism, the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
describing "I am the Resurrection" as "more like the eternal crucifixion". Brown and Mani dissolved the group in October 1996.
Post-Roses (1997–2010)
Ian Brown and John Squire have both had successful solo careers since the Roses' breakup. Squire formed The SeahorsesThe Seahorses
The Seahorses were an English rock band, formed in 1996 by guitarist John Squire, following his departure from The Stone Roses.The band released one album in 1997 and began work on a follow up, before splitting up due to musical differences during recording sessions in January 1999.-History:Formed...
, who released one album before breaking up, as well as releasing two solo albums. In 2007 he told a reporter that he was giving up music for good to focus on his career as a painter. Brown has released six solo albums, all but one of which have charted in the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
. A large number of these featured Aziz Ibrahim on guitar.
Neither Mani nor Reni have pursued solo careers. Mani joined Primal Scream
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...
as bassist in 1996 and has remained in the band. Reni has remained inactive for the most part since the Roses' breakup. He started a new band called The Rub
The Rub
The Rub were a band formed in 1999 by ex-Stone Roses drummer Alan "Reni" Wren. The band's line up was Reni as lead singer & lead guitar, Casey Longden from Manchester on rhythm guitar and backing vocals, Neil Nisbet on bass and backing vocals with Mik Grant on drums...
in 1999, and played several gigs but nothing has been heard of The Rub since. In an interview in 2005 he said he was writing new songs to perform with Mani.
Couzens joined Steve Diggle
Steve Diggle
Steve Diggle is a guitarist and vocalist in the British punk band Buzzcocks.-Early years:He was born in Manchester, and grew up in Bradford and Rusholme, where he was a mod...
in Buzzcocks F.O.C.
Flag of Convenience (band)
Flag of Convenience were a rock group formed in 1982 by former Buzzcocks members Steve Diggle and John Maher, along with bassist Dave Farrow and keyboard player D.P. The band continued with a changing line-up until 1989, with later incarnations releasing records under the names F.O.C. and Buzzcocks...
in 1986 and formed The High
The High
The High were an English rock group from Manchester, who were generally regarded as part of the Madchester scene.-History:The band was formed in 1989 by former Turning Blue singer John Matthews, along with former Buzzcocks F.O.C...
in 1989. Garner managed a record shop after leaving the band.
The 20th-anniversary edition of the band's début album was released in August 2009, remastered by John Leckie and Ian Brown, including a collectors' box-set edition and the previously unreleased song 'Pearl Bastard'.
Reports of reunion
Squire and Brown had both repeatedly denied any possibility of a reunion: the pair had not spoken since Squire resigned. Squire, interviewed in May 2007, asserted that if Brown asked he would turn the offer down.A partial reunion took place on 30 March 2007 at former Smiths' bassist Andy Rourke
Andy Rourke
Andy Rourke is a bass guitarist best known for being a former member of The Smiths.-Career:...
's charity concert in aid of Manchester Versus Cancer. Ian Brown was joined by Mani and unofficial fifth member Cressa, along with Andy Rourke
Andy Rourke
Andy Rourke is a bass guitarist best known for being a former member of The Smiths.-Career:...
, Maka Simato and Steve White to perform "I Am the Resurrection
I Am the Resurrection
I Am the Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey is a tribute album to guitarist John Fahey released in 2006. The album's title is taken from the title of the third track of his album The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death.-History:...
". Reni was asked to play drums but declined.
After telling Tim Lovejoy
Tim Lovejoy
Timothy Paul Lovejoy is a British television presenter most famous for hosting Saturday morning football programme Soccer AM alongside Helen Chamberlain for over a decade.- Career :...
that, if The Specials
The Specials
The Specials are an English 2 Tone ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude", and had a "more focused and informed political and social stance" than other ska groups...
reformed, he would reunite the Stone Roses, Mani announced that he, Reni and John Squire wanted to reunite for the 20th anniversary of the debut album but that he needed to persuade Ian Brown. A spokesman for Squire stated in January 2009 that Squire "has no plans to return to music".
The UK's Daily Mirror reported on 17 March 2009 that "sources" had confirmed that the band was to reform in 2009 for a 21-date tour. The report was given sufficient credence to be repeated on the New Musical Express's website but John Squire and Ian Brown both denied it.
On 19 March 2009, it was reported that John Squire had created a piece of artwork depicting his less than positive views of the band reforming. The piece read "I have no desire whatsoever to desecrate the grave of seminal Manchester pop group The Stone Roses 18.3.09", which strongly indicated that rumours of the band reforming were highly unlikely. In an interview on the BBC's Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
, Squire stated that he thought the reunion of the band would never happen even if Ian Brown and he were on speaking terms as he would refuse, not being interested in reforming the band. He said that he would be dedicating himself to his visual art work and that "music is a young man's game".
On 9 June 2009 Mani stated that the band would reform if they were offered enough money but admitted that he's "very nearly given up" on trying to orchestrate a reunion and two months later told BBC Newsbeat how Ian Brown "isn't up for it at all".
On 7 April 2011, it was reported that the Roses were set to reunite after an "emotional reunion" between Brown and Squire at the funeral of Mani's mother. Mani responded to these rumours with the comment "Two old friends meeting up after 15 years to pay their respects to my mother does not constitute the reformation of The Stone Roses. Please fuck off and leave it alone. It isn't true and isn't happening."
On 26 May 2011, NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
reported that, according to Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays are an English alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day, keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan...
frontman Shaun Ryder
Shaun Ryder
Shaun William Ryder, aka X, is an English musician, occasional newspaper columnist, actor, author, singer-songwriter and television personality, best known as lead singer for Happy Mondays and Black Grape – and more recently as the runner-up of the 2010 version of the British TV Show I'm a...
, a Stone Roses reunion was "definitely on the cards." Ryder said, "I think it'll happen, I really do. There is more of a chance now than ever of them getting back together. Ian's just split with his missus and I bet she's hit him for a few quid." However, John Squire later turned down any notion of a potential reunion, saying, "When it's just a get-together for a big payday and everyone gets their old clothes out, that seems tragic to me".
Official reunion (2011–present)
After the newspaper The SunThe Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
published a story on 13 October 2011 citing that the Roses had signed for a series of gigs across the UK, rumours again began to circulate. It was reported that Alan 'Reni' Wren
Alan Wren
Alan John Wren , better known as Reni, is the drummer of The Stone Roses.Reni is considered by many to be the best drummer of his generation and the "single most important drummer in UK indie circles." According to former Hacienda General Manager Howard Jones, he "played the drums like Hendrix...
had responded to these rumours by saying, "Not before 9T will I wear the hat 4 the Roses again". Interpreted first as a rebuttal of the rumours, with 9T referring to age 90, this turned out to be a red herring with the cryptic interpretation: "Not before 9 on Tuesday. I will wear the hat. The roses are 4 again." On 17 October, Dynamo
Dynamo (magician)
Steven Frayne is an English magician who performs under the stage-name of Dynamo.-Biography:Frayne grew up on Bradford's deprived Delph Hill Estate in the north of England. He first learned magic from his grandfather and developed it during trips to New Orleans...
told The Sun that Brown had confirmed the reunion by saying that the band were "ready to take the world by storm", and that Brown had sent him a text message with the words "It's happening". A press conference scheduled for 18 October was described as "a special press conference for a very important announcement." On 18 October 2011, The Stone Roses announced the end of a fifteen year split. The band are scheduled to play an "extensive" world tour
Reunion Tour (The Stone Roses)
The Reunion Tour is an upcoming rock concert tour by The Stone Roses. The tour is currently scheduled to begin with three homecoming shows in Heaton Park, Manchester...
starting with three shows at Heaton Park, Manchester, on 29, 30 June, 1 July 2012. In a press conference interview, the members of the Stone Roses said that a new album is planned. 150,000 tickets for the two shows sold out in 14 minutes, with the band announcing a third show on 1 July 2012. They then announced a show would take place in Ireland, with Ian Brown saying "After Manchester, Ireland is always next on our list".
A documentry has been planned for the Stone Roses reunion. Film director Shane Meadows
Shane Meadows
Shane Meadows is an English film director, screenwriter, occasional actor and BAFTA winner.-Background:Meadows grew up in the Westlands Road area of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. His father was a long distance lorry driver and his mother worked in a fish and chip shop...
is planned to film it.
Musical style and influences
The Stone Roses's influences included garage rockGarage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
, Mod Revival
Mod Revival
The mod revival was a music genre and subculture that started in England in 1978 and later spread to other countries . The mod revival's mainstream popularity was relatively short, although its influence has lasted for decades...
, Northern soul
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...
, punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, and artists such as The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, The Sex Pistols, The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
, Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
and The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
.
The band were considered by some to be part of the Madchester
Madchester
Madchester was a music scene that developed in Manchester, England, towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The music that emerged from the scene mixed alternative rock, psychedelic rock and dance music...
movement, a style of alternative rock that mixed acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
rhythms with guitar pop sounds. In contrast to their contemporaries Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays are an English alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day, keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan...
, The Stone Roses based their sound on traditional pop songs, merely enhanced by dance beats on the two follow up singles Fools Gold and One Love which features the same drum loop.
Relationship with the media
During the band's time in the public eye their relationship with the mass media was vastly different to other self-endorsing bands. They would often display no interest in promoting themselves, and many journalists were confused, and sometimes angered, when their questions were met with complete silence from the four Stone Roses.A typical example of their approach with dealing with the press is the Spike Island press conference (attended by the world's media) in 1990. This ended in chaos when the gathered journalists began a small riot, believing the band to be deliberately stonewalling them. As John Robb commented, "The Stone Roses would stonewall the journalist[s]. With shy guffaws, muttered asides, dispassionate staring, foot-shuffling silences and complete mind-numbing gaps, punctuated by the odd piece of incisive home-spun philosophy from Brown, who occasionally hinted at a well-read mind. There would be complete silence from John Squire, witty banter from Reni, and Mani spouting off if he let his guard drop." However, Robb clarified they, "were no fools when it came to the media". And that, "One feature of the band's career had been their ability to stay on the news pages of the rock press almost permanently for years on end, including the years when they did fuck all. And they did this by hardly saying anything at all."
Classic line up 1987–1995, 2011
- Ian BrownIan BrownIan George Brown is an English musician, best known as the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses, which broke up in 1996 but are confirmed to reunite in 2012. Since the break-up of the Stone Roses he has pursued a solo career...
- lead vocals (1983 to August 1996, 2011) - John SquireJohn SquireJohn Thomas Squire is an English musician, songwriter and artist.Squire is best known as the guitarist for The Stone Roses, a rock band in which he formed a songwriting partnership with lead singer Ian Brown. After leaving The Stone Roses he went on to found The Seahorses and has since released...
- guitar (1983 to April 1996, 2011) - ManiGary MounfieldGary Manny "Mani" Mounfield , is an English rock bassist of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream. He has a distinctive playing style that combines a fast moving rock style with a dance rhythm or dub groove...
(Gary Mounfield) - bass guitar (August 1987 to August 1996, 2011) - ReniAlan WrenAlan John Wren , better known as Reni, is the drummer of The Stone Roses.Reni is considered by many to be the best drummer of his generation and the "single most important drummer in UK indie circles." According to former Hacienda General Manager Howard Jones, he "played the drums like Hendrix...
(Alan Wren) - drums and backing vocals (May 1984 to February 1995, 2011)
Other members
Before main lineup:- Andy Couzens - rhythm guitar and vocals (1983 to May 1986)
- Pete Garner - bass (1983 to August 1987)
- Simon WolstencroftSimon WolstencroftSimon Wolstencroft is a musician from Manchester, England, best known for playing drums with The Fall between June 1986 and August 1997.Wolstencroft was a member of an early incarnation of The Stone Roses; having previously been a member of The Weeds and The Colourfield. He was also drummer for...
- drums (1983 to early 1984) - Rob Hampson - bass (1987)
After main lineup:
- Robbie Maddix - drums and backing vocals (April 1995 to August 1996, replaced Reni)
- Nigel IppinsonNigel IppinsonNigel Ipinson-Fleming is a British keyboardist.Ipinson has been with The Stone Roses, playing keys on the alternative version of "Love Spreads" that appeared on the 1995 HELP! Charity album, on one of the remix versions of "Begging You" and throughout the band's Second Coming Tour of 1995 as well...
- keyboards and backing vocals (July 1995 to August 1996) - Aziz IbrahimAziz IbrahimAziz Ibrahim is a British musician. He was born in Longsight, Manchester to Pakistani parents. He is best known for his work as guitarist with Simply Red, The Stone Roses and their former vocalist Ian Brown in whose support band he regularly performs – both in the studio and live...
- guitar (April 1996 to August 1996, replaced Squire)
Discography
- The Stone RosesThe Stone Roses (album)The Stone Roses is the debut album by English rock band The Stone Roses, released on Silvertone Records in 1989. It cemented the band's reputation among critics, and is still rated by some as one of the most important albums ever...
(1989) - Second Coming (1994)