Stone Roses

The Stone Roses - 1989

Since Madchester's Stone Roses were the nominal leaders of the indie rock phenomenon -- that fused guitar pop with

drug-fueled rave and dance culture -- it's rather ironic that their eponymous debut only hints at dance music. What made the

Stone Roses important was how they welcomed dance and pop together, treating them as if they were the same beast. Equally

important was the Roses' cool, detached arrogance, which was personified by Ian Brown's nonchalant vocals. Brown's effortless

malevolence is brought to life with songs that equal both his sentiments and his voice -- "I Wanna Be Adored," with its

creeping bassline and waves of cool guitar hooks, doesn't demand adoration, it just expects it. Similarly, Brown can claim "I

Am the Resurrection" and lie back, as if there were no room for debate. But the key to The Stone Roses is John Squire's

layers of simple, exceedingly catchy hooks and how the rhythm section of Reni and Mani always imply dance rhythms without

overtly going into the disco. On "She Bangs the Drums" and "Elephant Stone," the hooks wind into the rhythm inseparably --

the '60s hooks and the rolling beats manage to convey the colorful, neo-psychedelic world of acid house. Squire's riffs are

bright and catchy, recalling the British Invasion while suggesting the future with their phased, echoey effects. The Stone

Roses was a two-fold revolution -- it brought dance music to an audience that was previously obsessed with droning guitars,

while it revived the concept of classic pop songwriting, and the repercussions of its achievement could be heard throughout

the '90s, even if the Stone Roses could never achieve this level of achievement again.

The band were soon to slake back into the shadows as they fell foul of legal disputes with their record label and would

not resurface until late 1994. But what they had given us was an astonishing album that both stood the test of time and

encapsulates the era when it was released.

Track List

I Wanna Be Adored

She Bangs The Drums

Elephant Stone

Waterfall

Don't Stop

Bye Bye Bad Man

Elizabeth My Dear

(Song For) Sugar Spun Sister

Made Of Stone

Shoot You Down

This Is The One

I Am The Ressurection

Fool's Gold