A Short Column About Music 3.26.09: The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses Posted by Andrew Moll on 03.26.2009
Amid all the reunion rumors, take a look at why The Stone Roses and their debut album are so highly regarded.
Welcome, loyal reader, to A Short Column About Music. I know I promised a big announcement for this week, and I'm ready to make it official. So, I was looking around at random things on the internet a couple of weeks ago, and I saw something interesting about one of my favorite bands, Mission of Burma. If you don't know, Burma was a post-punk band from Boston in the late 70s-early 80s that reunited earlier this decade. Well, I saw that their first shows took place in April 1979. And I had an idea. So, officially, the month of April will be Mission of Burma month for this column to celebrate the thirty years since those shows.. I'll take a look at each of the band's four major releases, a new one each week. (Of course, there are five Thursdays in April this year, but whatever.) I'm sure one or two other people are excited about this, but that's next week. We first have to deal with this week and a look at a band that probably won't be pulling a Burma and reuniting anytime soon.
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Released: July 1989
Tracklisting:
1. I Wanna Be Adored
2. She Bangs the Drums
3. Waterfall
4. Don't Stop
5. Bye Bye Badman
6. Elizabeth My Dear
7. (Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister
8. Made of Stone
9. Shoot You Down
10. This is the One
11. I Am the Resurrection
During the 1980s Manchester, England was the home to a number of influential bands that were among the best that England had to offer. The Fall, The Smiths, New Order, and their predecessor Joy Division all come from Manchester and began to put the city on the map. But while these groups did not share much in terms of style, the bands that would follow would be grouped together, fairly or unfairly, as a new scene began to emerge. Factory Records began in 1978, and would be the home to both Joy Division and New Order. As the label grew, they decided to open a nightclub, and the Hacienda opened up in May 1982. The club began playing music with ties to electronic and disco, and this combined with the introduction of ecstasy helped develop the scene.
Dubbed "Madchester" the scene would grow to become one of the most influential of the later years of the decade. Near the front of that scene were The Stone Roses, who were formed in 1984. Singer Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire had been in bands together since 1979 and eventually, one of those incarnations would become the Stone Roses. The band released their first single in 1985, entitled "So Young" and it came out to little fanfare. At this point, the band bore a resemblance to Joy Division, but that would change over the years and especially after bassist Mani joined the group. This gave the group a much more psychedelic groove, and that would be part of the group's trademark sound. That sound would be featured prominently on their 1988 single "Elephant Stone" and Brown felt that the single was the first one the band was "really behind."
At this point, Madchester was beginning to gain momentum, with The Happy Mondays at the front of the "rave" scene. The Stone Roses, in the meanwhile, went into the studio to record their debut album. The eponymous album came out in summer 1989 and immediately made stars out of the band. It all begins with opener "I Wanna Be Adored," which begins with a wall of feedback until Mani's unmistakable bass line comes in and gives the song its groove. Drummer Reni then comes in before Brown softly sings his vocals of "I don't have to sell my soul/He's already in me/I don't need to sell my soul/He's already in me/I wanna be adored." The entire atmosphere of the song is perfect right from the beginning, from Mani's bass to Squire's guitar riffs, this is arguably the best opener in rock history. The song continues to build until Brown gets more desperate with his plea for adoration. His final line of "I gotta be adored!" is a great and cathartic moment and caps off a classic song. At this point it's clear that the Stone Roses were doing something that may have been heard before, but still were doing it as good as anybody had.
"I Wanna be Adored"
Starting off with another great bass line, "She Bangs the Drums" is pure pop and features the sound of a band with all the confidence in the world in their abilities. That confidence is evident in the lyrics of the first verse, where Brown sings "I can feel the earth begin to move/I hear my needle hit the groove/And spiral through another 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." The song also manages to sound like it came straight from the 1960s and yet remain modern. And while the lyrics are mostly lighthearted ("Have you seen her, have you heard/The way she plays there are no words/To describe the way I feel'), Mani's bass line is deep and heavy, giving the song a strong foundation and keeping it from being fluffy pop music. The band takes another stab at mid-1960s Britpop with "Waterfall," which has a pleasant melody but is probably too much of an easy listen. That easiness fits with the lyrics though, as lines like "She'll carry on through it all/She's a waterfall," don't really need a heavy backing.
"She Bangs the Drums"
At first "Don't Stop" is quite similar to the Beatles songs "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Within You, Without You" but there's a bit more to the song than that. The song actually consists of the instrumental track for "Waterfall" played backwards with different vocals on top. It actually makes for a pretty interesting listen, and one that is undoubtedly psychedelic. The abstract lyrics "Don't stop, isn't it funny how you shine?" only add to the experimental feel of the song. It's not a great track, but certainly an interesting one. The band delivers another quality, straight-forward pop song that's laced with enough psychedelia to help make it standout from mainstream pop music. However, the band's inherent confidence and swagger pop up here, with Brown singing "Here he come/Got no question got no love/I'm throwing stones at you man/I want you black and blue and/I'm gonna make you bleed/Gonna bring you down to your knees/Bye bye badman/Ooh, bye bye." Not all psychedelic music is about flowers and love and peace. The song was apparently about student riots in Paris that took place in the 1960s, and that perfectly shows the dichotomy between lyrics and music that was present with the Stone Roses. It's even been said that the band's name represented the difference between and soft that was present in their work.
"Elizabeth My Dear" takes the melody from the British folk song "Scarborough Fair" (made famous by Simon & Garfunkel), and add their own lyrics to it. Brown sings "Tear me apart and boil my bones/I'll not rest till she's lost her throne/My aim is true my message is clear/It's curtains for you, Elizabeth my dear." The band follows in the footsteps of The Sex Pistols and take shot at Queen Elizabeth and the royal family as a whole. Using a traditional folk song and beautiful melody once gain showcases the divide between music and lyrics, and how sometimes the biggest impact can come when the listener is not expecting it. With its soft melody and simple backing, "Elizabeth My Dear" does just that. The next song "(Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister" features some great tremendous jangly guitar work from Squire and a catchy-as-hell chorus of "It takes all these things and all that time/Till my sugar spun sister's happy/With this love of mine." And the melody when the last lines "Yeah yeah yeah/The candy floss girl/The sticky fingered boy/Oh that sister of mine" are sung is absolutely infectious.
The next track, "Made of Stone" was the album's first single and the first one to show a real a sense of darkness in the music. It's a near perfect rock track, with an ominous rhythm section, with tremendous work from Reni and Mani, and another killer chorus, where Brown sings "Sometimes I fantasize/When the streets are cold and lonely/And the cars they burn below me/Don't these times fill your eyes/When the streets are cold and lonely/And the cars they burn below me/Are you all alone/Is anybody home?" Squire also provides some really good guitar work and a solid solo. All in all, this is one of the best tracks on the album since each member contributes an essential part and the melody is another memorable one. "Shoot You Down" is probably the most laid-back song on the album, with a groove to it that makes you want to sit down and relax. It's all added to by the guitars and drum machine beat, but this is another example where the lyrics don't match the music. Brown sings "You know it/You show it/And the time has come/To shoot you down/What a sound/When the day is done/And it all works out/I'd love to do it and you know you've always had it coming." There's a unique atmosphere to this song, but there are enough pop and psychedelic elements to make it fit with the rest of the album.
The final two tracks reach for the epic and manage to both succeed. "This is the One" builds and builds throughout the song, with Brown proclaiming with much grandeur (something he hadn't done much of on the album), "This is the one/I've waited for." The structure of the song and its crescendo is led by Reni on drums who drives everything forward and dazzles for each part of the five minute song. It's the type that you can't help but get into, since its emotion and enthusiasm are so easy to identify with. There's no cynicism or pretentiousness here, just direct emotion. Reni's kick ass drum beat leads off "I Am the Resurrection", which is partly an attack on someone the band knew personally, and also partly as conceited a song as you'll ever hear, at least lyrically. Mani's bass moves full steam ahead with Reni's drum as Squire's guitar floats around and provides a killer riff. Brown adds his own part by singing "Don't waste your words, I don't need anything from you/I don't care where you've been or what you plan to do." Later in the song, he boldly proclaims "I am the resurrection and I am the light/I couldn't ever bring myself to hate you as I'd like." Certainly, Brown and the Stone Roses were never lacking in confidence, and these lyrics prove it. The last few minutes of the song are an extended jam session, one that keeps the energy high and is able to keep from getting tedious. It's a exciting part that is impossible not to dance to and gives each musician an opportunity to shine. Just as "I Wanna Be Adored" is one of rock's great album openers, this is definitely one of rock's best closing songs.
"I Am the Resurrection"
The album would become an immediate success, reaching the UK Top 20, and also the Billboard Top 100 album chart. (The American version of the album contains "Elephant Stone" and the excellent "Fools Gold.") The Stone Roses were stars, appearing on Top of the Pops and having numerous songs make the UK Singles chart. Unfortunately, the band was unable to follow up on the success of their debut, and remaining out of the spotlight for years due to various reasons. By the time their second album The Second Coming was released in 1994, the rock scene had changed and Madchester no longer was the dominant scene, although Britpop bands like Oasis were certainly influenced by the Stone Roses. The band would dissolve the next year due to personal problems and haven't played together since. Rumors have popped up recently that the band would reunite for a tour and to play the Coachella Festival, but those were quickly put down by John Squire, so it appears unlikely there will ever be a Stone Roses reunion. But their debut album still looms large over British rock music. It regularly appears on lists of the greatest debuts and greatest albums of all time, and was even named by NME as the greatest British album ever made. High praise, considering the albums that have come from Britain over the years.
While The Stone Roses may not be the greatest British album ever, it's still a classic and an interesting representation of a period of time in rock music. Few cities produced as many quality acts in the 1980s as Manchester did, and The Stone Roses are near the top of that list. Their debut album is an excellent mix of 1980s jangle-pop and 1960s Britpop/psychedelic. The band may have borrowed a bit from The Byrds, but that doesn't keep this album from being great. Any album with "I Wanna Be Adored" and "I Am the Resurrection" on it has to be up there with other rock classics. The Stone Roses drug-laden sound was great at the time, and still manages to stand tall today.
