Album: The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (1989)
Track: “She Bangs The Drums”

This album is so fucking British, you can smell fish ‘n chips just by just looking at the album cover.

Which brings me to my next point: this album is unique in its influence and legacy between America and the U.K. Across the pond, The Stone Roses is at the top of many All-Time lists. Like, greatest albums ever. Here, I think the most common comment about the group is something along the lines of, “Don’t you mean Guns ‘N Roses? Or The Rolling Stones?”

The Stone Roses came up in the “Madchester” era of British music. Manchester was the spot for music and partying in the 1980’s. That’s when House music, largely born in Chicago, finally hit the shores of Europe and found it’s way into the current crop of bands, whether in spirit or direct influence. Also, ecstasy. Lots and lots of ecstasy. In fact, what we now know as “Rave Culture” essentially began in Manchester in the 80’s.

The iconic club in Manchester was The Haçienda, where groups like Joy Division (then New Order after Ian Curtis offed himself), the Happy Mondays, and our current band in question, The Stone Roses. For a great (and informative) look at the whole culture, check out the 2002 flick 24 Hour Party People.

My musical tastes growing up were largely based on what U.K. music magazines had to say. Oasis was (is) my favorite group of all-time and when I started branching out to other bands, they were the ones either mentioned by the group or else what the magazines that reported on the group wrote about. I readNME and Q Magazine religiously and you can find this album squarely in the top 20 or so albums in whatever All-Time list they happen to print. Noel Gallagher cites The Stone Roses as one of his biggest influences and Liam Gallagher has said many times before that he wanted to be Ian Brown, the group’s lead singer. As a 13 year-old kid, that was all I needed to buy this album.

It has a distinctly fall-feel to me, maybe because our American fall in the midwest is the season that mimics British weather the closest. Wet, chilly, often overcast. But back to the music. It’s fucking fantastic.

“I Wanna Be Adored” ranks up there with my favorite album openers. The way the bassline, guitar, and strings fade-in until the drums hit full boar is the perfect mood-setter. Ian Brown singing “I don’t have to sell my soul/He’s already in me” before the chorus reeks of rock ‘n roll attitude. “She Bangs The Drums” is plain ol’ awesome pop-rock. “Waterfall” continues on with more melodic goodness, especially with the harmonization throughout.

“Don’t Stop” is quite the peculiar track. It’s actually “Waterfall” looped backwards… just straight up backwards, with some overdubbed vocals on top. “(Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister” picks right back up with the melodic rock.

A few of the songs bring back incredibly vivid memories for me. I distinctly remember putting songs like “I Am The Resurrection” and “This Is The One” - both epic, epic songs - on repeat on my Discman while walking home from middle school and to and from soccer games. Again, fall time. Cool, crisp weather on your face. And there’s a certain naivete in both Brown’s singing and the music production as a whole that feels like adolescence.

The brief guitar-bridge at around 1:50 through “This Is The One” is spot on perfect and chilling. “I Am The Resurrection” lasts for 8:15, and really, how can a song of such proportions not go on for at least eight minutes. “Fools Gold” became a massive dance club hit in the U.K., spawning countless remixes by nature of it’s house-oriented sound.

The Stone Roses will forever be defined by this album. It took them a full six years to release their sophomore album, properly titled The Second Coming. In-band fighting, touring issues, and songwriting trouble plagued the group. Hundreds of thousands of dollars (let’s keep it real here: quid) were put into the album throughout that time. By the time it came out, the soundscape of rock music had changed too much for their album to make any sort of real dent. By 1995, grunge had come (and already left, for all intents and purposes) and spawned alternative-rock. And in the U.K., a cohort of groups including Oasis, The Verve, Blur, and Radiohead were defining the new Brit-rock sound that, while acknowledging the Madchester-sound, paid more dues to the riff-heavy rock ‘n roll of the Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and the original crop of British rockers.

Tracklist:

01. I Wanna Be Adored (12” Version)
02. She Bangs The Drums
03. Waterfall
04. Don’t Stop
05. Bye Bye Bad Man
06. Elizabeth My Dear
07. (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister
08. Made Of Stone
09. Shoot You Down
10. This Is The One
11. I Am The Resurrection
12. Fools Gold (12” Version)