The Stone Roses were a British band that could have had a massive career, but destiny had other plans.
Hailing from Manchester, England, there was an air of excitement around the band in the late ’80s and early ’90s. It almost felt like a revolution was going to happen with the group and they would influence many of the bands who made up the Britpop movement years later.
The Early Days of The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses’ history began with frontman Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire, who grew up on the same street in South Manchester. They came from lower middle-class families. They met at the age of four but wouldn’t really be close until after school when they bonded over their love of punk rock including groups like The Clash and The Sex Pistols.
By 1983, the group was formed and the band’s name was thought up by the group’s guitarist, being inspired by having two words that were in sharp contrast to each other.
The original lineup was made up of vocalist Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Pete Garner and drummer Simon Wolstencroft. The band rehearsed for six months and didn’t play their first gig until late 1984, opening for The Who’s Pete Townshend at an anti-drug event in London.
Simon Wolstencroft is Replaced by Reni
By 1985, Wolstencroft left the group and was replaced by drummer Reni. The same year the group released their first single, “So Young,” and “Tell Me” and it did little to make much of a mark.
By this point in time, The Stone Roses hadn’t really zeroed in on their distinct sound. In an attempt to get their band’s name out there in Manchester, Brown and Reni went on a graffiti tagging campaign around the city, but it did little to win over fans. They soon turned their attention to getting a new manager to market the group and open up business opportunities.
They enlisted manager Gareth Evans who owned a local rehearsal space and Evans got the job by dropping his pants and trying to sell his underwear to the band. It was his way of showing his persuasiveness. It was a move that would pay off, but it also had dire consequences for the band’s career.
Evans’ first order of business was to sign a deal with indie label, FM Revolver to put one single out, the group’s much loved song, “Sally Cinnamon”. “Sally Cinnamon” showed a new sound and style of the band, focusing a lot more on melody.
Peter Garner is Replaced by Mani
The same year, the band underwent another lineup change with bassist Pete Garner leaving the group and being replaced by “Mani”. Mani was the missing piece the band was looking for. Brown recalled the impact of Mani joining the group, “When Mani joined, it almost changed overnight. It became a totally different groove… straight away, everything just fell into place.”
The following year in 1988, the band played at Dingwalls in London. It was a show that had members of several record labels in attendance including Zomba and Rough Trade Records. The Stone Roses ended up signing an astounding 8 album deal with Zomba-owned subsidiary, Silvertone Records.
Hook was expected to produce The Stone Roses’ first full-length record, however he was unavailable at the time due to other commitments. John Leckie came on board and ahead of working on their first full length album, Leckie helped produce the breakthrough single, “Made of Stone.”
“Made of Stone” made NME’s single of the week and showed up in the UK’s Top 40 charts. The song owed part of its success to a radio DJ named Richard Skinner, who played the song on his late night radio show, helping propel its reach.
It was this song that got the band on the radar of a lot of people outside of Manchester. The group’s self-titled record was recorded across several studios in the UK and Wales and some of the songs off their debut album including “Waterfall” and “I Wanna Be Adored” dated as far back as 1985.
The Stone Roses Release Their Debut Album
The Stone Roses took seven months to record their debut album, a record that would define them for the rest of their career. At the time, they had no idea that they were on the verge of making history as the band members were pretty poor.
Bassist Mani almost missed the first studio session after not having enough money for a cab, but Leckie bailed him out. The producer told NME magazine about the band’s attitude in the studio, “They weren’t frightened. They didn’t seem to feel any pressure other than that they were a band making their first album, and they didn’t want to lose the opportunity to make it good. So there wasn’t any pressure to prove themselves – they knew they were good.”
The release of The Stone Roses’ self-titled debut album created so much buzz that there was a genuine feeling in the press and amongst fans that this band was going to the next big thing. The band’s debut appearance on Top of the Pops in November of 1989 only helped propel their nationwide exposure but not all of their TV appearances went well.
The Late Show Disaster
During an appearance the same month on BBC’s The Late Show, almost a minute into the band’s performance, their power was cut. Rather than giving the band another chance, the program’s host tried to go to the next segment. While most band’s would’ve been grateful for the opportunity to be on television, frontman Ian Brown could be seen in the background slamming the show.
This appearance only helped raise the band’s profile and soon enough, hysteria spread across Europe and the band was playing venues across the continent. Their debut album went on to sell 4 million copies worldwide.
The Stone Roses’ old label, FM Revolver, in an attempt to capitalize on the group’s success, reissued their single “Sally Cinnamon”, along with an accompanying music video without the band’s permission. The band didn’t take the move lightly.
“… They just barged in and there was paint flying everywhere…” – Simon Birch, Head of FM Revolver
In January of 1990, the band showed up outside of FM Revolvers offices, on their way to the recording studio in Wolverhampton.
The head of FM Revolver, Simon Birch recalled to the Birmingham Mail newspaper, “There was a knock at the door and my wife came up to my office and said The Stone Roses are here to see you. I didn’t take it seriously at first and after about ten minutes she came back and said The Stone Roses are still waiting downstairs to see you. I came to the front door and then all hell broke loose. They had members of their management team with them as well and they just barged in and there was paint flying everywhere. It was absolute mayhem.”
The band members and their management team splattered paint all over Birch, his wife, and their office hallways and several of Birch’s cars in the parking lot, as their way of exacting revenge.
“The paint business had to happen, cos this cheeky bugger kept putting this shit record out…” – Mani
It was estimated that the band caused about £27,000 worth of damage with Mani later recalling it to Mojo magazine, “The paint business had to happen, cos this cheeky bugger kept putting this shit record out. We warned him… but that’s the way people deal with things in Manchester.”
There was a lot of anticipation for the group’s second album. The band’s sessions for their follow up record actually dated back to 1990, but they didn’t have a lot to show for it. When John Leckie showed up to the studio during those early sessions, the band only had two songs, neither of which impressed him.
The band spent another several months only coming up with a double sided single with the songs, “One Love” and “Something’s Burning”. Fans didn’t hear any new material from The Roses for another 4 years and the single peaked at number 4 but the band, at that point in time, had already peaked.
Silvertone Lobbies For An Injunction Against The Band
Following the group’s legendary gig at Spike Island, their manager tried to get out of the contract with Silvertone, but the label successfully lobbied to get an injunction against the band in March of 1991 to prevent them from recording any new music for one full year.
The label claimed they just wanted The Roses to put out another album, but the band’s lawyer claimed The Stone Roses signed “undoubtedly one of the worst contracts I’d ever seen”. Brown would add, “It was only when we became successful in their terms that they wanted to sort out a decent contract. We were angry with the company because we considered them to be slow. They could not understand our potential.”
It was during this time that The Stone Roses also started to have some dialogue with Geffen Records. The label was so enthralled with the British act that they offered to cover the band’s legal expenses if it meant that they could sign the band.
“I remember looking at the very real prospect of never making another record and just doing gigs…” – John Squire
John Squire recalled in 1993, his thinking at the time, “I remember looking at the very real prospect of never making another record and just doing gigs. We all agreed that if we couldn’t get out of the deal, we were prepared to take it that far.”
Luckily for The Stone Roses, by May of 1991, the court ruled in favour of the group and they were allowed to get out of their contract with Silvertone.
The Stone Roses Sign With Geffen Records
The band signed with Geffen Records, earning a million dollar advance, but they were not wise with the money. Mani recalled to Mojo magazine, “We all went to the south of France and hired a helicopter and stayed in £500-a-night hotels for a few weeks. We went, ‘Right, let’s eff off and spend some money.”
As part of the court proceedings, Silvertone made overtures to try and smooth things over with The Stone Roses, offering them a $100,000 USD Christmas bonus, but their manager Gareth Evans pocketed most of the money with only a few thousand dollars making it to the band. Shortly after the court case, the band dumped their manager.
The Stone Roses hit the studio sporadically in 1992 and 1993 but the band’s chemistry was drying up. They were also butting heads over musical direction and ideas. John Leckie recalled to Mojo, “That period was a disaster. By the time we got to the studio, it would be 10 or 11 o’clock at night. There were always problems: power cuts, electrical things, people disappearing.”
Soon enough Leckie was off the project and more producers came and went. Meanwhile, the band was racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in studio time.
By 1994, Geffen’s big investments, Nirvana and Guns N’ Roses, were virtually finished and the label, who had previously neglected the band, was pressuring them to wrap up work on their second album.
The group’s second album, Second Coming, would finally arrive 5.5 years after their debut record. It was met with lukewarm reviews as fans were shocked at the change in the band’s sound, going for more of a blusier feel.
The album sold a total of 1 million copies worldwide, significantly underperforming against the label’s expectations.
The Stone Roses Calls It Quits
By the mid 90’s, members slowly left the group and the band finally broke up in 1996. It was during their hiatus that the members pursued other musical projects.
In the years that followed, it seemed unlikely that The Stone Roses would ever reunite with some of the members swearing off a reunion in the press.
By 2011, the band would finally reunite and there were rumours that there was new music on the way. The Stone Roses played concerts up until 2017 and released a few singles, but a proper follow-up album to Second Coming never materialized. The group finally called it quits in 2017.
Like this story? Check out The Tragic & Mysterious Death of Johnny Thunders
Check out our YouTube channel