- Year of release
- 1989
- Global sales
- 4 million
- Genre
- Indie - Alternative
- Buy this album
- Buy CD
The finest individual record to come out of the Madchester explosion of the late 80s, The Stones Roses's eponymous debut was rooted firmly in classic 60s pop songwriting, via guitarist John Squire, and soaked in singer Ian Brown's imperious, casually arrogant demeanour.
Best tracks:
I Wanna Be Adored
She Bangs The Drums
Made Of Stone
I Am The Resurrection
Top facts:
- The Jackson Pollock-inspired cover painting, by Squire, is a piece titled Bye Bye Badman. The inspiration came from a conversation Brown had with a veteran of the Paris student riots, who told him they had used lemons as an antidote to tear gas.
- Manchester United Football Club regularly use This Is The One as entrance music for their matches.
- Mick Jagger was so impressed by the band that he offered them a place on the Rolling Stones's Steel Wheels tour of 1989; the band declined.
- Oasis singer Noel Gallagher has acknowledged that his decision to become a rock star grew directly from watching The Stone Roses in concert.
- The lyric in the track Elizabeth My Dear, a minute-long pastiche of Scarborough Fair, is thought to be about the assassination of the Queen (just after halfway through, a gunshot can be heard).
If you like this, try:
The Charlatans: Some Friendly
Inspiral Carpets: Life
Happy Mondays: Squirrel & G-Man 24 Hour Party...
Primal Scream: Screamadelica
Kasabian: Kasabian
