I started listening to The Stone roses while I was still at school, back in the day, when the whole Madchester scene was going on and there were a lot of Manchester Indie bands fighting it out in the clubs. I was too young to go and watch the Stone Roses legally and was actually sneaked into the Hacienda in Manchester to watch them perform. This was one of the first times I was in a room full of people on drugs. The place was alive and the music was pumping and the sweat was dripping. This was one of the most exciting and enjoyable gig's I have ever experienced.
The Stone roses formed in 1984 and the original members of the band were: Ian Brown, John Squire, Andy Couzens, Pete Garner and Alan Wren. Pete and Andy left the band in 1987, Pete was replaced by Gary Mountfield. In 1995 Alan left the band to be replaced by Robbie Maddix and then in 1996 John left to be replaced by Aziz Ibrahim.
The self titled debut album The Stone Roses is considered a classic UK album and topped the NME's list of Greatest British Albums. The Roses signed with Geffen Records in 1991 but it wasn't until 1994 that Second Coming was released.
Since the Roses split up Ian Brown has had much success as a solo artist and also inspired some of my poems, which you can read here. John Squire has released several solo albums before retiring to pursue his career as a painter.
Some of the Roses more popular songs are: I Wanna Be Adored (which ws a massive club hit), I Am The Resurrection, She Bangs The Drums, Fools Gold and One Love.
The Stone Roses influenced many of the UK's bands in the 1990's including The Charlatans, Oasis, Pulp, Manic Street Preachers, The Verve, Coldplay and The Arctic Monkeys. The Stone Roses even have their single on the popular console game Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock and their music will be featured in a 2008 movie by Irvine Welsh (writer of Trainspotting and Acid House) called Ecstasy: Three Tales Of Chemical Romance.
